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

My bf sometimes leaves a door unlocked or doesn't shut it all the way. I'll get up in the morning, realize it's cold downstairs, and go down to find the door standing wide open. So far we haven't been murdered, so...

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Totally depends on where.

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

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.

Where I live front door locked, back door unlocked.

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.

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.

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.