Shelter · Home Security
Home security. Without paranoia.
What the research on residential crime prevention actually shows, and the calm, evidence-based case for lighting, locks, habits, and knowing your neighbors.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
FROM THE FIELD
The way in is rarely the door the owner was worried about. In forum threads and police reports alike, the same story repeats: a window left unlatched, a basement or garage entry nobody checked, a door left unlocked for a short errand. The front door was rarely the problem. Accounts agree on what came next, too: a wave of spending on alarms and cameras. This page starts with the walk and the habits because those close the gaps the accounts actually describe.
The right frame
Security is about being less attractive, not impenetrable.
The residential security industry has a financial interest in selling complexity. Monitored systems, smart locks, multi-camera setups, reinforced safe rooms. Each solves a real problem but few are the right starting point for the average household.
The criminology research on residential burglary is unusually consistent: most break-ins are opportunistic. A person or people looking for a quick entry into an unoccupied home, preferring the easiest available target. The decision to pass your house and try the next one is made in seconds.
Security for most households is not about defeating a determined, skilled adversary. It is about looking like more work than the next house on the street. That reframe changes everything about which improvements are worth making first.
What this page covers
The research on deterrence
What criminologists and crime prevention professionals consistently find works, and why the findings are more actionable than most security content suggests.
Five practical layers
Awareness, lighting, locks, habits, and neighbors. Each layer addresses a different part of the problem and they compound when combined.
An honest assessment of what's oversold
Four common security purchases that underperform their cost when the foundational layers aren't in place first.
The right starting sequence
Four actions in order of cost and impact. Most households can address the highest-priority items in a single afternoon.
What this page does not cover: firearms, self-defense, physical confrontation, or force options. The research on deterrence consistently points away from those as starting points for the average household, and this site's scope doesn't include them regardless.
If a break-in has already happened, start with what to do after a break-in.
What the research shows
The profile of a typical residential break-in.
Understanding the pattern is the foundation of an evidence-based security approach.
Daytime, when no one is home
In Bureau of Justice Statistics data, burglaries of empty homes happened more often between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. (43%) than overnight (26%), with the time unknown for the rest.1 Burglaries while someone is home lean toward night, but they are the smaller group, a little under 3 in 10 of all household burglaries.
Unlocked doors and windows
FBI data shows that roughly 4 in 10 burglaries involve no forced entry.2 In the national crime victim survey, about a third of completed household burglaries came through a door or window that was open or unlocked.1 No hardware upgrade addresses this. Consistent locking habits do.
Speed over stealth
Research interviews with active burglars consistently describe targeting decisions made in seconds: looking for unlocked entries, poor lighting, low visibility from the street, and no signs of occupancy.3 Anything that slows the assessment or increases perceived effort shifts the calculation.
Lighting as the top deterrent
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a field of criminology and urban planning, identifies natural surveillance as the strongest deterrent: can people see what's happening? Lighting is the most consistent single-improvement finding across CPTED research, particularly motion-activated lighting at entry points.4
Neighbor awareness
Neighborhood-level social cohesion, meaning whether residents know each other and notice changes, is among the strongest predictors of low residential crime rates in the sociological literature.5 A neighbor who recognizes your car, knows your schedule, and would notice an unfamiliar vehicle is a more effective deterrent than most hardware.
Signs of occupancy
Consistently maintained properties, interior lights on timers, packages collected promptly, and visible daily activity all signal occupancy and routine. An unoccupied-looking home is a more attractive target independent of any hardware. This is the principle behind well-established travel security advice, and it costs nothing.
1 Bureau of Justice Statistics. "Victimization During Household Burglary." BJS Special Report, NCJ 227379, September 2010. National Crime Victimization Survey data for 2003 to 2007, Tables 1, 5, 7, and 9. 2 Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Crime in the United States, 2019," Burglary: 55.7% forcible entry, 37.8% unlawful entry without force, 6.5% attempted forcible entry. Figures cover all burglaries, homes and other buildings. 3 Wright, Richard T. and Scott Decker. "Burglars on the Job: Streetlife and Residential Break-ins." Northeastern University Press, 1994. (Foundational qualitative study; findings replicated in subsequent research.) 4 Cozens, Paul, Greg Saville, and David Hillier. "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED): A Review and Modern Bibliography." Property Management, vol. 23, no. 5, 2005. 5 Sampson, Robert J., Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Felton Earls. "Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy." Science, vol. 277, 1997.
Five starting layers
Each layer addresses a different part of the problem.
These are the five layers every household should start with. The full framework splits them into seven, giving windows and electronic systems layers of their own. They compound when combined. Start with Layer 1 and build outward. Buying cameras or an alarm before locks, lighting, and habits are in place is a common and expensive mistake.
Awareness
Know the current state of your home's vulnerabilities. Have you walked your exterior at night recently? Do you know which windows latch securely? Do you know whether your bedroom door closes fully? The home preparedness walkthrough covers this systematically.
Awareness also means understanding your home's surroundings: which neighbors are usually home, what normal activity looks like on your street, where the blind spots are. This costs nothing and underpins every other layer.
Starting action
Walk the exterior of your home after dark this week. Look for entry points that are poorly lit or not visible from the street. Most households identify at least one blind spot they hadn't noticed.
Lighting
Motion-activated lighting at all exterior entry points is the most consistently supported deterrent intervention per dollar across the crime prevention research. It provides natural surveillance, creates an obvious signal that someone is present or aware, and costs about $20 to $40 per fixture, whether battery, solar, or hardwired.
Interior lights on timers during travel simulate occupancy. Porch lights on at dusk signal an occupied, maintained property. The principle throughout: visibility deters. Darkness conceals. Reducing dark areas around entry points reduces opportunity.
Starting action
Add one motion-activated light at the least-lit entry point on your property. The back door, the side gate, the area behind the garage. Wherever your awareness walk identified a blind spot.
Locks and doors
The deadbolt is only as strong as what it's mounted to. Standard strike plates are usually held by short screws that reach only the jamb, a thin strip of softwood. A kick or a pry bar splits the jamb around those screws, and the lock is never defeated at all. Replacing them with 3-inch screws that reach the structural framing is the highest-return security upgrade in this layer. Cost: a few dollars for screws, $10 to $25 for a reinforced plate, twenty minutes of work.
Beyond the strike plate: solid-core exterior doors (hollow-core doors are not a meaningful barrier), ANSI Grade 1 or Grade 2 deadbolts, and secondary security bars or pins on sliding doors. Window locks matter for ground-floor windows that get less attention. See the door security guide and window security guide for depth on each.
Starting action
Remove one exterior door's strike plate and check the screw length. If the screws are under an inch, replace the plate with a reinforced version using 3" screws. This is the single highest-return security upgrade per dollar on this list.
Daily habits
The finding that roughly 4 in 10 burglaries involve no forced entry points directly to this layer. No hardware addresses an unlocked door. Consistent locking routines, mail and package management, garage door discipline, and social media caution during travel are the habits that close the gap hardware cannot.
Habits are also the cheapest layer and the one most people underweight. A $300 deadbolt on a door that gets left unlocked 20% of the time provides 80% coverage. A $20 deadbolt that gets locked every time provides 100%. See the daily security habits guide for the specific routines worth building.
From the field · Police reports from Minnesota, Illinois, New York, and Florida describe the same entry: a garage remote taken from an unlocked car in the driveway, then the door from garage to house. Lock the car, take the remote inside, and treat that inner door as an exterior one.
Starting action
Establish one consistent locking routine: the same check, in the same sequence, every time you leave the house or go to bed. Lock, deadbolt, garage door, one window you know tends to get left open. Written down and on the door frame until it's automatic.
Neighbors
The sociological research on neighborhood collective efficacy is consistent. Communities where residents know each other, share information, and intervene when something seems wrong have significantly lower crime rates than socially isolated communities with similar income levels.5 This is the layer the security industry has the least interest in selling because it doesn't involve a product.
In practice: know the names of the four households nearest to yours. Know roughly what their cars look like and when they're usually home. Tell someone when you'll be traveling. These are the interactions that generate the natural surveillance CPTED identifies as the strongest deterrent.
Starting action
Introduce yourself to one neighbor you don't currently know by name this week. The goal is not a friendship. It's a recognizable face who would notice if something were wrong. That alone has deterrent value.
An honest assessment
Four common purchases that underperform their cost without the foundation.
Not "don't buy these." These are legitimate products. But each one is frequently purchased as a substitute for the foundational layers rather than a complement to them.
A Grade 1 deadbolt on a hollow-core door
An ANSI Grade 1 deadbolt is a quality lock. On a hollow-core exterior door (which some homes still have), it provides minimal additional security because the door itself fails before the lock does. The right sequence: confirm solid-core construction first, then upgrade the lock and strike plate.
Fix: Check door construction before any lock upgrade. Knock. Hollow is obvious. A solid-core door plus a standard deadbolt with a reinforced strike plate outperforms a premium deadbolt on a hollow door. See the door security guide.
Security cameras in non-visible locations
Consumer cameras provide real value for evidence after an incident and for monitoring deliveries and activity. Their deterrent value depends substantially on whether they're visible and whether offenders believe they're monitored. A hidden camera provides documentation; a visible camera may influence behavior before entry is attempted.
Fix: Position cameras to be seen as well as to capture. The doorbell camera at eye level at the front entry is one of the most effective placements for both purposes. See the security cameras guide.
A monitored alarm system without consistent habits
Monitored alarm systems add real value for households with specific monitoring needs, vacation properties, or higher-risk locations. For the average home, the research on alarms as deterrents is genuine but not decisive. An alarm that gets disabled or bypassed due to inconsistent arming habits provides partial coverage. Layer 4 (habits) supports the alarm's effectiveness as much as the hardware does.
Fix: Establish consistent arming and disarming routines before evaluating whether a monitored system adds value for your specific household situation. See the home alarm systems guide.
Hardening one entry point while leaving others unchanged
Security is as strong as its weakest point. A reinforced front door provides real value. A reinforced front door next to an unlocked ground-floor window, an easily-opened garage door, or an unlit back entry means the deterrent effect of the front door improvement is limited. The awareness layer exists specifically to prevent this.
Fix: Do the awareness walk before purchasing any security hardware. Identify all entry points, not just the obvious ones. Improve the weakest first, not the most visible.
Getting started
Four actions. In order.
Walk the exterior after dark
Tonight or this week. Note every entry point that's poorly lit or not visible from the street. This takes 10 minutes and shapes everything that follows. You cannot improve what you haven't seen.
Replace the strike plate screws on every exterior door
A few dollars to $25 in hardware, 20 minutes per door. This is consistently the highest-return security improvement per dollar spent. Do it before any other hardware purchase. The door security guide covers the complete installation.
Add one motion light at the worst blind spot
The entry point you identified in step 1 that gets the least light. About $20 to $40 per fixture. Motion-activated is more effective as a deterrent than always-on lighting because the sudden activation signals something changed. See the lighting guide for placement recommendations.
Introduce yourself to two neighbors
The four closest households. Aim for two this week. You don't need to explain that you're building a security layer. You're just meeting the people who live near you. This is the most underrated and most free security improvement on this list.
Time and cost estimate
Steps 1, 3, and 4 cost nothing or under $40. Step 2 runs from a few dollars to about $75 depending on how many exterior doors you have and whether you add reinforced plates. The full four-step sequence can be completed in a single weekend afternoon. The underlying layers these steps establish take longer to consolidate, but the physical work doesn't.
Go deeper in this category
The full home security guide set.
The Layers of Home Security
The complete seven-layer framework from property line to daily habits, with the full detail behind each one.
Door Security
Solid-core doors, Grade 1 deadbolts, reinforced strike plates, and sliding door options. Everything behind Layer 3.
Read guide
Lighting and Visibility
Motion lights, placement strategy, timers, and how to avoid over-lighting that bothers neighbors.
Read guide
Daily Security Habits
The specific locking routines, package management, travel habits, and visitor protocols that close the gaps hardware cannot.
Home Alarm Systems
Monitored vs. unmonitored, what the sensors actually detect, and how to evaluate whether a system makes sense for your household.
Read guide
Window Security
Pin locks, track locks, security film, glass-break sensors, and basement windows. The second most common way in.
Read guide
Security Cameras
Placement, resolution, storage, jamming, and what the law says about recording.
Read guide
Common questions
The questions that come up most.
What actually deters residential burglars?
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) research identifies three consistent deterrents: natural surveillance (being able to see and be seen), access control (locked doors and reinforced frames), and territorial reinforcement (signs of regular occupancy and maintenance). Lighting is the most consistently supported single intervention across multiple studies. Neighborhood social connection, knowing your neighbors by name, is among the strongest predictors of low residential burglary rates in the research literature.
What is the single highest-return home security upgrade?
Replacing short strike plate screws with 3-inch screws that reach the framing is the highest-return security improvement per dollar. Builder-grade strike plates are usually held by short screws that bite only into the jamb, a thin strip of softwood, so a kick or a pry bar splits the jamb and the lock is never defeated. A box of long screws costs a few dollars, a reinforced strike plate about $10 to $25, and the job takes about 20 minutes per door. The deadbolt is only as strong as the frame it is anchored to.
Is a home alarm system worth the cost?
Alarm systems add real value in higher-risk locations, for vacation or secondary properties, and for households with specific monitoring needs. In a University of North Carolina at Charlotte survey of 422 incarcerated burglars, about 60 percent said an alarm would send them to a different target, and the same study found that signs and stickers advertising an alarm also deter. For most homes in average-risk areas, that makes an alarm one layer rather than the first one: it works best on top of good locks, good lighting, and neighbors who notice.
Continue reading
What’s next
Skills
Door Lock Repair: Deadbolts, Strikes, and Rekeying
Check whether a deadbolt actually throws fully, fit a reinforced strike, free a sticky lock, and rekey a cylinder yourself.
Shelter
The Home Preparedness Walkthrough
A room-by-room inspection that takes under an hour and needs no tools. The structured version of the awareness walk on this page.
Community
Know Your Neighbors
Why the relationships on your street carry so much weight when something goes wrong, and how to start building them.
Community
The Four-Door Introduction
Meeting the four households closest to yours: what to say first, what to exchange, and how an awkward hello becomes a real resource.