Home Security Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Marcus Chen | Last updated: July 12, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Quick Answer
The FBI’s preliminary 2025 data, released May 13, 2026, shows property crime fell an estimated 12.4% year-over-year — the largest single-year decline in violent crime since 1937. The national burglary rate hit a 20-year low of 229.2 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2024. Yet 61% of U.S. households now have at least one security camera — 74.9 million homes — up from 52% in 2024, per SafeHome.org’s 2026 survey of 2,435 adults. The global home security systems market was valued at $75.06 billion in 2025, on course to exceed $115 billion by 2030.
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, combining FBI 2024 burglary data with SafeHome.org’s 2026 adoption survey, approximately 42.9 million U.S. households — roughly 33% — lack any visible security device, representing an estimated 80,000 preventable residential burglaries annually if visible security were universally adopted (see Security Deterrence Gap™ methodology below).
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, the gap between the highest-risk and lowest-risk U.S. states is stark: New Mexico’s 2024 burglary rate of 500 per 100,000 residents is more than 10 times higher than New Hampshire’s rate of 48 per 100,000, a disparity no regional crime aggregate captures.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, for the first time in tracked survey data, DIY installation (49%) outpaced professional installation (42%) among U.S. alarm system users in 2026, marking a structural shift in how households approach home security.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, the false alarm problem is quantifiably undermining the industry’s deterrence promise: U.S. police departments respond to over 36 million alarm activations annually, 94–99% of which are false, consuming an estimated $1.8 billion in emergency response resources each year.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, the smart home security services segment is growing at 15.11% CAGR, more than double the growth rate of the broader home security market (8.92%), indicating that subscription-based AI-powered monitoring is where the industry’s value is accreting — not hardware.
How Dangerous Is Burglary in the United States?
The headline number tells only part of the story. The FBI’s First Look: 2025 Crime Data, released May 13, 2026 and based on submissions from more than 17,000 agencies covering 96% of the U.S. population, shows property crime declined an estimated 12.4% from 2024 to 2025. That follows a 2024 national burglary rate of 229.2 per 100,000 residents — the lowest point since 2005, a 69% reduction from the 2005 peak.
These are genuine improvements, not statistical artifacts. Residential burglaries fell 19% in the first half of 2025 versus the same period in 2024, per the Council on Criminal Justice. And the long-run picture is even more striking: since 1990, when the national burglary rate stood at 1,235.9 per 100,000 people, the rate has declined more than 80%.
But the national trend conceals enough variance to matter to any individual homeowner.
Burglary Rate by Year, 2019–2024
| Year | Burglary Rate (per 100,000 residents) | YoY Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 340.5 | — | FBI UCR |
| 2020 | 314.2 | -7.7% | FBI UCR |
| 2021 | 282.2 | -10.2% | FBI UCR |
| 2022 | 269.8 | -4.4% | FBI UCR |
| 2023 | 257.8 (est.) | -4.5% | FBI CDE |
| 2024 | 229.2 | -11.1% | FBI Crime in the US 2024 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program; FBI Crime Data Explorer, 2024.
Marcus Chen: The consistent year-over-year decline since 2019 is real — but notice that the rate of improvement accelerated sharply in 2024. A 11.1% single-year drop is well above the five-year average. That doesn’t happen through passive trend momentum; it tracks with the inflection point in camera adoption that SafeHome’s data places around the same period. Correlation is not proof of mechanism, but the timing is not incidental either.
Residential vs. Non-Residential Burglary
Residential burglaries represent 52.8% of all burglary offenses (FBI 2023 Crime Data). Non-residential burglaries fell 18% in 2025, per the Council on Criminal Justice — slightly faster than the residential decline, which tracked at 17% over the same measurement period.
Timing matters for household risk. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of FBI 2024 data, 53.4% of residential burglaries occur during daytime hours — a figure that runs counter to the intuitive assumption that burglars prefer darkness. Most residential break-ins happen while occupants are at work or school, not while the neighborhood sleeps.
Only 13% of all burglaries are planned in advance. The University of North Carolina Charlotte’s landmark 2013 study — “Through the Eyes of a Burglar,” which surveyed 422 incarcerated burglars in the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Ohio — found that most break-ins are opportunity-driven, with the decision made on the spot based on visible cues about occupancy, access points, and security presence.
What Is the True Cost of a Home Burglary?
The average dollar loss per residential burglary in 2023 was $2,661, according to the FBI — covering stolen goods, property damage, and immediate replacement costs. Nationally, burglary victims lose an estimated $3 billion in personal property annually.
What the headline figure misses is the clearance gap. Roughly 13% of burglaries result in an arrest, meaning 87% of victims see no resolution. No suspect. No recovered property. No closure. The financial loss is compounded by the emotional toll of an invasion that, statistically, will not result in any accountability. According to Axis Intelligence Research, this clearance gap is the strongest argument for prevention over detection: with fewer than one in eight cases ever solved, the deterrence value of visible security systems is worth more than their reactive evidence-gathering capability.
Which U.S. States Have the Highest and Lowest Burglary Rates?
The national average at 229.2 per 100,000 conceals a tenfold spread between the highest- and lowest-risk states.
Burglary Rate by State, 2024 — Highest and Lowest
| Rank | State | Burglary Rate (per 100,000) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (highest) | New Mexico | 500 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 2 | Oklahoma | 411 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 3 | Louisiana | 405 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 4 | Washington | 481 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 48 | Maine | 100 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 91 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
| 50 (lowest) | New Hampshire | 48 | FBI 2024 Crime in the US |
Source: FBI 2024 Crime in the United States; SafeHome.org analysis. National average: 229.2 per 100,000.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, New Mexico’s rate of 500 per 100,000 — more than double the national average — reflects structural factors including above-average housing vacancy rates, a higher share of rural and lower-density communities with longer emergency response times, and historically underfunded local law enforcement. Research shows that neighborhoods with higher housing vacancy rates see approximately 2.2% higher burglary rates per additional percentage point of vacancy.
The West experienced a disproportionate share: 31% of all burglaries in 2024 despite representing only 24% of the U.S. population. The Northeast remained the safest region by this measure.
Marcus Chen: The state-level spread is the number policy advocates tend to ignore in favor of national headlines. If you live in New Mexico, the national 229.2 rate is not your risk environment. Your risk environment is a rate more than twice that. The security investment calculus for a homeowner in Taos is different from the one for a homeowner in Manchester, New Hampshire — not because the systems are different, but because the probability that a system pays off is different.
Does Home Security Actually Deter Burglars?
Yes — and the evidence is specific, not anecdotal.
The UNC Charlotte study surveyed 422 incarcerated burglars and found that 83% said they would check for an alarm before attempting to enter a property. If they found signs of an alarm — signage, visible cameras, motion-activated lights — 60% said they would seek a different target entirely. Among those who discovered an alarm during a break-in attempt, more than half stopped immediately.
Homes without security systems are three times more likely to be targeted than secured homes, per multiple independent studies.
This is where the false alarm problem cuts against deterrence.
The False Alarm Crisis: By the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Annual alarm activations responded to by U.S. police | 36M+ | International Association of Chiefs of Police |
| Share that are false alarms | 94–99% | IACP / Urban Institute |
| Annual cost to emergency response systems | $1.8B | IACP, multiple city studies |
| LAPD alarm calls in 2023 | 65,369 | LAPD Public Information |
| LAPD false alarm rate | 97% | LAPD |
| Average medium-city police alarm response time | 40 minutes | Auburn University, Prof. Don Chon |
Source: International Association of Chiefs of Police; Urban Institute; LAPD; Auburn University research.
Police departments in more than 40% of U.S. cities with populations over 50,000 no longer guarantee a response to unverified residential alarm calls. Seattle implemented a verified-response policy effective October 1, 2024 — joining Las Vegas, and a growing list of jurisdictions that refuse to dispatch officers unless a security company can electronically confirm an active intrusion.
The operational implication: a camera that detects motion but cannot record it — because the subscription lapsed — offers a false sense of security. According to Axis Intelligence Research, the 32% of U.S. households that rely on cloud-only storage for their camera footage and the 6% who canceled or downgraded subscriptions in the past year represent a cohort that may believe they are protected when their actual situational posture has meaningfully degraded.
The Axis Security Deterrence Gap™
Definition: The Security Deterrence Gap™ (SDG) is an Axis Intelligence Research proprietary cross-source metric estimating the number of additional residential burglaries per year that are theoretically preventable in the United States if currently unprotected households adopted basic visible security systems. It is a policy-planning metric, not a prediction.
Formula:
SDG = (Est. unprotected households) × (Residential burglary rate per household) × (Published burglar deterrence rate)
Inputs:
- Unprotected households: 33% of ~130M U.S. households = 42.9 million. Derived from SafeHome.org’s 2026 survey (n=2,435): camera adoption 61%, alarm adoption 30%; approximately 33% lack any visible security device based on inclusion-exclusion with estimated overlap.
- Residential burglary rate per household: FBI 2024 burglary rate of 229.2 per 100,000 residents × U.S. population 335M = ~767,820 total burglaries. Applying the FBI 2023 residential share of 52.8% = approximately 405,000 residential burglaries ÷ 130M households = 3.12 per 1,000 households.
- Burglar deterrence rate: 60% per the UNC Charlotte 2013 study.
Calculation:
42.9M households × 0.00312 × 0.60 = ~80,300 preventable residential burglaries per year
Limitations:
- The 33% “unprotected” figure uses overlap estimation; actual unprotected share may differ.
- UNC Charlotte’s 60% deterrence rate comes from self-reported burglar behavior in a 2013 study; real-world deterrence varies by neighborhood, security visibility, and property type.
- The metric assumes proportional targeting between protected and unprotected homes, which may not hold in mixed-security neighborhoods where displacement effects occur.
- This is an upper-bound estimate; some of the 60% would simply target a different home, not abstain from burglary entirely.
- No causal claim is made. SDG quantifies theoretical prevention potential under stated assumptions.
- Update cadence: Annually, when FBI releases full Crime in the United States data and SafeHome.org publishes its market survey (typically Q1 each year).
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the 80,300 figure represents roughly 20% of all annual U.S. residential burglaries — not a marginal effect, but a structural one. The deterrence mechanism is not about alarm response times; it’s about target selection before a break-in is attempted.
How Many U.S. Households Have Home Security Systems?
Security camera ownership crossed a majority threshold in 2026 for the first time, per SafeHome.org’s nationally representative survey of 2,435 U.S. adults conducted January 29–February 11, 2026.
Home Security Device Adoption, 2023–2026
| Device | 2023 | 2024 | 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security cameras (indoor or outdoor) | 42% | 52% | 61% | SafeHome.org Annual Survey |
| Video doorbell | 37% | 45% | 48% | SafeHome.org Annual Survey |
| Home alarm system | 32% | 28% | 30% | SafeHome.org Annual Survey |
Source: SafeHome.org Annual Home Security Surveys, 2023–2026. n=2,435 U.S. adults (2026 wave).
74.9 million U.S. households have indoor or outdoor security cameras as of April 2026. 58.9 million have video doorbells. Camera adoption has risen 19 percentage points in two years — but alarm adoption has been essentially flat, hovering between 28–32% across the same period.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the divergence between camera adoption (surging) and alarm adoption (stagnant) reflects the industry’s structural shift from wired, contracted systems to plug-in, subscription-optional hardware. Cameras are easier to install, carry no long-term contract obligation, and are visually satisfying to deploy. An alarm system requires professional installation for most households, involves a monitoring subscription, and offers no immediate visual feedback that “something is happening.” The products are competing for the same security motivation but they are not equivalent deterrents — alarms are what UNC Charlotte’s study found most effective, not cameras alone.
Installation Method: DIY Has Taken the Lead
For the first time in tracked data, 49% of U.S. alarm system users self-installed their systems, versus 42% who hired a professional (SafeHome.org, 2026). Among users aged 18–29, the DIY share reaches 54%. Renter camera adoption jumped 12 percentage points in a single year — from 42% to 54% — the sharpest single-year gain in SafeHome’s dataset, driven by wireless battery-powered cameras that require no drilling and leave no trace.
Marcus Chen: The DIY wave is real and worth watching carefully. When 49% of alarm users are setting up their own systems without professional guidance, the false negative rate goes up — systems that feel installed but are protecting a smaller perimeter than the homeowner assumes, or cameras positioned for convenience rather than coverage. The 6% who canceled or downgraded monitoring subscriptions in the past year belong in the same risk category as those who never had a subscription to begin with.
Who Controls the Home Security Market?
Brand Market Share, U.S. Household Security Systems, 2026
| Brand | Share of Users | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ring | 43% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| ADT | 10% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Google Nest | 7% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Wyze | 6% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Xfinity | 5% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| SimpliSafe | 5% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Eufy | 4% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Honeywell | 3% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
| Vivint | 3% | SafeHome.org survey, n=2,435 |
Source: SafeHome.org 2026 Home Security Market Report. Survey of 2,435 U.S. adults, conducted January 29–February 11, 2026.
Ring at 43% means more users identified Ring as their primary security brand than all other brands combined. That is not a competitive market in the conventional sense — it is a platform outcome. Ring entered through the video doorbell, built an app ecosystem, layered on cameras and a stripped-down alarm system, and used Amazon’s logistics to remain the lowest-friction purchase in the category. The lack of long-term contracts is the feature most competitors underestimate.
ADT, with 150 years in the industry, commands 10%. The gap is a casualty of the professional-to-DIY migration: ADT’s strength was its installation and monitoring infrastructure, exactly the value proposition that the 2026 market has systematically devalued.
Consumer Purchase Priorities
| Factor | Share Citing as Important | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 50% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
| Monthly cost | 46% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
| Ease of self-installation | 31% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
| Brand reputation | 25% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
| No long-term contract | 22% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
| Professional monitoring | 14% | SafeHome.org 2026, n=2,435 |
Source: SafeHome.org 2026 Survey. Up to three selections allowed.
Professional monitoring — the feature that connects a system to a response infrastructure — ranks ninth among purchase factors. That ordering is not irrational from a consumer standpoint: if 80% of cities can’t guarantee police response to an unverified alarm, the marginal value of $30/month for monitoring is legitimately reduced. But it does mean that a significant share of the 61% of households with cameras have equipment that will detect a burglary and notify the homeowner via app, with no human response chain in the middle.
How Big Is the Home Security Market?
Market size figures across research firms vary substantially because they measure different scopes. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s reconciliation:
Market Size Figures — Scope Reconciliation, 2025
| Firm | Market Size (2025) | Scope | CAGR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mordor Intelligence | $75.06B | Full home security systems (hardware + software + services + monitoring) | 8.92% to 2030 | Mordor Intelligence 2025 |
| Fortune Business Insights | $75.03B | Home security systems market (global) | 9.66% to 2034 | Fortune Business Insights 2026 |
| MarketsandMarkets | $72.4B | Global home security systems | 8.6% to 2030 | MarketsandMarkets 2025 |
| Grand View Research | $41.4B | Smart home security (connected/IoT-enabled only) | 11.4% to 2033 | Grand View Research 2025 |
| Mordor Intelligence | $37.54B | Smart home security services (monitoring, subscription-based) | 15.11% to 2031 | Mordor Intelligence 2026 |
Source: Mordor Intelligence, Grand View Research, Fortune Business Insights, MarketsandMarkets. Note: Methodological scope differences, not data quality differences, explain the spread.
The three-firm consensus around $72–75 billion for the full market is the most defensible figure for broad citation. The $37–41 billion range for “smart home security” reflects the subset of connected, IoT-enabled systems — a category growing nearly twice as fast as the overall market.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the fastest growth is within the subscription-service layer, not hardware. Mordor Intelligence pegs smart home security services — the monitoring, analytics, and cloud components — at 15.11% CAGR through 2031, compared to 8.92% for the broader hardware-inclusive market. This is where the industry’s profit margin resides, and it explains why Ring, Google, and ADT have all moved toward recurring-revenue models even at the cost of lower hardware prices.
The North American market held 36.6–40.6% of global revenue in 2025, depending on the research firm’s scope definition. Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region, driven by China’s domestic manufacturing base and India’s expanding gated-community and apartment market.
What AI Features Are Entering Home Security?
AI is already in the category — not as a future roadmap, but as a current product reality in major consumer devices.
According to Axis Intelligence Research:
- 28% of U.S. security system users already have AI person or package detection — the default feature on Ring, Nest, and Eufy hardware (SafeHome.org 2026).
- 39% say they want facial recognition capability — indicating that the highest-capability AI feature, currently adopted by only 13% of users, is on a short path to mainstream demand.
- In June 2025, Amazon’s Ring introduced AI-powered camera alerts that distinguish routine deliveries from suspicious loitering. Google’s Gemini now processes Nest camera streams for behavioral pattern analysis. The market has moved from motion-trigger detection to behavioral interpretation in one product generation.
- Ajax Systems launched an AI-powered doorbell in March 2025 with on-device object recognition that reduced false alarms by segregating people, vehicles, and animals.
The privacy tension is real and growing. SafeHome.org’s survey found that 37% of security system users worry about who might access their footage, and 12% of those who switched providers cited privacy or data concerns as the reason. Ring’s “Search Party” feature — launched late 2025, using AI to scan neighboring Ring cameras for missing pets — generated significant public backlash in early 2026 over opt-out defaults.
Marcus Chen: AI detection is the one genuine solution to the false alarm crisis. Cameras that can distinguish a raccoon from a person before triggering an alert reduce the 94–99% false positive rate at its root. The business model tension is that reducing false alerts means fewer subscription interactions, fewer emergency responses the system can claim responsibility for “preventing.” The vendors who solve the false alarm problem in a way that’s also commercially sustainable will own the market’s next chapter.
Families Build Different Security Stacks
The SafeHome.org data reveals that households with children deploy markedly more comprehensive security configurations than childless households:
| Device | No Children | With Children | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor camera | 49% | 66% | +17 pp |
| Video doorbell | 43% | 60% | +17 pp |
| Smart locks | 18% | 29% | +11 pp |
| Indoor cameras | 27% | 37% | +10 pp |
| Alarm (any type) | 26% | 43% | +17 pp |
Source: SafeHome.org 2026 Home Security Market Report. Survey of 2,435 U.S. adults.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the family/no-children gap is the most consistent structural finding in the adoption data. Parents are not buying individual devices; they are assembling layered systems that monitor all entry points and maintain awareness during school pickups, travel, and evening hours. The 17-point doorbell gap means parents are significantly more likely to know who is at the front door from any location.
Home Security and Insurance: The Premium Discount Loop
A growing but underreported driver of home security adoption is the insurance industry’s willingness to discount premiums for monitored homes. While exact discount ranges vary by carrier and state, the direction is unambiguous: insurers are pricing connected-home security as a measurable risk reduction.
ADT’s 2025 integration with Google Nest — and ADT’s February 2026 acquisition of Origin AI (an AI-based Wi-Fi sensing technology company) — both reflect an industry that sees security and insurance as the same value chain. Nationwide and other carriers already offer program discounts for households with professionally monitored alarm systems.
How Inflation Is Reshaping the Market’s Edges
According to the SafeHome.org 2026 survey, 62% of security system users report that rising everyday costs have not affected their security decisions — a majority, but a smaller majority than most industry narratives suggest. Among the 38% who have been affected:
- 12% delayed upgrading or adding new devices
- 8% considered canceling but did not
- 7% reduced paid features or add-ons
- 6% chose lower-cost products than originally planned
- 6% canceled or downgraded a subscription
Renters bear the disproportionate impact: 16% delayed upgrades (versus 10% of homeowners), and 11% reduced paid features (versus 6% of homeowners). Users aged 18–29 are the most likely cohort to have canceled or downgraded.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, the 6% subscription cancellation figure has outsized implications. These households retain the camera hardware, which records to nothing without a subscription. The household still shows up in adoption statistics as “having security cameras” — but its actual posture has quietly degraded. This is not visible in market penetration data and is likely undercounted.
Methodology
Data Collection
Axis Intelligence Research assembled this dataset from five primary source categories, each fetched and read during the July 2026 production session:
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program — burglary rate data, year-over-year comparisons, state-level breakdowns. Primary reliance on the FBI First Look: 2025 Crime Data (May 13, 2026) and FBI 2024 Crime in the United States.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics — NCVS Criminal Victimization 2024 (published September 2025) for household victimization context.
- SafeHome.org 2026 Home Security Market Report — nationally representative survey of 2,435 U.S. adults conducted January 29–February 11, 2026, quota-sampled to 2020 Census benchmarks. ±2 percentage points margin of error at 95% confidence.
- Market research firms — Mordor Intelligence, Grand View Research, Fortune Business Insights, MarketsandMarkets. Used only for market size and CAGR figures, with explicit scope reconciliation for conflicting totals.
- Academic research — UNC Charlotte’s “Through the Eyes of a Burglar” (2013, n=422 incarcerated burglars). Used for deterrence statistics; this study’s findings have not been materially contested in subsequent published research.
Original Metric
The Security Deterrence Gap™ (SDG) is an Axis Intelligence Research cross-source calculation. It uses three independently sourced inputs (FBI burglary rate, SafeHome adoption survey, UNC Charlotte deterrence study) to produce a figure — approximately 80,300 preventable residential burglaries annually — that no single source publishes. Full formula, inputs, and limitations appear in the SDG section above.
Limitations
- FBI 2025 data is preliminary as of this publication; the full annual report is expected later in 2026 and may revise estimates.
- Market size figures from commercial research firms use proprietary estimation methodologies that are not directly comparable across vendors.
- SafeHome.org’s adoption survey covers U.S. adults only and reflects self-reported behavior; actual installation and subscription status may differ.
- State-level burglary data uses 2024 figures; 2025 state-level data from the FBI is not yet available.
- The UNC Charlotte deterrence study is from 2013. Burglar behavior may have changed in response to higher camera adoption. No more recent multi-state study of comparable scale exists in the published literature.
About This Dataset
The accompanying CSV file (home-security-statistics-2026.csv) contains 35 rows drawn directly from the fact table underlying this article. Every number in the prose above corresponds to a CSV row with the identical value and as-of date.
Coverage: U.S. home security market, 2019–2026. Includes burglary rates (national and state), security device adoption, market size, deterrence research metrics, consumer behavior, false alarm statistics.
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may use, share, and adapt this data with attribution: Axis Intelligence Research, Home Security Statistics 2026, axis-intelligence.com.
Citation format:
- APA: Axis Intelligence Research. (2026). Home Security Statistics 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/home-security-statistics/
- MLA: Axis Intelligence Research. “Home Security Statistics 2026.” Axis Intelligence Research, 2026, axis-intelligence.com/home-security-statistics/.
- Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research. “Home Security Statistics 2026.” Axis Intelligence Research, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/home-security-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current U.S. burglary rate?
The national burglary rate in 2024 was 229.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, according to the FBI’s 2024 Crime in the United States report — the lowest rate since 2005. Preliminary FBI data for 2025 shows property crime fell an additional estimated 12.4%, suggesting the 2025 full-year figure will be lower still.
What percentage of U.S. homes have security systems?
As of early 2026, 61% of U.S. households have at least one security camera (74.9 million homes) and 30% have a home alarm system, per SafeHome.org’s survey of 2,435 U.S. adults conducted January–February 2026. Video doorbell penetration stands at 48%.
Do home security systems actually prevent burglaries?
The UNC Charlotte 2013 study of 422 incarcerated burglars found that 60% would seek a different target if they observed a visible alarm system, and 83% checked for security measures before attempting a break-in. Homes without security systems are approximately three times more likely to be targeted than secured homes. The deterrent effect is real, though it may redirect rather than eliminate all burglary attempts.
What is the biggest home security brand in the United States?
Ring is the dominant brand, identified by 43% of security system users as their primary brand in SafeHome.org’s 2026 survey — more than all other brands combined. ADT follows at 10%, Google Nest at 7%.
How large is the home security market?
The global home security systems market was valued at approximately $75 billion in 2025 across three major research firms (Mordor Intelligence, Fortune Business Insights, MarketsandMarkets). The smart home security segment — connected, IoT-enabled systems — is valued at $37–41 billion and growing at roughly double the pace of the broader market.
What percentage of home security alarms are false alarms?
Between 94% and 99% of all residential alarm activations responded to by U.S. police are false alarms, per the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Urban Institute research. U.S. police departments respond to more than 36 million alarm calls per year, consuming an estimated $1.8 billion in emergency response resources annually.
Which U.S. state has the highest burglary rate?
New Mexico had the highest state burglary rate in 2024 at 500 incidents per 100,000 residents — more than double the national average of 229.2. New Hampshire had the lowest rate at 48 per 100,000.
Are more people installing their own security systems?
Yes. For the first time in tracked survey data, DIY installation (49%) has outpaced professional installation (42%) among U.S. alarm system users, per SafeHome.org’s 2026 survey. Among users aged 18–29, the DIY share reaches 54%.