$17.5 billion. That’s the amount of losses suffered by victims of property crime in the United States in 2020. And that’s just the crimes that were reported to police, based on the latest FBI’s “Crime in the United States, 2020” report.
“Crime in the United States” is an annual report published by the published by the FBI. The report compiles crime data reported to law enforcement through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Nearly 16,000 federal, state, and local agencies contributed to the 2020 report, using the the FBI’s interactive Crime Data Explorer tool as their digital front door.
What is property crime?
Property crime is a category of crime that usually involves the taking of money or private property. For the purposes of reporting data through the UCR program, the FBI includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Learn more about the difference between burglary and robbery here.
Here’s a high-level breakdown on reported property crime from the 2020 report (the most current data available):
6,452,038 property crimes
Estimated property crime losses: $17.5 billion
A property crime occurred every 4.9 seconds
Only 33% of property crimes were reported to police
1,035,314 burglaries reported to police
A burglary occurred every 30.5 seconds
More than half of all burglaries occurred in homes
It’s valuable to see crime rates on a national level. Still, they may not really resonate without knowing where in the U.S. they are happening. Let’s break this down a little more.
Property crime rates by U.S. region
What’s the home burglary rate in my state?
Based on the FBI’s report, we’ve compiled the burglary rates across all 50 states. See how yours measures up.
As you can see, burglaries can and do happen anywhere. The FBI warns against using this data to rank locales and law enforcement agencies, because so many factors impact crime from place to place.
Based only on the home burglary statistics above, the 10 states with the highest burglary rates are (from highest rate to lowest):
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Washington
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
North Dakota
Colorado
Help protect your home from burglaries
The true sum of damage done is greater than the estimated dollar value of $17.5 billion. Many of these families experienced a scary and possibly traumatic event, possibly in their own homes. While we can’t erase these statistics, there are solutions to the problems they underscore. Taking a proactive approach to security may be the best way to help deter property crime and achieve the peace of mind we all deserve.
More specifically, investing in a smart home security system — and advertising that fact with yard signs — can make a difference. A 2013 survey of over 400 convicted burglars found that 83% of burglars looked for signs of a burglar alarm system when choosing a target, and most of them (60%) would change their minds if they saw one.