Security alarm statistics span a large professional-monitoring sector, historical adoption estimates, false-alarm burdens and mixed evidence on burglary outcomes. The figures below separate company KPIs, local studies, historical reviews and national crime reporting by population, period and geography.
Key Security Alarm Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2024, ADT served approximately 6.4 million security-monitoring subscribers across its service footprint, primarily the United States.
- In 2024, Verisure served more than 5.6 million professionally monitored-security customers in its active European and Latin American territories.
- Verisure added close to 840,000 new customers in 2024 in those active territories.
- Verisure’s customer portfolio grew 8.5% year over year in 2024.
- Verisure reported 7.4% customer attrition in 2024, compared with 7.6% in 2023.
- ADT operated six UL-listed monitoring centers on December 31, 2024 in the United States.
- ADT reported $4.293 billion in monitoring and related-services revenue in 2024.
- Verisure reported €3.408 billion in revenue in 2024 across its professionally monitored-security business.
- Verisure’s annualised recurring revenue reached €3.068 billion in 2024, a run-rate measure rather than recognized revenue.
- Alarm.com’s SaaS and license revenue increased $62.0 million, or 11%, in 2024 versus 2023.
- Fairfax County Police states that 95% to 98% of alarm calls are false alarms on its current webpage.
- A federal review found that police studies consistently reported 95% to 99% of alarm calls as false in the mainly historical U.S. studies it examined.
- The same review found alarm calls represented 10% to 30% or more of police calls for service in some communities.
- In a late-1990s Honolulu annual figure, 35,245 of 35,964 reported security alarms were classified as false alarms, or about 98%.
- Historical U.S. estimates placed residential alarm installation at about 10% of residences by the end of the 1980s.
- A Cedar Rapids evaluation reported a 55% reduction in attempted burglaries at matched-pair alarm sites, versus an 8% reduction in controls.
- In three suburban Pennsylvania areas, 1.4% of alarmed residences and 2.3% of unalarmed residences had a reported chance of burglary in the cited study.
- In the same Pennsylvania study, 4.2% of businesses with alarms and 18.2% without alarms had a reported chance of burglary.
- A Philadelphia observational study found properties without an alarm were 2.71 times more likely to report a burglary than properties with an alarm.
- The FBI’s 2023 release covered more than 14 million criminal offenses reported by participating agencies, not alarm activations.
Contents
- Key Security Alarm Statistics
- The scale of professionally monitored security alarm services
- Security alarm industry revenue and subscriber trends
- False alarm statistics and police-response burden
- Security alarm adoption and burglary-risk evidence
- Security alarm effectiveness in homes and businesses
- What security alarm statistics can and cannot show
The Scale of Professionally Monitored Security Alarm Services
Professional monitoring statistics measure customers enrolled with particular providers, not every alarm system installed. ADT’s 2024 Form 10-K reported approximately 6.4 million security-monitoring service subscribers on December 31, 2024, primarily across the United States, while Verisure reported more than 5.6 million professionally monitored-security customers in its active territories in Europe and Latin America.
ADT Inc. 2024 Form 10-K and Verisure Launches its 2024 Annual Report provide the company-reported figures.
Verisure said it added close to 840,000 new customers during 2024 and that its customer portfolio grew 8.5% year over year. Its reported customer attrition was 7.4% in 2024, down from 7.6% in 2023; attrition is a company-defined measure whose denominator should be checked in the full annual report.
ADT operated six UL-listed monitoring centers on December 31, 2024. The company stated that these centers provided year-round, 24/7 professional monitoring, which describes coverage rather than a measured response-time result.
Verisure also estimated that its 2024 portfolio exceeded five times the customers of its nearest competitor across its active territories. That is a company estimate and competitive comparison, not an independently audited market-share statistic.
Security Alarm Industry Revenue and Subscriber Trends
The available financial data show how major providers generate revenue, but they are not a complete U.S. or global industry total. ADT’s monitoring and related-services revenue rose across the three reported years below.
| ADT measure | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring and related-services revenue | $4.053 billion | $4.179 billion | $4.293 billion |
| Total revenue | $4.382 billion | $4.653 billion | $4.898 billion |
Source: ADT Inc. 2024 Form 10-K. Total revenue includes monitoring, installation, product and other revenue, so it is not interchangeable with monitoring revenue.
ADT also reported $4.177 billion in recurring monthly revenue for 2024 and $258.760 million in installation revenue. Recurring monthly revenue is a company-defined KPI reported for the year and is not a monthly average.
Verisure reported €3.408 billion in 2024 revenue, up 10.3% from 2023. Its annualised recurring revenue reached €3.068 billion, up 11.7% versus 2023; ARR is an annualised run-rate measure, not GAAP revenue recognized during the year.
Verisure also reported adjusted EBIT of €819 million in 2024, with adjusted EBIT growth of 18.0% versus 2023. This is an adjusted non-GAAP operating measure.
Verisure Launches its 2024 Annual Report
Alarm.com reported that total revenue increased $58.1 million in 2024 versus 2023. SaaS and license revenue increased $62.0 million, or 11%, while software-license revenue fell to $20.3 million from $23.2 million as the business transitioned partly from non-hosted to cloud-hosted software; hardware and other revenue decreased 1%.
Alarm.com Holdings, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K
False Alarm Statistics and the Burden on Police Response
False-alarm rates vary with jurisdiction, alarm type, verification rules and classification practice. Fairfax County Police states that 95% to 98% of alarm calls are false alarms on its current webpage, while a federal review found police studies consistently reporting 95% to 99% in mainly historical U.S. data.
The federal review also reported that alarm calls represented 10% to 30% or more of total police calls for service in some communities. That range applies across communities and historical studies, not to a current national estimate.
| Location and period | Reported alarms | False alarms | Reported share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honolulu, Hawaii, late-1990s annual figure | 35,964 | 35,245 | About 98% |
| Maui County, Hawaii, late-1990s annual figure | 4,961 | 4,770 | About 96% |
| Hawaii County, Hawaii, late-1990s annual figure | More than 1,500 | More than 1,455 | More than 97% |
The Hawaii figures come from a historical audit that noted uncertainty in false-alarm classification and reported figures. Sources: The Problem of False Burglar Alarms and False Alarm and Security Systems.
Security Alarm Adoption and Burglary-Risk Evidence
Historical estimates in the federal review placed residential alarm installations at 2% to 5% of residences in the early 1980s, about 7% by the mid-1980s and about 10% by the end of the 1980s. These are historical U.S. estimates, not current adoption rates, and system types and survey methods may differ from modern connected alarms.
A study of three suburban Pennsylvania areas compared residences with and without alarms. Alarmed residences had a 1.4% chance of burglary, compared with 2.3% for residences without alarms; the difference is 0.9 percentage points, but it is a simple comparison rather than an adjusted causal effect.
The same study reported a 4.2% chance of burglary for businesses with alarms and 18.2% for businesses without alarms. Those local observational figures should not be treated as national probabilities.
A Philadelphia observational study summarized in a peer-reviewed article reported that residential properties without an alarm were 2.71 times more likely to report a burglary in three Philadelphia neighborhoods. The article cautioned that alarm ownership may correlate with other household characteristics.
The Problem of False Burglar Alarms and Do Burglar Alarms Increase Burglary Risk? A Counter-intuitive Finding and Possible Explanations
Security Alarm Effectiveness in Homes and Businesses
The evidence includes historical quasi-experiments, observational comparisons and surveys, so the findings answer different questions. Combined security measures may not isolate the alarm component, and results from one locality or country do not automatically generalize elsewhere.
| Setting or evidence | Alarm-related result | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids businesses and schools | Attempted burglaries fell 55% at matched-pair alarm sites versus 8% in controls | 1980 evaluation of previously burgled sites |
| Pennsylvania residences | 1.4% with alarms versus 2.3% without | Three suburban areas |
| Pennsylvania businesses | 4.2% with alarms versus 18.2% without | Three suburban areas |
| England and Wales, 2008/09–2011/12 | Adding an alarm produced a marginal benefit in one of eight comparable configurations | Seven CSEW sweeps analyzed |
The Cedar Rapids evaluation involved an alarm signal sounding at the police station, and its results may not generalize. The source was Burglar Alarms.
The Pennsylvania business figures imply alarmed businesses had about 23% of the unalarmed burglary probability, while the residential figures imply about 61%; these are ratios of rounded observational inputs, not causal estimates.
A separate questionnaire sent to 1,513 incarcerated burglars received 422 responses, a 28% response rate. About 60% of respondents said an alarm would deter them from burglarizing a property, but stated deterrence is not observed behavior; in another 50-person interview study, 8 said they sometimes avoided alarms and 9 said they always avoided them, while the article reported 30 of 50 said alarms did not deter them.
For England and Wales, a peer-reviewed analysis covered seven Crime Survey for England and Wales sweeps: 1992, 1994, 1996, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. In the 1992–1996 sweeps, adding an alarm to lights, window locks and door double/deadlocks was associated with nearly three times more protection than the same configuration without an alarm; in the later comparisons, adding an alarm produced a marginal benefit in only one of eight comparable configurations, with no change or increased risk in the other seven.
Do Burglar Alarms Increase Burglary Risk? A Counter-intuitive Finding and Possible Explanations
What Security Alarm Statistics Can and Cannot Show
National crime reporting supplies context, but it does not measure alarm ownership or alarm activations. The FBI’s 2023 Crime in the Nation release covered more than 14 million criminal offenses reported by participating agencies, with more than 16,000 state, county, city, university/college and tribal agencies submitting data and population coverage of 94.3%.
The FBI estimated that U.S. violent crime decreased 3.0% in 2023 compared with its 2022 estimate. It also estimated decreases of 11.6% in murder and non-negligent manslaughter, 9.4% in the revised rape category, 2.8% in aggravated assault and 0.3% in robbery; none of these changes can be attributed to security alarms.
The comparable FBI hate-crime dataset recorded 10,627 incidents in 2023 versus 10,687 in 2022, a 0.6% decrease. These are reported incidents from agencies meeting the comparison criteria, not security-alarm measures.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales has been conducted continuously since 2001/02 with an annual sample of more than 40,000 respondents, according to the peer-reviewed article. Its alarm comparisons use specified historical sweeps rather than necessarily every year.
The central measurement distinction is therefore straightforward: company filings describe individual providers, historical reviews describe selected places and periods, and crime releases describe reported offenses. None alone provides a current national count of all alarms, a universal false-alarm rate or a causal estimate of what every alarm prevents.
FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics