Is a Home Security System Actually Worth It?

Direct answer: Yes, according to real research, not just industry marketing. A Rutgers University study of over 37,000 residential burglaries found homes with visible security systems experienced 60% fewer break-in attempts than unprotected properties. Separately, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte study of 422 incarcerated burglars found 83% would check for an alarm before attempting a burglary, and 60% said they’d move to a different target if they found one.

What Convicted Burglars Themselves Actually Report

One of the more directly informative pieces of evidence here comes from asking the people who actually commit burglaries what changes their behavior. Dr. Joseph B. Kuhns of UNC Charlotte’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology surveyed 422 incarcerated burglars and found that the large majority, 83%, said they would try to determine whether an alarm was present before attempting a burglary, and 60% said they would look for a different target entirely if they found evidence of one. This is a genuinely strong signal precisely because it comes from the actual decision-makers in the scenario a security system is meant to deter, not from a security company’s own marketing claims about hypothetical burglar behavior.

Visible cameras specifically showed a related, slightly different effect: about half of the burglars surveyed said they found cameras to be effective deterrents on their own, a real but somewhat smaller effect than alarms specifically, worth knowing if a household is weighing cameras and alarms as separate or combined investments.

What the Real Crime Data Shows, Not Just Self-Reported Intentions

Self-reported burglar behavior is one kind of evidence; actual measured outcomes are another, and the Rutgers University study provides that second, independent confirmation. Analyzing more than 37,000 residential burglaries across multiple jurisdictions, the study found homes with visible security systems experienced 60% fewer break-in attempts compared to unprotected properties, a large, real effect size matching the same general direction as the burglar self-reports above. This is a meaningful form of corroboration: two genuinely different research methods, self-reported intent from burglars themselves and measured outcomes across tens of thousands of real burglary cases, point to the same conclusion rather than relying on just one type of evidence.

Why This Doesn’t Just Displace Crime to the Next House

A reasonable, real skepticism about this kind of research is whether a visible security system simply pushes burglary attempts onto a neighboring, unprotected home rather than genuinely reducing crime overall. The research on this specific question is worth knowing: a burglar alarm functions as what criminologists call a target-hardening measure, and rather than displacing burglary attempts onto neighboring homes, visible security measures on one property appear to provide some protective spillover to nearby homes as well, since a neighborhood that’s visibly harder to burglarize in general, not just one specific house, becomes less attractive to survey and target in the first place.

What Layered Security Actually Adds

The research also points to a real, practical detail about how these deterrents combine: layering multiple visible security elements together, alarm signage, visible cameras, and an actual monitored alarm system, appears more effective than relying on any single element alone. Signs alone deter a real but comparatively modest share of burglars, roughly a quarter according to the research; physical cameras and alarms together deter more than half. This is a useful, practical takeaway for a household deciding how much to invest: a basic alarm-company yard sign alone is a real but limited deterrent, while combining visible cameras with an actual functioning alarm system reflects the layered approach the research shows produces the strongest deterrent effect.

What the Real Cost Actually Looks Like

The research above establishes that security systems genuinely work as a deterrent; the practical remaining question is what that protection actually costs, and the real market splits into two genuinely different cost models worth understanding before choosing between them. A DIY system, self-installed and self-monitored via a smartphone app, typically runs $130-$500 for equipment, a real, one-time cost, with monitoring as low as $10-$20 a month or sometimes free with the equipment purchase, though many DIY brands also offer an optional professional-monitoring upgrade at $20-$50 a month, similar to the professional-system price. A professionally installed system runs a higher equipment and installation cost, commonly $300-$1,200 or more, paired with professional monitoring typically running $20-$60 a month, with many plans clustering around $25-$40.

The real, practical framing: this is a low-upfront-cost, higher-ongoing-commitment model (professional) versus a higher-upfront-cost, lower-ongoing-commitment model (DIY), not simply “cheaper” versus “more expensive” in an absolute sense. A household confident in self-installation and comfortable with self-monitoring via an app can realistically get functioning deterrence, the kind the Rutgers and UNC Charlotte research above measured, for a meaningfully lower total cost than a fully professional, monitored setup, since the deterrent effect documented in that research is tied to visible security measures being present, not specifically to whether a professional company is monitoring the alerts.

What This Means for Deciding Whether to Actually Invest

Given both the burglar self-report data and the independently measured 60% reduction in break-in attempts, the evidence-based answer to whether a home security system is worth it leans genuinely positive, a rarer case in this kind of “does X actually work” question where the research clearly supports the product category rather than debunking inflated marketing claims. The remaining real decision for a household is less about whether security systems work in general and more about which specific combination, a monitored alarm, visible cameras, or both together, matches the household’s actual budget and risk tolerance, since the layered-approach research above suggests more visible deterrent elements compound rather than simply duplicate each other’s effect.

Sources: Rutgers University burglary study (37,000+ incidents, 60% fewer break-in attempts with visible security systems) and University of North Carolina at Charlotte incarcerated-burglar survey (422 respondents, 83% check for alarms, 60% target-switch rate, ~50% camera-deterrent rate), cross-checked across multiple sources citing the same two studies (FrontPoint Security, Security.org, SafeHome.org). Target-hardening/spillover-protection criminological framing and layered-security effectiveness (signs ~25% deterrence, cameras/alarms 50%+) cross-checked across multiple sources. DIY-vs-professional security system cost data (equipment and monthly monitoring) cross-checked across multiple industry cost guides (Vivint, eufy, igotc.com, Titan Alarm). Verified 2026-08-08.