Home security system cost in Chicago: what owners paid (2023 survey)
Chicago owners paid a median $334 for a home security system: $95 below the U.S. median, the lowest of 14 big metros (Census Bureau, 2023). When owners hired it out, the middle half paid $250 to $800.
What Chicago owners paid
$334
This is historical spending: work done in about 2021 to 2023 on owner-occupied homes, reported in the 2023 survey.
Margin of error ±$107: at 90% confidence the Chicago median lies between $227 and $441.
Hired out: $400 typical, from 34 hired-out jobs in the survey sample.
How Chicago compares
- U.S. median, same work
- $429
- Rank, highest first
- 14 of 14
Chicago: $334. The lowest of the big metros.
1 of the 15 metros have no published figure for this work, so the rank counts the other 14.
- Houston$557
- Boston$500
- Dallas$500
- Los Angeles$500
- Miami$500
- San Francisco$500
- Seattle$500
- Philadelphia$464
- Riverside$464
- Atlanta$450
- Washington DC$429
- Detroit$400
- Phoenix$400
- Chicago$334
No published figure: New York City.
- Los Angeles$800$350–$1,200
- Seattle$800$400–$1,500
- Washington DC$800$300–$2,600
- Atlanta$740$500–$900
- Houston$740$370–$1,500
- San Francisco$700$300–$1,500
- Riverside$650$350–$1,200
- Dallas$560$300–$930
- Philadelphia$560$330–$840
- Chicago$400$250–$800
A metro is shown when at least 30 hired-out jobs in the survey sample stand behind it.
What it covers
Adding or replacing a home security system: the equipment and its installation.
The Census category is “Security system” within “Interior Additions and Replacements”: what Chicago-area homeowners told the Census Bureau they paid, every size of job together.
Before you compare quotes
Ask every contractor to price the same scope, in writing. A quote outside the hired-out range above is a reason to ask what it covers, not proof that it is wrong. Are equipment, installation and any ongoing service separately identified?
Then put the quotes in your project budget worksheet to see each one's scope beside its price.