Yes, burglary is a felony in every U.S. state. Entering a building or structure without permission and with the intent to commit a crime inside is treated as a serious offense everywhere in the country, with sentences that can run from about a year in prison for the lowest grade to twenty years or life for the most severe. The exact exposure depends on where the entry happened, whether anyone was home, whether a weapon was involved, and the defendant’s prior record.
Why Burglary Is Treated as a Felony
Burglary carries felony weight because it combines two things the law takes seriously: an unauthorized intrusion into a protected space and a criminal plan formed before the person crossed the threshold. Simple trespass covers the entry alone. Theft covers taking property. Burglary punishes the moment someone enters with the plan already in mind, which is why it sits a tier above either one.
Three elements have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. First, unlawful entry. Modern statutes dropped the old “breaking” requirement long ago, so walking through an unlocked door, climbing through an open window, or hiding inside a store past closing all qualify. Even the smallest intrusion across the threshold counts, including a hand reaching through a window. Courts also recognize constructive entry, which covers sending a child or another person who can’t be held criminally liable inside to grab valuables, or using a tool to retrieve property from within.
Second, intent to commit a crime inside at the moment of entry. Burglary is a specific intent crime, and the plan has to exist before or at the time of entry, not after. Someone who wanders into an open garage out of curiosity and then pockets something on impulse has not committed burglary. Because intent lives inside someone’s head, prosecutors prove it circumstantially: bolt cutters in a backpack, a 3 a.m. entry, gloves, a target known to hold valuables, immediate searching once inside.
Third, entry into a covered structure. State statutes typically cover any enclosed space where people live, work, or store property, and in many states that reaches attached garages, detached sheds, and fenced storage yards.
Degrees of Felony Burglary
Nearly every state grades burglary into degrees, and the degree drives the sentence. The closer the offense comes to putting a person in physical danger, the higher the grade.
First Degree
First-degree burglary covers the most dangerous scenarios, almost always an occupied dwelling. Entering someone’s home while they are inside creates an obvious risk of violent confrontation, and many states further elevate the charge when the entry happens at night. This is the top felony tier.
Second Degree
Second-degree classifications typically cover entries into occupied commercial buildings, unoccupied residences, or situations with some aggravating factor that falls short of first-degree territory. An after-hours break-in at a retail store usually lands here.
Third Degree
The lowest felony classification generally applies to unoccupied non-residential structures: a storage unit, a detached warehouse, a vacant office building. Still a felony, still real prison time, just without the personal-danger element that drives the higher grades.
What Pushes a Charge Up a Degree
Several circumstances can escalate a case regardless of where it initially falls. Carrying a firearm or any deadly weapon during the entry is the most common escalator, even if the weapon is never displayed. Injuring anyone during the entry, even minor contact, frequently bumps the charge to the top tier. Coordinating the entry with accomplices can also increase the grade in some states.
Prison Time, Fines, and Restitution
Sentencing ranges vary by state, but they follow a predictable pattern tied to degree. Third-degree burglary involving an unoccupied commercial structure generally carries one to five years in prison. Second-degree convictions often fall in the range of five to fifteen years. First-degree burglary, particularly where an occupied home and aggravating factors are involved, can result in twenty years to life. Judges weigh the specific facts, the defendant’s history, and any mitigating circumstances to land on a number inside those ranges.
Fines accompany most convictions and run from a few thousand dollars at the low end to six figures for the most serious cases. Courts routinely order restitution on top of the fine, covering property damage, stolen items that were never recovered, and sometimes the cost of security upgrades the victim had to install afterward. Probation or supervised release often follows the prison term, and a violation during that period can send someone back inside to serve more time.
Repeat Offender Enhancements
Prior felony convictions change the math dramatically. Habitual offender laws, sometimes called three-strikes laws, exist in a majority of states and impose escalating mandatory minimums on people with multiple prior felonies. A person convicted of a second-degree felony with even one prior felony on the record may face the sentencing range of a first-degree offense. Someone with two or more priors can face a mandatory minimum of 25 years or more, depending on the jurisdiction.
Burglary is a common predicate offense under these statutes, so a prior burglary conviction doesn’t just raise the stakes on a second burglary. It can enhance sentences for entirely unrelated future felonies too.
Consequences That Outlast the Sentence
Prison and fines are only the start. A felony burglary conviction triggers civil and practical consequences that follow a person for years after release, and in daily life these often hit harder than the sentence itself.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms or ammunition.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Every felony burglary conviction clears that threshold. The ban covers possession, purchase, and receipt, and it has no built-in expiration date. Some states let people restore firearm rights after a waiting period and a court petition, but the federal ban persists unless the conviction is expunged or the person receives a presidential pardon.
Voting
The impact on voting depends on where you live. Maine, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. never revoke voting rights, even during incarceration. Twenty-three states restore rights automatically upon release. Fifteen states suspend voting through the completion of parole or probation and then restore it automatically. The remaining ten states impose additional waiting periods, require a governor’s pardon, or demand further action.2National Conference of State Legislatures. Restoration of Voting Rights for Felons Restoration does not re-register you; you have to register again through the normal process.
Immigration
For non-citizens, a felony burglary conviction frequently qualifies as a crime involving moral turpitude, which can trigger deportation or make someone inadmissible for future immigration benefits. The analysis depends on the specific state statute, the sentence imposed, and whether it is a first offense. Immigration consequences should be a central consideration in any plea negotiation for a non-citizen defendant.
Jobs and Professional Licenses
A felony burglary conviction shows up on background checks and can disqualify candidates from jobs in healthcare, education, finance, law enforcement, and any field requiring a professional license. Licensing boards can deny, suspend, or revoke licenses based on felony convictions, especially those involving dishonesty or theft. Even outside regulated industries, many employers screen out felony convictions during hiring. The practical result is a narrower job market that can persist long after the sentence ends.
How Burglary Differs From Robbery and Theft
These three terms get used interchangeably in casual conversation, but they are legally distinct, and the distinction matters for how the case gets charged. Theft is taking someone else’s property without permission. No entry, no force. Shoplifting a jacket is theft. Robbery is taking property directly from a person through force or the threat of force; a mugging on the street is robbery. Burglary is about the unauthorized entry itself, combined with criminal intent. No victim needs to be present, and the intended crime does not have to be completed for the burglary charge to stick.3Office for Victims of Crime. 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide – Burglary Fact Sheet A single incident can produce both burglary and robbery charges if someone breaks into a home and then physically confronts an occupant.
Defenses That Can Reduce or Dismiss the Charge
Burglary charges are defensible. The specific intent requirement in particular creates openings that defense attorneys use regularly.
Consent to enter. If the property owner gave permission to be on the premises, the unlawful entry element fails. This comes up in landlord-tenant disputes, between estranged family members, and among business partners with access to shared spaces. Exceeding the scope of permission by entering off-limits rooms can still support a charge, but the boundaries of consent get complicated fast.
No intent at the time of entry. Because the plan to commit a crime must exist at the moment of entry, a defendant who formed the idea only after already being inside has a viable defense. The charge may drop to trespassing or theft, both of which carry lighter penalties.
Claim of right. Someone who honestly believes they own the property or have a right to the items inside may lack the criminal intent burglary requires. The belief has to be genuine, not correct. A person who enters a former roommate’s apartment to retrieve what they sincerely believe is their own television has a defense even if the TV actually belongs to the roommate.
Intoxication. Voluntary intoxication is a hard defense to win, but because burglary requires specific intent, it is legally available in most states. The argument is that the defendant was too impaired to form a deliberate plan. It rarely produces full acquittal, but it can lead to a reduced charge. Involuntary intoxication, where someone was drugged or had an unexpected reaction to medication, carries more weight and can serve as a complete defense if the defendant truly could not understand what was happening.