Asklemmy

Depends where youre at. Growing up, I lived in the middle of no where. We rarely locked our doors, even if we were not home or on vacation. I live in DFW, TX now. I generally keep the doors locked when home or away. That being said, I have left the doors unlocked when I've gone to work and left the doors unlocked and even the garage door open

Depends on location. I wouldn't leave my doors or windows unlocked in any major US city with a population of 100k or more. I live in NY but about three hours north of NYC in a small village of 2500. I never lock my doors and have no fears whatsoever.

I'm more worried about my door blowing open and my pets getting out. Locking the door takes like 1 second and I do it out of habit. Whether it's safe or not to not leave it unlocked isn't even a thought that enters my mind. Everyone that needs to be inside is inside. If someone else comes they can knock. Why would I leave it unlocked? Like, for real, it's one second of effort.

Would do you define "locking"?

A: Just closing the door and relying on thr closing snapper (resulting in pulling on the door being unable able to open it)
B: Turning the key

Wouldn't advise leaving things unlocked overnight in general, but it'll depend where in the US. Here out in the exurbs I have neighbors who haven't locked their houses or cars in years, but I just personally wouldn't fall asleep without locking my doors. Maybe it's the true crime podcasts getting to me.

First, the USA is a giant country. It takes about four hours to drive from New York to Philadelphia and two weeks to drive from New York to Los Angeles.

Second, crime can vary wildly in the same city.

It is highly dependent on where you live. And it’s not density-specific, either. Some cities are sketchier than others. Some rural areas are sketchier than others.

When I lived in LA and Atlanta, motherfuckers would steal the milk out of your coffee. I kept everything completely locked up, put away and hidden. I now live in northern Wisconsin and I dont lock anything. I dont think anyone around here does. This is the safest community I've ever been a part of and I love it.

In my parent's area, where it's like 40 people per square mile, yeah it's perfectly safe. It's a hard mindset to get out of for me, I live in metro Detroit now. My neighborhood is nice, low crime. Good school district. We leave our house unlocked for short periods, like going g to pick up our kid from daycare or taking a walk to the park. Sometimes it gets left unlocked accidentally overnight. Nothing has ever happened.

I also am in the habit of never locking my car. There's nothing in it, except my daughter's carseat and some quarters for the Aldi carts. Only once has anything been taken, and that was in a mall parking lot. They stole two throw pillows, and a warm coat. I can only assume it was a homeless person, so I'm not even mad. At least with unlocked doors I don't worry about my windows being broken.

I live in Suburban North Carolina, I haven't locked my house in years.

the US is a gigantic country, so there are different practices in different places. I have never left my door unlocked, but maybe others have.

That really depends on where. My mother grew up in Montana and they never locked their doors. Whereas my ass in NJ has never not locked the doors.

Living in a top 25 murder per 100k capita area, windows are locked, doors locked, cars locked, bright outdoor lights, backyard fence padlocked, cameras recording and on battery backup lol.

I personally have never lived somewhere where I don't lock the doors, even if I'm home. It just makes me feel safer.

Conversely, my dad, who lives about 15 minutes from me, has never locked the front door of the house in the 45 years I've been alive. When he goes away somewhere, he leaves the garage door unlocked so neighbors can borrow tools and the kids in the neighborhood can grab a ball if they need one. Nothing has ever gone missing.

Like others have said, it depends on where you are in the US. I live in a suburban area and we always lock our doors, whereas my cousins live in a rural region of the state and rarely lock their doors.

It's up to you, but I'd always err on the side of caution and lock the door.

Couldn't tell you. It's just a habit for me to lock my shit up when I leave/not using it (car, house, etc.).

I don't know how people are fine with leaving their house/car unlocked just because. I also don't trust people because I've had way, way too many experiences with complete and total dumbass idiots who don't know what they're doing with themselves to be able to leave anything to chance.

As I move into bigger and bigger cities the people around me insist the answer is no, but I regularly leave the doors unlocked. I also have no issue hitchhiking either so, maybe i'm a bit of an outlier. I've got infinite levels of trust in people.

Growing up on a small town in Iowa, I would leave my car unlocked and windows down during the day. I lived rural and we never locked our door. Now there's been more development near my mother's house and she locks the door at night and when she's not home. Someone down the street about a mile away had someone break into their house. Unfortunately for the perp, the home owner heard, grabbed a golf club and gave the dude a shiner and a titlists face tattoo.

Now I live in a larger metro area and keep my doors locked all day. I truly wouldn't need to because we have a pretty safe community, but my wife grew up in a worse place so it's more habit than anything. We also have dogs they could potentially pop a door open and get out, so extra piece of mind.

Totally depends on where.

I know that in certain countries like Japan or South Korea: it's normal to leave the front door unlocked

Can't speak to the Koreans. I don't know anybody in Japan who doesn't lock their door even when they're home. Granted, I don't know the entire population. Even in the countryside I suspect more people will lock when they're not at home. There is a tradition where the area immediately behind the front door where you take your shoes off is considered not that private. They call it genkan. And delivery people may - in rural areas - enter that area without being invited. The fear of one day finding the public broadcaster TV fee collector, the yoghurt mafia, Jehovah's witnesses, or the Mount Fuji cult recruiters in your genkan, makes most people lock.

It’s safer to lock, how much safer varies. Why do you ask?

Where I live front door locked, back door unlocked.

It isn’t safe to leave your doors unlocked anywhere in the world. It’s not just a crime thing you wanna block the entrances to your house to keep animals out, To stop it from drifting open during weather event that can damage your house, To seal the house to keep vermin and pestilence out.

Being safe is such a broad term.

cctv is not as much of a thing in the us. Largely dependent on bussinesses and not much so far with public cameras. Few places are going to have rates that low but they exist and ones with higher rates still have people that by and large keep the door unlocked. Its mostly a perceived thing really though. Im not sure I would call it safe just because its uncommon. I always thought it was foolish to not utilze something like it but I do tend to use the bolt as its easier to not lock myself out because I have to use a key to lock the door.

Growing up, we had a front door that we never used, so we left it locked, and the side door was always unlocked unless we were going on vacation or something.

My friends parents locked their door when they werent home, but they always left the windows next to the door unlocked, so they or I or anyone could just climb in if we needed to.

I dont know if people locked doors at night, but we didn't. Definitely no one ever locked the door during the day when they were home. The first time I experienced someone doing that, I was so confused. If a thief is willing to go into an occupied house, they'll be willing to break a window.

I would never leave keys in a car, partly because of where I live now, but also because cars are deadly weapons, and you shouldn't leave those around where kids could get hurt.