Do burglars come through unlocked doors?
Nearly half of the home burglaries in the FBI's 2024 data involved no force at all. Of 380,116 residential burglaries reported, 184,257 left nothing broken: no smashed glass, no jimmied lock, no kicked door. Somebody just got in.
The FBI's label is "not forced", which is wider than "unlocked". It also covers a spare key found outside, a garage door left open, a window nobody latched, and entry by someone the household knew. This page splits the number by state, from 39% in Indiana to 78% in South Dakota, and shows where it's highest.
No forced entry, by state
| Rank | State | Share with no forced entry | Reported home burglaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | 78% | 889 |
| 2 | Montana | 71.6% | 1,050 |
| 3 | Utah | 66.5% | 2,722 |
| 4 | Louisiana | 65.7% | 9,031 |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 64.4% | 3,894 |
| 6 | Idaho | 63.4% | 1,216 |
| 7 | Wyoming | 61.7% | 580 |
| 8 | Minnesota | 60% | 5,952 |
| 9 | West Virginia | 59.6% | 2,043 |
| 10 | Iowa | 56.5% | 3,796 |
| 11 | South Carolina | 56.5% | 10,422 |
| 12 | Hawaii | 55.7% | 1,618 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | 55% | 427 |
| 14 | Arkansas | 54.6% | 6,181 |
| 15 | Oregon | 54.4% | 6,135 |
| 16 | Colorado | 53.9% | 9,692 |
| 17 | Delaware | 53.9% | 1,166 |
| 18 | Virginia | 52% | 6,045 |
| 19 | North Dakota | 51.2% | 1,515 |
| 20 | Maryland | 50.8% | 6,590 |
| 21 | Texas | 50.5% | 44,539 |
| 22 | Illinois | 50.2% | 16,997 |
| 23 | Maine | 50.1% | 813 |
| 24 | Vermont | 49.4% | 490 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 48.8% | 2,201 |
| 26 | Massachusetts | 48.5% | 5,500 |
| 27 | Kentucky | 48.4% | 6,046 |
| 28 | Georgia | 48.3% | 11,514 |
| 29 | Rhode Island | 47.7% | 773 |
| 30 | Washington | 47.1% | 14,780 |
| 31 | Ohio | 46.9% | 16,181 |
| 32 | Kansas | 46% | 4,727 |
| 33 | New Mexico | 45.3% | 5,494 |
| 34 | Missouri | 45.2% | 8,901 |
| 35 | Alabama | 44.9% | 8,072 |
| 36 | North Carolina | 44.4% | 21,171 |
| 37 | Nevada | 43.4% | 5,721 |
| 38 | District of Columbia | 41.8% | 746 |
| 39 | Oklahoma | 41.2% | 10,578 |
| 40 | Tennessee | 41% | 11,737 |
| 41 | Indiana | 38.5% | 7,520 |
Michigan is left out of the ranking. It reports 22.7%, far below every other state, which looks like a local coding difference. States with under 75% coverage are also left out.
What this does and doesn't say
The 48.5% doesn't tell you how many burglaries an unlocked door caused. NIBRS records whether force was used, not whether the door was locked. What it does show is that in about one burglary in two, nothing physical was in the way.
That makes the free checks the sensible first step: the back door, the garage, ground-floor windows, and where the spare key lives. A camera records a walk-in. A latch is what stops it.
Two limits. Agencies report to NIBRS voluntarily, so these are reported burglaries, not a national count. And the state gap is partly local reporting habits: Michigan's 23% is probably a coding difference, so it's left out of the ranking.
Questions
Does "no forced entry" mean the door was unlocked?
Not necessarily. NIBRS records whether force was used to enter. It does not record whether the door was locked, so it also covers open garages, unlatched windows, spare keys and entry by someone known to the household.
What share of home burglaries involve no forced entry?
48.5% of the home burglaries reported to the FBI's NIBRS in 2024 had no forced entry.
Which state has the highest share with no forced entry?
South Dakota, at 78% of reported home burglaries, among states with at least 75% coverage.
Sources
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, NIBRS 2024 master file (US government data, public domain). Residential burglary is offense code 220 at a residence or home.
- US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 state population estimates.
- How the numbers were built: About the data.