Home › How burglars get in
How burglars get into homes: 59% start at the front
In burglaries where someone got into a home in England and Wales in the year to March 2025, 58.8% came in at the front and 37.4% at the back. A door was the way in 76.9% of the time, and in 24.5% of break-ins the door had not been locked.
Where burglars got in: 59% front, 37% back
The survey asks victims whether the burglar got in at the front of the house or flat (including a garage), at the back or at the side. These figures cover burglaries where the burglar got inside, not attempts.
| Point of entry | Year to Mar 2024 | Year to Mar 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Front | 62.8% | 58.8% |
| Back | 32.7% | 37.4% |
| Side | 4.6% | 3.9% |
How they got in: doors 77%, windows 20%
Doors were the main route. The most common single method was simply walking through a door that wasn't locked (24.5%), ahead of forcing the lock (14.9%). In 10.3% of cases the burglar pushed past the person who opened the door, and in 7.8% they got in under false pretences, by lying about who they were or why they were there. 6.0% had a key.
Through windows, the most common methods were breaking or cutting the glass (9.1%) and forcing the lock or catch (7.0%). Victims could give more than one answer, so the methods don't add up to 100%.
| Method | Year to Mar 2024 | Year to Mar 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Door | 72.6% | 76.9% |
| Door was not locked | 35.1% | 24.5% |
| Forced the lock | 10.9% | 14.9% |
| Pushed past the person who opened the door | 8.7% | 10.3% |
| False pretences | 4.7% | 7.8% |
| Broke or cut a door panel | 8.0% | 6.2% |
| Had a key | 6.1% | 6.0% |
| Door, other method | 3.5% | 11.2% * |
| Window | 23.2% | 19.8% |
| Broke or cut the glass | 3.3% | 9.1% |
| Forced the window lock or catch | 2.8% | 7.0% |
| Window open or could be pushed open | 16.7% | 4.7% * |
Was anyone home? Yes, in 63% of burglaries
Burglary is not mainly a crime of empty houses. Someone was at home in 63.3% of burglaries in the year to March 2025, and in 30.4% the person at home was aware of the burglary and saw the burglar. The share with someone at home fell from 72.7% the year before, a change the ONS marks as statistically significant. This table covers all domestic burglary in a dwelling, including attempts (unweighted base 292 incidents).
| Year to Mar 2024 | Year to Mar 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Someone at home | 72.7% | 63.3% * |
| At home and unaware | 32.6% | 26.6% |
| At home and aware but did not see the burglar | 10.1% | 6.3% |
| At home and aware and did see the burglar | 30.1% | 30.4% |
| No one at home | 27.3% | 36.7% * |
When it happens: 70% in the evening or at night
69.8% of domestic burglaries happened between 6pm and 6am, up from 60.1% the year before (a statistically significant rise). 62.4% happened in the dark, and 71.0% happened during the week rather than at the weekend (the survey counts the weekend as Friday 6pm to Monday 6am). Base: 278 incidents.
What the figures point to
Three things stand out for anyone looking after a home:
- Lock the door you're behind. An unlocked door was the most common way in, and most burglaries happened with someone home. Locking doors while you're in deals with the single biggest route in this data.
- The front is the main entry point. 58.8% of break-ins started at the front. A video doorbell lets you see who's there before you open the door, which matters given 10.3% pushed past whoever answered and 7.8% used a false story.
- Windows are a fifth of break-ins. Glass and weak catches were the usual ways through. See our guide to window locks.
These are patterns across England and Wales, not a risk score for your street. For local advice, contact your police force's crime prevention team or see Secured by Design's home security advice.
About these figures
- They come from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, a household survey run by the ONS. It counts burglaries that people tell the survey about, whether or not they were reported to the police. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered.
- The number of burglaries in the survey each year is small (128 incidents with entry in the latest year), so individual percentages can move a lot from year to year. Only changes marked * passed the ONS test for statistical significance.
- The survey was suspended in the years to March 2021 and March 2022 because of the pandemic.
- Percentages are for incidents, not households, and describe what happened in burglaries. They do not tell you how likely your own home is to be burgled.
Download the figures on this page (CSV).
Sources
- Office for National Statistics, Nature of crime: burglary, year ending March 2025, tables 1a, 2b, 3b and 10a. Crime Survey for England and Wales. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The selection and presentation on this page are ours.
- Secured by Design, home security advice.