According to new research from SafeHome.org, 37 million U.S. households are expected to own a security system by 2023 — up from an estimated 24 million owners today.

The “2020 Home Security Consumer Shopping Study” explores who is shopping for services, their motivations and misconceptions and what it means to feel safe in America. The data for the study comes from three sources: anonymized shopping and geolocation data from more than six million home security shoppers in the past 12 months; asking 1,500 U.S. adults responsible for purchasing home services a series of questions via survey February, April and May; and publicly available law enforcement data collected January-April 2020.


Key findings of the study include:

  • The industry is poised to grow significantly over the next year and at a faster pace than most industry projections. Ten million household decisionmakers intend to purchase a home security system in the next 12 months. This includes 6.5 million new customers, and 3.5 million that are interested in switching or upgrading their current systems.
  • An additional 40 million households ‘might shop’ for a home security system in the next twelve months. What separates the buyers from the browsers? It’s potentially a misperception about home security pricing. One-third of households believe that home security costs $100 or more per month.
  • Home security is seen an essential part of American home ownership. The majority of households intend to have a security system in the future and very few current owners have plans to cancel or remove a system.
  • Switchers are higher income households looking for the best technology. New buyers are much more likely to have household incomes of $75,000 or lower and are considerably more price-sensitive.
  • So far, COVID-19 hasn’t impacted Americans’ perception of safety, even as certain residential crimes have decreased in March and April. 
  • As of this writing, home security installations are continuing through COVID-19, and security companies are considered essential services in most states due to connecting consumers directly with fire and emergency services.

Find the study at https://www.safehome.org/resources/home-security-industry-annual-2020/.