Did you know that from 10am to 3pm is the most popular time of day for burglaries? And that July and August are the most popular months? This infographic offers these and other useful statistics about residential burglary in the United States.

Burglary by the Numbers Infographic

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Where Burglars Break In

  • 34% – front door
  • 23% – first floor window
  • 22% – back door
  • 9% – garage
  • 6% – storage areas
  • 4% – basement
  • 2% – second floor

Burglary Statistics

  • A burglary occurs somewhere in the US every 14 seconds.
  • Burglary costs $4.6 billion in lost and damaged property every year.
  • The majority of home and apartment burglaries occur between 10am and 3pm when most people are away at work or school.
  • Burglars spend an average of 8 to 12 minutes in your home.
  • July and August have the most burglaries with February having the fewest.
  • Police can only clear about 13% of all reported burglaries and rarely catch the thief in the act.

What They Use to Break In

Ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and small hammers are most often used by burglars. 70% of the burglars use some amount force to enter a dwelling, but they prefer to gain easy access through an open door or window.

What Burglars Steal

Favorite items to steal are cash, jewelry, guns, watches, laptop computers, tablets and smartphones, DVRs, DVDs and other small electronic devices.

Who Burglars Are

Burglaries are most commonly committed by young males under 25 years of age looking for items that are small, expensive, and can easily be converted to cash for living expenses and drugs. If you would like to make your property less at risk from residential burglary, consider making your first line of defense a home security camera system for 24×7 peace of mind.