Home Invasion Statistics by State 2026

General home invasion statistics

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) provides detailed estimates of nonfatal violent and property crime. For example, if a victim suffers violence during a burglary, these are classified among victimization rates, which measure the extent to which violent and property victimizations occurred in a specific population during a specified time.

The burglary-related victimization rate has declined from 2018 to 2023, from 15.0 to 9 per 1,000 households, respectively.

Burglaries can lead to significant property loss. According to FBI data, in 2023, the average value of stolen property for residences totaled over $5,035 for items taken both during the day and at night.

The below table shows the average value of stolen property by location and time of day in 2023.

Burglary rate trends

The number of reported burglaries has been declining since 2012. Over the years between then and 2022, the number of burglaries declined by 57.4% — 2,109,932 reported cases in 2012 to 899,293 in 2022. Looking at figures from over thirty years ago, burglaries declined by 70.4% from the 3,073,909 burglaries reported in 1990. As of 2025, the burglary rate has declined by 11.9% from the previous year.

Despite a few upticks, the burglary rate has generally been on a decreasing trend since 1990. In 1990, the per-capita rate (1,235.9 per 100,000 people) was over 4.5 times higher than in 2022 (269.8 per 100,000 people). In the U.S. in 2022, per-capita national burglary incidents were nearly identical to 2021 (270.9 per 100,000 people), and in 2024, it dropped to the lowest rate since 2005: 229.2.

Burglary rate by state

In 2024, the overall per-capita burglary rate in the U.S. was 229.2 per 100,000 people. The three states with the highest burglary rates were New Mexico (500), Oklahoma (411) and Louisiana (405). The lowest were New Hampshire (48), Rhode Island (91) and Maine (100).

Which break-ins are most common?

The FBI’s UCR Program defines a burglary as the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. It provides three subclassifications for the crime: forcible entry, unlawful entry where no force is used and attempted forcible entry. Of the three, forcible entry was the most common, accounting for 55.7% of all burglaries in 2019, followed by unlawful entry (37.8%).

Large cities with populations over 250,000 people had the highest rates of forcible entry of all city sizes and counties, totaling 60%. The rate per population size was also the highest, averaging 281.7 burglaries per 100,000 inhabitants.

When do burglaries occur most?

By a slight margin, more burglaries happen in the daytime than at night, according to FBI data. In 2024, 46.4% of total residence and nonresidence burglaries occurred during the day compared to 49.7% occurring at night. This was a decrease from 48.8% of daytime burglaries in 2022. Looking at only residential burglaries in 2024, 53.4% took place during the daytime, while 42.9% were perpetrated at night.

How to deter burglaries

There are three steps that you can take to deter burglars. First, install an alarm system and camera or video doorbell. According to a University of North Carolina study, around 60% of respondents would be deterred by an alarm and would seek another target. Second, ensure that all windows are secured with high-quality locks and doors with deadbolts.

According to recent FBI data, 55.7% of break-ins involve forcible entry, so fortify all entry points. Lastly, make sure that your home looks occupied. For example, put lights on a timer, maintain the lawn, hire a housesitter and ensure that mail and newspapers are paused when you are away.