Leaving your doors unlocked when you leave the house is carefree at best, careless at worst. Turning that key is the simplest way to prevent a burglary—and the accompanying headache—no matter what the crime rate is in your area. And yet we've all done it in a rushed moment. According to a new survey by safehome.org, based on responses from over 1,000 Americans, people in certain regions of the country are more prone to leave their doors unlocked than others: In the northwest and the northeast, residents only lock their doors 54% and 58% of the time, respectively, compared to southeasterners, who lock their doors 81% of the time.
Why? It might be a reflection of actual burglary rates—the survey says that in 2015, the southeast was home to the most burglaries in the U.S.—but that doesn't account for the fact that in the northeast, where only 10% of burglaries took place that year, 58% of people still lock their doors. "Better safe than sorry" seems to be the case. Here are some other findings from the survey we found interesting and some highly non-scientific deductions:
- People in apartment buildings are more likely to lock their doors than any other housing type. Maybe it's time to host a mixer for the building!
- The more kids in a family, the less likely they are to lock their doors. (Parents of an only-child are the most-likely to lock up.) This one's pretty understandable (hats off to all of you parents).
- People with large dogs are less likely to lock their doors than people with any other kind of security system. Time to adopt!
- The better people know their neighbors, the less likely they are to lock their doors. Just because you love the family across the street doesn't mean you should leave your doors unlocked.
- The more people spend on rent the more likely they are to lock the doors. Burglars don't always break into the fanciest houses, you know!
Read the rest of the survey, here.
