Burglary Statistics for Miami and Palmetto Bay
Burglary in Miami-Dade County fell in 2025, and the national trend points the same way. Palmetto Bay has a small number of reported burglaries each year, so a few incidents can move its rate noticeably. Below you will find the latest figures, what “burglary” means in these reports, where to read official local data, and what you can do at your own doors.
TL;DR
Miami-Dade County burglaries dropped about 7% in 2025, from 1,180 to 1,101 reported incidents in one tally of county figures.
Nationally, estimated burglary offenses fell 15.8% from 2024 to 2025 according to the FBI.
Palmetto Bay’s counts are small (a few dozen a year in third-party tallies), so year-to-year swings say little on their own.
Official data comes from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office dashboard and the Village’s weekly police reports.
Falling averages do not lower your risk on a given night: rekey after any move or lost key, and replace damaged locks fast.
Table of Contents
What the latest numbers show for Miami-Dade
The short version: down. South Florida Times reported that burglaries in Miami-Dade County fell 7% in 2025 compared with 2024, from 1,180 to 1,101 reported incidents. The same report says crime rates in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties all fell in 2025, in line with a national decline.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office gives a larger figure because it counts a broader category. Its 2025 annual report shows burglary and breaking-and-entering offenses across the area the Sheriff’s Office covers dropping from 1,786 in 2024 to 1,576 in 2025. That is roughly an 11.8% decrease by simple arithmetic.
Two different totals for the same county is normal. Each one depends on which agencies are included, which offense categories are counted, and when the data was pulled. Compare a figure only with other numbers from the same source, never across sources.
The national picture
The FBI’s Summary of Reported Crimes in the Nation for 2025, released in August 2026, estimates that burglary offenses nationwide decreased 15.8% from 2024 to 2025. Miami-Dade’s drop was smaller than the national one in the figures above, but the direction is the same.
Property crime inside the City of Miami
Within the City of Miami, Transparent.city reported that property crime across the five commission districts fell 12.0% between January 1 and September 30, 2026, compared with the same months of 2025, with 7,835 incidents reported. District 4 saw the steepest drop (21.7%) and District 3 the smallest (4.2%). Property crime is a wider category than burglary: it also includes larceny and vehicle theft. Treat it as a mood of the city, not a burglary count.
What the numbers say about Palmetto Bay, Homestead and Cutler Bay
Palmetto Bay is a small municipality, and small numbers behave differently from county totals. City-Data’s page lists 29 burglaries in Palmetto Bay in 2025, a rate of 112.9 per 100,000 residents, against 24 burglaries and 99.0 per 100,000 in 2024. That is five more incidents. In a village this size, five incidents can change the rate by double digits without anything meaningful changing on your street.
For Homestead, HomeSnacks lists 180 burglaries at 223.2 per 100,000 in its latest reporting-year table. Homestead is larger than Palmetto Bay, so a higher raw count is expected. The rate per 100,000 is the fairer comparison, and it still should not be read as a ranking. Treat these third-party tallies as a rough guide and check them against official reports before you rely on them.
For a live feel of the area, SpotCrime’s Homestead trend page showed 10 burglaries in the most recent 30 days against 8 in the 30 days before. SpotCrime itself warns that its map radius may include neighboring agencies, so that number is a snapshot, not a verdict.
I could not find a published, citable burglary total for Cutler Bay that matches these sources, so we do not quote one here. The official channels below will give you a current number.
What counts as a burglary
People often use “burglary” for any crime involving a break-in or stolen property. In official statistics the word is narrow.
The FBI’s offense definitions separate the categories this way:
Offense | How the FBI defines it |
Burglary | Unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft, including attempted forcible entry |
Robbery | Taking or attempting to take something of value from a person by force or threat |
Larceny-theft | Unlawful taking of property without force, violence or fraud |
Motor-vehicle theft | Theft or attempted theft of a self-propelled land vehicle |
Three practical consequences follow:
A stolen package from a porch is larceny, not burglary. No structure was entered.
A forced door with nothing taken still counts. Attempted forcible entry is included, so a pried deadbolt or a damaged strike plate can show up in the numbers.
Someone confronting you in your yard is robbery, not burglary. Robbery involves a person and force or threat.
Local reports add their own labels. Palmetto Bay’s weekly police reports use “Burglary Vehicle” for vehicle-entry incidents and “Auto Theft Stolen” for a stolen vehicle. So when a neighborhood group says “dozens of car break-ins,” those reports may not appear in a count of residential burglaries at all. Check which label a source uses before you compare two numbers.
How to read a crime map or a ranking
Websites that rank neighborhoods as “X% above the national average” make a clean headline, but the FBI itself warns against it. Its guidance on the proper use of UCR statistics says the data suits planning and trend analysis, but communities should not be ranked from crime data alone, because population density, commuting patterns, reporting practices, economic conditions and law-enforcement factors all differ.
Some specific cautions for South Miami-Dade:
Small base, big swings. A village with a few dozen burglaries a year can show a 20% rise from a handful of cases.
Commuters and visitors. Rates per 100,000 residents use the resident population, not the people who pass through shopping centers and major roads.
Voluntary reporting. One data site notes that county UCR totals are voluntary agency filings, so incomplete coverage means a county total is not a definitive measure, and countywide numbers are not a neighborhood verdict.
Map radius. A rolling map around a city may include streets patrolled by a neighboring agency.
Use the numbers to see direction (up or down over several years) and to spot patterns on your own street. Do not use them to decide that one block is safe and another is not.
Where to find official data for Palmetto Bay
The Village of Palmetto Bay contracts its policing from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office under an interlocal agreement, and the Village describes a community-oriented approach that includes outreach and safety programs in schools and parks. That is why you will see both Village and county sources.
Three places are worth bookmarking:
The Village’s Crime & Incident Reports & Maps page. It posts weekly police reports by year, monthly reports and crime maps presented to the Village Council, and location maps for burglaries. It also lists the Palmetto Bay Policing Unit at 305-278-4000 on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm and the Miami-Dade non-emergency line, 305-476-5423, after hours.
The Sheriff’s Office crime statistics page, which links to the Crime Data Dashboard. The Sheriff’s Office has said the dashboard is meant to increase transparency and help residents take part in local crime prevention.
The FBI’s national reports, useful for the big picture, though they lag by months.
If you live in Palmetto Bay and see something suspicious, call 911 for a crime in progress. Use the non-emergency line for a report after the fact.
Our perspective: the statistics describe the county, your lock describes your house
We work in Homestead, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay every week, so we see the human side of these numbers. When burglary falls 7% or 12% countywide, nobody calls us to say “good news.” The calls we get come from a handful of situations: a door that no longer latches after a forced attempt, a lock that a former tenant or roommate still has a key to, and a house or car where keys went missing and the owner is not sure who has copies.
That is why we tell customers to treat the statistics as background and to focus on three things you control:
Know who has keys. After a move, a breakup, a lost key set or a contractor job, rekeying is a fast and usually low-cost fix. See our guide to rekeying after moving for the first 48 hours.
Fix damage right away. A cracked door frame or bent strike plate is an invitation. Our checklist on lock replacement after a burglary covers what to check before you buy parts.
Know the price before the visit. Get a written quote, and be wary of a very low phone price that grows on arrival. Our guides on lock change costs in Miami and Homestead rekey costs show what a fair quote looks like.
We are licensed and insured, available around the clock, and bilingual in Spanish and English. We do not claim to prevent a burglary, because no lock does. A decent deadbolt properly installed, a reinforced strike plate and control over who holds keys make a door a harder target, and that is the part we can help with.
— Julio Borroto
Steps that make a home a harder target
The research on local prevention is thin, so we keep this practical and tied to locks, the part of home security we know firsthand.
Rekey or replace after any key you cannot account for
A lost key, a previous owner, a former tenant: each is an unknown. Rekeying changes the internal pins so old keys stop working, and you keep the same hardware. Replace the lock entirely if it is damaged, worn or low-grade. If you are in Cutler Bay, read about avoiding locksmith scams and rekey costs before you call anyone.
Check the lock types that criminals target
Attempted forcible entry counts as burglary in the statistics, so the hardware matters. Our article on lock bumping prevention explains one technique worth knowing about and how to guard against it. A door can also fail because of a weak frame or short screws, not the lock itself.
Do not forget the vehicle and the mailbox
Vehicle-entry incidents are logged separately from residential burglary, but the same habits help: lock the car, take your keys and fobs inside, and keep valuables out of sight. If your car keys go missing, a spare you already have is the cheapest security you can buy. A lost mailbox key is a smaller issue that still exposes your mail, and we explain the legal way to replace one.
Landlords and property managers
Turnover between tenants is the moment keys multiply. Rekey every unit between tenants and keep a log of who holds keys. If you are handling a legal eviction, read our notes on Florida eviction lock changes first, because only the right party may change the locks and the process matters.
When you need a locksmith after a lockout or break-in
If you are locked out, or you have found damage after a break-in, our team serves Homestead, Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay and the surrounding Miami-Dade area, 24 hours a day. We aim to arrive in 20 to 30 minutes.
What we handle most often for local households:
Rekeying, lock changes, repairs, and deadbolt and door lock installation
Car key replacement and fob and transponder key programming
Key duplication, including at our Homestead key duplication page
Published prices on our site: car lockout services run $75-150 and car key replacement runs $95-500, depending on the vehicle and key type. See the FAQ page for details. For other jobs, we give you the price before we start work.
For a full list of home, auto and commercial services, see our main services page. You can also visit our shop at 23735 SW 114th Pl, Homestead, FL 33032, and learn more about our workshop. Our Google listing shows a 4.9 rating from 269 reviews.
FAQ
Is burglary going up or down in Miami-Dade?
Down, in the most recent full-year figures. Miami-Dade County burglaries fell about 7% in 2025 in the South Florida Times report, and the Sheriff’s Office annual report shows a larger drop across its coverage area. Nationally, the FBI estimates a 15.8% decline. Local trends can still differ by neighborhood.
Is Palmetto Bay safe from burglary?
Palmetto Bay’s reported burglary counts are small, but a count is not a guarantee about any street or house. The FBI cautions against ranking communities on crime data alone. Look at the Village’s weekly reports and burglary maps for your own area, and rekey and secure your doors regardless.
What is the difference between burglary and a car break-in?
In FBI terms, burglary is unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. Palmetto Bay’s police reports label vehicle-entry incidents “Burglary Vehicle,” so they can be tallied separately from home burglaries. When you compare numbers, check how each source labels them.
Where can I see burglary reports for my street?
Start with the Village of Palmetto Bay’s Crime & Incident Reports & Maps page, which posts weekly reports and burglary location maps. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Crime Data Dashboard covers the county. Third-party maps can include neighboring agencies, so confirm anything important with an official source.
Should I rekey my locks even if I have not been burglarized?
Yes, in specific cases: you just moved in, a key was lost or stolen, a tenant or contractor had a key, or a relationship ended. Rekeying is a short job, and it makes every old copy useless. We can give you a written quote before we start.
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