State Rankings: How Often Are Burglars Arrested in Your State?

If you were to become a victim of burglary, what are the chances that police could catch the criminal? Considering the fact that property crimes are notoriously hard to solve in the United States—and that the data varies from state to state—it may not be likely.

Still, some burglaries do result in arrests. Our data analyst looked at FBI crime reports for each state to compare the total number of reported burglaries to the number of burglary arrests. Read on to find your state’s ranking and learn what you can do to help police catch these criminals now and in the future.

Delaware topped our list with the highest rate of burglary arrests: 950 arrests out of 3,970 total burglaries, coming out at 24%.¹ Connecticut and California were next on the list, both at 22%.

Meanwhile, Nebraska ranked lowest, closely followed by Illinois and New Mexico. Nebraska made only 53 burglary arrests, which totals a mere 1% of the 6,472 burglaries that happened that year.

In 2017, burglaries cost Americans roughly $3.4 billion in property loss, an average of $2,416 per burglary. Of those reported burglary cases, only 13% were cleared.

Of the top 10 states with the highest rate of burglary arrests, seven of them—Delaware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Jersey—are on the East Coast.

Having your house burgled can be a trying experience. But there are steps you can take after your house has been broken into to raise the chances of the criminal being caught.

If your house has been broken into, it’s important to first file a report with the police and go over everything that was stolen or damaged. This is a situation where having a security camera comes in handy: it may capture footage of the break-in. You should also take pictures and make detailed notes about anything that’s missing or broken.

Afterward, file a police report. A police report will help increase the chances that they’ll catch the thief and that you’ll recover your stolen items.

Then, file an insurance claim. You can recoup a lot of your losses with homeowners or renters insurance. Be sure to use a copy of your police report to file your claim.

Read more from our security experts about what to do in case of a break-in or find out the average police response times by state.

You can lower the chance of your home being burgled by being proactive when it comes to the security and safety of your home and personal information.

Cash and valuables aren’t the only items burglars like to steal—there’s also a good chance they’ll take personal information they can later use to drain your bank account and hurt your credit.

With identity theft protection, you can get alerts of any suspicious activity with your accounts in the weeks following the robbery. Identity theft plans can also monitor your Social Security number and alert you if someone takes out a new line of credit.

For each state, we gathered the total number of burglaries and total number of burglary-related arrests in 2017 per state from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The states were then ranked from highest to lowest percentage of burglary arrests.

Wondering where your state ranked? Take a look at our full list below.

1. Delaware
2. Connecticut
3. California
4. Pennsylvania
5. Florida
6. Maryland
7. Maine
8. Rhode Island
9. South Dakota
10. New Jersey
11. Louisiana
12. Wisconsin
13. Alaska
14. New York
15. Virginia
16. Vermont
17. Kentucky
18. Idaho
19. Wyoming
20. Tennessee
21. Nevada
22. Missouri
23. Massachusetts
24. New Hampshire
25. Minnesota
26. North Carolina
27. North Dakota
28. Washington
29. Iowa
30. Arizona
31. Colorado
32. Alabama
33. South Carolina
34. West Virginia
35. Arkansas
36. Michigan
37. Oklahoma
38. Texas
39. Hawaii
40. Oregon
41. Montana
42. Utah
43. Georgia
44. Ohio
45. Indiana
46. Mississippi
47. Kansas
48. New Mexico
49. Illinois
50. Nebraska

Sources:

1. FBI, “2017 Crime in the United States”
2. UNC Charlotte, “Study Provides Insights on Habits and Motivations of Burglars”
3. KTVB, “We Asked 86 Burglars How They Broke into Homes”