The world is a big place, and even when someone tells you that burglary and other related crimes have been falling in the United States in recent years, that still doesn’t mean that some house, somewhere, is getting broken into right now.
It’s obviously a scary thought. Crime, they tell you, can happen anywhere, from the nice neighborhood down the block to the densely packed suburbs of a big city.
Everyone must be careful out there, but of course, statistics do tell us that some U.S. cities experience more burglaries and break-ins than others.
People who live in high-crime areas and know it may want to look into home security systems for their residences.
So where are some of the worst places for breaking-and-entering crimes?
Dallas, Texas
Mid-2021 figures put Dallas, Texas, pretty high on the list of cities with the most breaking-and-entering crimes. Its figure was just over 10,000 break-ins reported every year.
Dallas is a large city, obviously, home to about 1.3 million people. The numbers work out like this: for every 100,000 people, there are 752 burglaries and 1,925 cases of larceny theft.
These things are likely always going to happen, but having deterrents is always important. Home security systems usually come with signs for the front yard, and those are often enough to scare away would-be burglars.
Houston, Texas
Dallas sounds pretty bad with its average annual break-ins, but Houston tops it by a long shot. Figures from 2021 have Houston suffering a yearly average of 17,762 burglaries. For reference, that’s 763 burglaries and 2,931 cases of larceny theft for every 100,000 people.
In layman’s terms: that sounds like a lot.
Now, none of this is to say that you should not move to these cities or avoid traveling there. But as you know, stay vigilant, protect what’s yours however you can, and just be smart about how you go about your days.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Somewhere in the middle of Dallas and Houston is Las Vegas, sitting at 12,618 average annual burglaries. It works out to 782 burglaries and 1,608 larceny-level thefts per every 100,000 people.
As you’re thinking about all this, know that the national data tells us that most burglaries occur during the day, and thieves look for two things in particular to steal: cash and jewelry.
It certainly can’t hurt to leave most of your cash in the bank and your jewelry hidden away when you leave home. You don’t want to upend your life due to fear, but as always, it pays to be smart.
We hope this article has shed light on some places in particular that see more burglaries than others.
The worst cities for burglaries are usually bigger cities with higher concentrations of people, but remember: protect your home with a security system or in any other way that you can, and you stand a better chance of keeping your possessions safe.