Home security system cost in Washington DC: what owners paid (2023 survey)
Washington DC owners paid a median $429 for a home security system: the same as the U.S. median, 11th-highest of 14 big metros (Census Bureau, 2023). When owners hired it out, the middle half paid $300 to $2,600.
What Washington DC owners paid
$429
This is historical spending: work done in about 2021 to 2023 on owner-occupied homes, reported in the 2023 survey.
Margin of error ±$129: at 90% confidence the Washington DC median lies between $300 and $558.
Hired out: $800 typical, from 55 hired-out jobs in the survey sample.
How Washington DC compares
- U.S. median, same work
- $429
- Rank, highest first
- 11 of 14
Washington DC: $429. The big-metro medians run from $334 to $557.
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 Washington DC-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.