The U.S. States With The Highest Rates Of Burglary

The long and freezing winter nights are finally starting to let up in most parts of the United States. Many people will probably feel the threat from burglary will be reduced in line with the longer evenings. In actual fact, break-ins are more of a summer phenomenon in the U.S., becoming more common when the evenings get brighter. They actually spike ten percent in June, July and August. One of the theories behind the trend is that people let their guard down and become complacent as the weather gets warmer. Even though it's true that some burglars use the winter nights as cover, it is far more likely that people are at home during cold weather while during the summer, they tend to go out for longer.

According to the FBI, 60 percent of burglaries happen between 6am and 6pm. In 2016, there were 278,600 break-ins at night and 486,006 during the day with an average of $2,361 stolen. With spring on the horizon, which parts of the U.S. are experiencing the biggest threat from burglars? The most recent FBI data shows that the South-Central states suffer the worst impact with New Mexico experiencing the highest rate. In 2016, it had 840.4 instances per 100,000 residents and experts aren't too surprised about that considering how much of the Mexican drug trade flows through the state, particularly Albuquerque. Arkansas comes second with 795.5 burglaries per 100,000 inhabitants while Mississippi comes third with 781.4. New York has the lowest burglary rate in the U.S. with just 201.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016.