Home Security Market

On 29 April 2024 the United Kingdom became the first country to make security a legal condition of selling a smart device: its Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure regime banned default passwords, required every maker to publish how long it will patch a product and to run a vulnerability reporting channel. For the home security market, the rule reached every camera, video doorbell, alarm hub and smart lock sold in Britain, and it set the template that the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act now extends across the single market. Douglas Insights values the home security market at USD 62.8 billion in 2025 and expects USD 119 billion by 2035, a compound annual growth rate of 6.57%. The build follows installed households rather than boxes shipped: about 188 million households paid for a home security system, device subscription or monitoring contract in 2025, at an average spend of USD 334 per household per year across equipment, monitoring and services. Secured households grow 5.1% a year as cameras, video doorbells and self-installed kits reach renters and first-time buyers, and spend per household rises 1.4% a year as buyers add cloud video storage, smart locks and professional monitoring on top of their devices. This study sits within our smart home and IoT devices coverage and follows the published Douglas Insights methodology.

What is home security, and which alarms, cameras, locks and monitoring contracts does it include?

Home security is everything a household pays for to detect, deter and respond to intrusion, fire and other threats at home, and it was a USD 62.8 billion market in 2025 across about 188 million secured households spending USD 334 a year each. The home security market includes six parts: professional monitoring services, in which a staffed central station watches alarm signals and dispatches responders; do-it-yourself and self-monitored systems with their app subscriptions; video surveillance cameras and video doorbells with cloud storage plans; alarm panels, door and window sensors, motion and glass-break detectors and hubs; smart locks and home access control; and installation, maintenance and other services. Residential customers only are counted, from houses and apartments to holiday homes, and small business premises bought on consumer plans are included where they use the same products. Commercial and enterprise security, including the control-room software sized in the Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) Market report, guarding, public video surveillance, stand-alone smoke alarms sold without a security system and home insurance are excluded. Panoramic fisheye cameras used in shops and lobbies are sized in the 360 Degree Camera Market report. Individual categories are sized in more depth in the Smart Home Security Cameras Market and Wireless Glass Break Sensor Market reports. Value is measured as consumer spending at the price households pay, including recurring fees.

How many households are secured, and what does each one put into home security a year?

About 188 million households paid for home security in 2025, which Douglas Insights estimates is roughly 8% of the world’s 2.3 billion households, and each spent an average of USD 334 a year. The penetration gap explains the market’s growth: in the United States about 30% to 35% of households pay for some form of home security, in the Nordic countries, Spain and the United Kingdom 15% to 25%, and in most of Asia, Latin America and Africa less than 5%. Spend per household varies even more. A professionally monitored system in the United States costs its owner USD 400 to USD 700 a year once equipment, installation and a monitoring contract are spread over the contract term, while a household with a single camera and a basic cloud plan spends USD 60 to USD 120 a year. Secured households grow 5.1% a year to about 309 million by 2035, and spend per household rises 1.4% a year to about USD 385 in today’s money, because households that start with one camera tend to add a doorbell, a lock and a storage plan over the following three years. The mix of new households, which start cheap, and upgrading households, which spend more, is why average spend rises slowly even as premium services grow.

What drives home security spending from DIY cameras to professional monitoring?

Cheap connected cameras are the first driver. A Wi-Fi camera now sells for USD 30 to USD 60 and a video doorbell for USD 60 to USD 150, low enough that renters and first-time buyers start with a camera rather than an alarm. Douglas Insights values video cameras and doorbells at USD 13.8 billion in 2025, growing 7.8% a year, as the Smart Home Market report shows connected devices spreading room by room.

Self-installed systems are the second driver and the fastest. SimpliSafe, Ring Alarm, Arlo and similar kits let households install a hub, sensors and cameras in under an hour and choose between self-monitoring and professional monitoring at a lower monthly fee than a traditional contract. Douglas Insights values DIY and self-monitored systems at USD 8.79 billion in 2025, growing 10.6% a year, the fastest of the six segments.

Insurance and property crime are the third driver. Insurers in the United States and Europe offer premium discounts of 5% to 20% for monitored alarms and water-leak sensors, and parcel theft from doorsteps has made video doorbells a response to a specific, visible problem. Package theft affects tens of millions of US households each year, and home burglary, while falling over the long run, still drives a purchase after every local incident.

Smart locks and access are the fourth driver. Keyless entry for deliveries, short-term rentals and family members has turned the lock into part of the security system, and smart locks connected to the same app as cameras and alarms raise spend per household. Douglas Insights values smart locks and home access at USD 6.28 billion in 2025, growing 9.0% a year.

Professional monitoring bundled with DIY equipment is the fifth driver. Providers such as ADT, Vivint and Verisure increasingly sell equipment outright or finance it over 24 to 60 months and earn their margin on monitoring, which lets them compete with DIY on the upfront price while keeping recurring revenue. ADT reported total revenue of USD 5.1 billion for 2025 and recurring monthly revenue of USD 359 million at year end in its fourth quarter and full year 2025 results.

What holds back home security as monitoring attrition and privacy worries rise?

Customer attrition is the first restraint on home security. Households cancel monitoring when they move, when a contract ends or when they switch to cheaper self-monitoring, and ADT reported gross customer revenue attrition of 13.1% in 2025, up from 12.7% in 2024. Every point of attrition removes recurring revenue that providers must replace with new customers at an acquisition cost that ADT puts at 2.3 years of revenue.

Privacy and data security are the second restraint. Camera makers have faced regulatory action and customer backlash over staff access to video and weak account security, and some households, particularly in Germany and other privacy-conscious European markets, limit cameras to outdoor use or refuse cloud storage. The UK regime of 29 April 2024 and the EU Cyber Resilience Act raise compliance costs for device makers and push smaller brands out.

False alarms are the third restraint. Police in many US cities and European countries charge fees for repeated false alarms or require video or audio verification before they respond, which adds cost to monitoring and slows sales of unverified alarm systems. Low penetration in emerging markets is the fourth: where household incomes are below USD 10,000 a year, a USD 20 monthly fee competes with basic needs, which holds Latin American and African growth to the cheaper camera segment.

Which home security segment, from monitoring contracts to smart locks, carries the value?

Professional monitoring services carry the most value in the home security market, at 34% of 2025 spending, and DIY and self-monitored systems grow fastest. Douglas Insights values the six segments as follows.

Professional monitoring services are worth USD 21.3 billion because tens of millions of households in North America and Europe pay a monthly fee for a staffed centre to respond to their alarms.

Video cameras and doorbells are worth USD 13.8 billion, the most common first purchase and the fastest route into home security for renters.

DIY and self-monitored systems are worth USD 8.79 billion, and they grow fastest because they combine low upfront cost, easy installation and optional monitoring.

Alarm panels and sensors are worth USD 7.53 billion, a mature segment sold mostly inside professionally installed systems.

Smart locks and home access are worth USD 6.28 billion, growing as deliveries, rentals and family access move to phones and codes.

Installation and other services are worth USD 5.02 billion, including professional installation, maintenance visits and extended warranties.

Is DIY home security eating professional monitoring?

DIY home security is taking new customers from professional monitoring but not replacing it, and Douglas Insights estimates that about 45% of households buying a home security system for the first time in 2025 chose a self-installed kit, up from about 25% in 2019. The two models are converging. DIY brands now offer professional monitoring for USD 20 to USD 30 a month, about half the traditional price, and traditional providers now sell cameras and self-installed sensors alongside professionally installed panels. The customers who still pay for full-service monitoring are homeowners with larger houses, older households and those whose insurers require it; renters and younger buyers start with cameras and add monitoring later, if at all. This is why professional monitoring grows only 3.8% a year while DIY systems grow 10.6%, and why providers that combine both, such as ADT with its Google partnership and Verisure with its own devices, keep their share better than monitoring-only companies.

What price do households pay for home security, from a USD 40 camera to a USD 60 monthly contract?

Households pay very different prices for home security depending on the model they choose, and Douglas Insights puts the 2025 average at USD 334 per secured household per year. A basic indoor Wi-Fi camera sells for USD 30 to USD 60 and an outdoor camera for USD 80 to USD 300, with cloud video plans at USD 3 to USD 20 a month. A video doorbell costs USD 60 to USD 250. A DIY starter kit with a hub and five to ten sensors costs USD 200 to USD 500, with optional professional monitoring at USD 20 to USD 30 a month. Traditional professionally installed and monitored systems in the United States cost USD 0 to USD 1,500 upfront depending on financing and USD 40 to USD 60 a month for monitoring, and Verisure’s European contracts run at roughly EUR 40 to EUR 50 a month. A smart lock costs USD 150 to USD 350. Monitoring prices rise 2% to 4% a year with contract renewals, while camera and sensor prices fall 3% to 5% a year, which is why spend per household grows only 1.4% a year.

Which region spends the most on home security, and how fast is Asia Pacific catching up?

North America spends the most on home security, 41% of 2025 value or USD 25.7 billion. North America grows 5.4% a year to USD 43.6 billion in 2035, because the United States has the highest penetration of professionally monitored alarms, the largest DIY brands and insurers that reward monitoring. Europe spends 26%, USD 16.3 billion, growing 6.1% a year, led by Verisure in Spain, the Nordics, France and Italy and by camera and smart lock adoption in the United Kingdom and Germany. Asia Pacific spends 25%, USD 15.7 billion, and grows fastest at 8.38% a year to USD 35.1 billion, as Chinese brands such as Hikvision’s EZVIZ and Xiaomi sell low-cost cameras across China, India and Southeast Asia and as Japanese and Australian households adopt monitored systems. Latin America spends 5%, USD 3.14 billion, growing 7.4% a year, where concern about crime in Brazil, Mexico and Chile supports alarm monitoring despite low incomes. The Middle East and Africa spend 3%, USD 1.88 billion, and are the wildcard at 8.0% a year: South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of armed response contracts, while Gulf states are adding smart home security to new residential developments.

Who supplies home security, and how far ahead are ADT and Verisure?

Home security is fragmented, and Douglas Insights estimates the five largest providers hold about 22% of 2025 spending, with ADT the largest at about 8% on its USD 5.1 billion of revenue. ADT leads professional monitoring in the United States with a partnership with Google for devices and State Farm for insurance distribution. Verisure leads Europe and Latin America in monitored alarms and listed its shares on Euronext Amsterdam in October 2025. Vivint, owned by NRG Energy, and Brinks Home serve US smart-home monitoring. Amazon’s Ring and Google Nest lead video doorbells and cameras, SimpliSafe leads DIY monitored systems in the United States, and Arlo, Eufy, Wyze, EZVIZ and Xiaomi compete in cameras. Alarm.com supplies the software platform behind many dealers’ systems, and Resideo supplies panels and sensors to installers. Scale in monitoring rests on customer base and acquisition cost; in devices it rests on price, app quality and cloud subscriptions.

How large could home security grow by 2035 if attrition rises or DIY adoption doubles?

The base case carries 5.1% growth in secured households and 1.4% growth in spend per household for a 6.57% revenue CAGR and USD 119 billion in 2035. In the slower scenario, monitoring attrition keeps rising, camera prices fall faster and emerging-market adoption stalls, so the legs fall to 3.2% and 0.2% and the home security market reaches about USD 87.8 billion. In the faster scenario, DIY adoption doubles in Asia and Europe, insurers expand discounts and smart locks become standard in new homes, lifting the legs to 6.8% and 2.6% and carrying the market to about USD 157 billion. Each 1-point change in household growth moves the 2035 figure by roughly USD 11.8 billion. Published estimates for home security run between 5% and 9% a year; the Douglas figure sits inside that band because slow-growing monitoring offsets fast-growing devices.

How do PSTI, the Cyber Resilience Act and alarm standards change home security products?

Product security laws now shape which home security devices can be sold, and alarm standards shape which systems insurers and police accept. The UK Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure regime, in force from 29 April 2024, bans default passwords, requires a vulnerability reporting channel and makes makers publish their security update period. The EU Cyber Resilience Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, in force since 10 December 2024 with main obligations applying from December 2027, extends similar duties across the European Union, and in the United States the FCC‘s Cyber Trust Mark, launched in January 2025, labels connected devices that meet federal cybersecurity criteria. For alarm systems, EN 50131 sets security grades in Europe and UL standards govern equipment and monitoring centres in the United States, while many police forces and cities require verified alarms or charge false-alarm fees. Data protection rules such as the GDPR govern how video from cameras that cover streets and neighbours may be recorded and stored.

Douglas Exclusive: the home security attrition and switching ledger

The home security attrition and switching ledger tracks, by country and provider type, how many households start, cancel and switch home security services each year, why they leave, whether they move to DIY, another provider or nothing, and what each move does to spend per household. Providers, investors and insurers can see which customer groups churn fastest, how much recurring revenue DIY is taking from traditional monitoring and where bundled offers slow attrition. Douglas Insights updates the ledger as providers report customer and attrition data.

Methodology and receipts: how do 188 million secured homes add up to USD 62.8 billion?

Douglas Insights built the home security model from adoption and spend across 6 segments and 5 regions. Secured households were derived from household counts by country, penetration of monitored alarms, DIY systems and connected cameras from provider disclosures and household surveys, and overlap between those groups; spend per household was set by segment and country from monitoring fees, device prices, subscription plans and installation charges. Totals were reconciled against the revenue of 10 listed providers and device makers, including ADT’s USD 5.1 billion 2025 revenue. The receipts are 188 million households times USD 334 per household for 2025, 5.1% household growth and 1.4% spend growth to 2035.

Sources

1. UK Government, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology The UK Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (Product Security) regime (2024)
2. EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 (Cyber Resilience Act) (2024)
3. ADT Inc. ADT Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results (2026)