Does a Home Security System Lower Your Insurance?

What insurers actually say

Four large national insurers, quoted from their own websites in August 2026:

The pattern is consistent: every major insurer confirms the discount exists, none commits to a number in public, and all of them note that availability and size vary by state and policy. The only way to get your actual number is to ask your carrier or agent directly.

One detail worth noticing: both Allstate and Progressive single out monitored systems. A professionally monitored alarm, where a monitoring center can confirm and escalate an alarm, is generally treated as a stronger risk reduction than a siren-only or self-monitored setup. If you are weighing whether monitoring is worth the monthly fee, the insurance discount is one input in that math; see is professional monitoring worth it for the full picture.

How big the discount typically is

Since insurers do not publish percentages, the most authoritative public numbers come from state insurance departments, which regulate these carriers and publish consumer guidance.

The Delaware Department of Insurance tells consumers: "You can usually get discounts of at least 5% for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks. Some companies may cut your premiums by as much as 15% or 20% if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm that rings at the police, fire or other monitoring stations." It also warns that these central-station systems are not cheap and that not every system qualifies, so you should ask your insurer what qualifies before buying. That page is long-standing consumer guidance rather than a current-year rate survey, which is another reason to treat the range as an order of magnitude rather than a quote.

The Texas Department of Insurance lists a "safe home discount" among the most common homeowners discounts and advises: if you install a monitored security alarm or a smart home system, tell your insurance company and ask about a discount. It does not publish a percentage either.

So the honest range, per state regulators rather than marketing pages: at least 5 percent for basic protective devices, and 15 to 20 percent only at Delaware's stated high end, which pairs a sophisticated sprinkler system with a fire and burglar alarm reporting to a monitoring station. Your actual figure depends on carrier, state, and system type. On a typical homeowners premium, a 5 percent discount is on the order of a few dollars a month, which matters for the total cost math but will not pay for professional monitoring by itself. For where the discount fits in the full monthly picture, see home security cost per month.

How to claim the discount

The discount is not automatic. The usual process:

1. Call your insurer or agent and ask specifically about the protective device discount (carriers name it differently: safe home discount, protective device credit, home security discount).
2. Ask what qualifies before you buy anything. Delaware's insurance department explicitly recommends finding out "what kind your insurer recommends, how much the device would cost and how much you'd save on premiums" before purchasing.
3. Provide proof. For monitored systems, monitoring providers can issue a certificate of alarm monitoring (sometimes called an insurance certificate) that you forward to your carrier. Self-monitored and unmonitored setups may qualify for a smaller credit or none, depending on the carrier.
4. Re-check at renewal. Discounts vary by state and can change; State Farm's own disclosure notes its home security discount offers are not available in all states.

If you are already planning a monitored system, it is worth getting real monitoring quotes and your insurer's discount quote in the same week, so you can do the net-cost math with actual numbers. Our short questionnaire at /quote fetches quotes from professional monitoring providers, which gives you the other half of that equation.

Does the discount justify buying a system?

On its own, no. Take the regulator numbers at face value: a 5 percent discount on a premium of, say, $2,000 a year is $100 a year. Professional monitoring typically costs several times that annually, and equipment is on top. Even the 15 to 20 percent high end usually offsets only part of a monitored system's ongoing cost.

The honest framing: buy a security system for security, and treat the insurance discount as a rebate that improves the math. The exception is homes where the carrier requires or strongly prices for protective devices (high-crime areas, some coastal or FAIR-plan situations), where the premium effect can be larger; your agent can tell you if that applies to you.

Also note what the discount does not do: it does not reduce your deductible, and having an alarm does not change what perils your policy covers. It is purely a premium credit.