I remember reading – at least 20 years ago – that the front door was the most popular entry point for burglars. I was surprised by that. Two decades later, though, it makes sense to me. Burglars still love the front door for one big reason: it is one of the easiest entry points to breach.
HuffPost contributor and freelance writer Ashley Broadwater laid it all out in a very detailed post from May 2025. The post is worth reading if you want to understand the nitty-gritty. But her general point is that burglars look for the easiest way in. And in so many cases, that way is the front door.
Failing to Lock the Door
What makes the front door such an easy entry point? For starters, more homeowners than you might think fail to lock their doors when they leave home. A 2023 survey conducted by Vivint Home Security demonstrates as much. Among a whole boatload of surprising facts, here are some of the more interesting things the survey revealed:
- 75% don’t lock their doors when running errands.
- 75% don’t lock their doors when they go to work or the gym.
- 80% don’t lock up when taking the dog for a walk.
- 77% don’t keep doors locked when they are home.
Such high numbers are bad news for insurance companies and homeowners but great news for burglars. But it gets even more interesting. For example, just 70% of the survey respondents from Arizona and Kentucky reported locking their doors before going to bed at night. That is amazing. Survey respondents in some states did better, while respondents in others did worse.
Flimsy Factory Locks
Another selling point for the front door – at least from the burglar’s perspective – are flimsy factory locks. Let’s face it, builders will only install top-of-the-line locks if homeowners are willing to pay extra for them. And homeowners themselves will not necessarily purchase the best and strongest locks they can find when replacing the locks left behind by previous homeowners.
The result is that front doors are often easy to breach. A skilled burglar can get in with a well-placed kick. It doesn’t take 10 seconds. This is why security experts continually remind homeowners to beef up the front door. A heavy-duty security door, along with an equally strong deadbolt lock, offers the most protection.
Likewise, a security camera with a clear view of the front door can be an amazingly effective deterrent, at least when burglars can see it. Security cameras make it more difficult for burglars to make entry without being detected.
Carelessness With Keys
As strange as it sounds, yet another reason burglars are attracted to the front door is the fact that homeowners are still careless with their keys. For example, it was fairly common back in the 1970s and 80s to leave a spare key under the door mat, in the mailbox, or even under a planter on the front porch.
Doing so was one way to prevent locking yourself out of your home. A spare key was also a way to let guests into your home when you could not be there to welcome them. Here’s the thing: burglars figured it out. They are now smart enough to look around for spare keys. Finding one under the doormat means easy entry with no detection.
Breaking in through the front door might not make sense to your average homeowner. It makes perfect sense to burglars. The front door continues to be an easy access point because so many homeowners are careless about front-door protection.