Where Should Security Cameras Be Installed Around Your Home?

Choosing where to install security cameras around your home is just as important as choosing the cameras themselves. The best CCTV coverage comes from positioning cameras where they can capture clear, useful footage of people approaching, entering or moving around your property.

For most homes, the priority areas are the front entrance, driveway, side access, backyard and garage. However, the ideal camera positions will depend on your home's layout, lighting, access points and surrounding property.

If you are still deciding how many cameras your property may need, start with our guide: How Many Security Cameras Does a House Need?

1. Front Entrance

The front entrance is usually one of the most important places to install a security camera. Visitors, deliveries and anyone approaching the front door generally pass through this area, making it a valuable position for identifying people entering the property.

The camera should ideally capture a clear view of a person's face as they approach rather than being mounted so high that it mainly records the top of their head.

What should the camera cover?

• The front door
• The approach to the entrance
• Visitors standing at the door
• Packages or deliveries left near the entrance
• Anyone entering or leaving the property

Where possible, avoid pointing the camera directly towards strong sunlight or bright street lighting.

2. Driveway

The driveway is another high-priority area for residential CCTV. A well-positioned driveway camera can monitor vehicles entering and leaving, people approaching from the street, parked cars, garage access and activity around the front of the home.

Driveways are often wider than entrance areas, so camera resolution, lens choice and mounting position become particularly important. A higher-resolution camera can be useful where you need additional detail across a larger area.

Our guide to 4K vs 6MP vs 8MP Security Cameras explains how resolution can affect image detail and storage requirements.

3. Side Access and Gates

Side pathways can easily become blind spots in a home security system. If someone can move from the front of the property to the backyard without appearing on camera, the system may have an important gap in its coverage.

A camera positioned along a side passage can monitor side gates, narrow pathways, access between the front and rear yard, windows or doors located along the side of the house and sheds or storage areas.

Homes with access along both sides may require a camera on each side. For narrow areas, the aim is usually to capture people moving through the passage rather than creating an extremely wide view.

4. Backyard and Rear Entrance

Backyards can sometimes receive less attention than the front of the property, even though many homes have doors, windows and entertaining areas at the rear.

A rear camera can help monitor back doors, sliding doors, patios, entertaining areas, sheds, rear gates and access from neighbouring properties or laneways.

The camera should be positioned so that important access points remain visible while avoiding unnecessary recording of neighbouring properties. Larger backyards may require more than one camera if a single camera cannot provide useful coverage of both the rear entrance and the wider yard.

5. Garage and Garage Entrance

Garages often contain vehicles, tools, bicycles and other valuable equipment, making them an important part of a residential CCTV plan.

An external camera can monitor the garage door and driveway approach, while some properties may benefit from an additional camera inside the garage. This can be particularly useful for detached garages, workshops, garages with internal access to the house or garages accessed from a rear lane.

The goal should be to see who approaches and enters the garage rather than simply having a wide view of the general area.

6. Front Yard and Pathways

Depending on the property layout, a camera covering the front yard can provide an early view of someone approaching the house.

This can be particularly useful where there is a long front path, front gate, landscaped areas that create blind spots, multiple paths towards the house or a large setback from the street.

However, avoid using one extremely wide camera to try to cover the entire front of the property if doing so makes people appear too small to identify. Sometimes two strategically positioned cameras provide more useful footage than one camera trying to monitor everything.

7. Rear or Side Gates

If your property has gates providing access from the street, a laneway or neighbouring access area, consider treating these as separate entry points.

A camera positioned near a gate can help establish who entered the property and when. It can also provide better identification footage than relying solely on a backyard camera positioned much further away.

8. Outdoor Entertaining Areas

Covered patios, decks and outdoor entertaining areas can contain televisions, furniture, barbecues and other equipment. They may also provide access to large sliding doors leading directly into the house.

Depending on the layout, these areas can justify their own camera, particularly if they cannot be clearly seen from the main backyard camera.

9. Sheds and Detached Buildings

Sheds, workshops and detached garages are easy to overlook when planning CCTV coverage. If the building contains tools, gardening equipment, bicycles or other valuable items, it may benefit from dedicated coverage.

Consider monitoring the door or main access point, the path leading towards the building and the surrounding area if it is separated from the house.

Where Should You Avoid Installing Security Cameras?

Camera placement should provide useful security coverage without unnecessarily recording private areas.

Avoid positioning residential security cameras where they capture bathrooms, bedrooms, private indoor spaces where surveillance would be inappropriate, or neighbouring windows and private outdoor areas that are not relevant to protecting your property.

Outdoor cameras should generally be directed towards your own entrances, pathways, driveway, yard and boundaries. Camera positioning may also need to take privacy and applicable surveillance laws into account.

How High Should Security Cameras Be Installed?

Security cameras need to be high enough to reduce the risk of tampering while still providing useful identification footage.

Mounting a camera extremely high may create a wide overview, but it can also result in footage that mainly shows the tops of people's heads. The correct height depends on what the camera needs to capture, distance from the target area, lens angle, property design, camera type and likelihood of tampering.

What About Night-Time Camera Placement?

A camera position that works perfectly during the day may perform very differently at night.

Before finalising a location, consider streetlights, outdoor lighting, headlights, complete darkness, reflective walls, eaves, nearby vegetation and infrared reflection.

For example, a camera positioned too close to a wall or roofline may reflect its own infrared light back into the image. Likewise, headlights entering a driveway can create challenging lighting conditions.

Should Every Camera Be the Same?

Not necessarily. Different parts of a property can have very different requirements.

You may use a higher-resolution camera across a wide driveway, a camera designed for good low-light performance in a darker backyard, a turret camera beneath an eave or a camera with a suitable lens for a narrow side passage.

Rather than choosing identical cameras for every location, it is often better to match the camera to the area it needs to monitor. You can explore our security camera range when comparing cameras for different areas of your property.

How Much Camera Overlap Do You Need?

Some overlap between cameras can be beneficial. Ideally, someone moving around the property should pass naturally from one camera's field of view into another.

For example: Driveway camera → front entrance camera → side access camera → backyard camera.

This creates a more complete record of movement around the property. However, excessive overlap can waste camera positions and storage capacity, so each camera should have a clearly defined purpose.

Do You Need a Security Camera on Every Side of the House?

Not necessarily. The number and position of cameras should be based on access points and blind spots rather than simply installing one camera on each external wall.

A properly positioned camera may cover more than one area. For example, one corner-mounted camera may capture both the driveway and front path.

For help deciding on the right number of cameras first, read How Many Security Cameras Does a House Need?

A Typical Home Security Camera Layout

Camera	Main Area Covered
Camera 1	Front entrance
Camera 2	Driveway
Camera 3	Left side access
Camera 4	Right side access
Camera 5	Backyard or rear entrance
Camera 6	Garage or another vulnerable area

A smaller home may achieve suitable coverage with four cameras, while larger or more complex properties may require six, eight or more. The important factor is not the total number of cameras but whether every important access point is covered effectively.

Camera Placement Matters More Than Camera Quantity

Adding more cameras does not automatically create a better CCTV system. A well-positioned camera can provide valuable identification footage and monitor an important access point, while a poorly positioned camera may produce impressive-looking wide footage without capturing the details needed when an incident occurs.

Before installing a camera, ask: What exactly do I need this camera to see?

Once each camera has a clear objective, planning the system becomes much easier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the most important place to install a security camera?

The front entrance and driveway are generally two of the highest-priority areas because they capture people and vehicles approaching the property. Side access and rear entrances should also be considered where they provide alternative access to the home.

Should security cameras be above or below the eaves?

Either can work depending on the property and camera. The important factors are the viewing angle, weather protection, night-time infrared performance and the camera's ability to capture useful identification footage.

Is it better to hide security cameras or make them visible?

Visible cameras can provide a deterrent, while more discreet cameras may suit certain areas aesthetically. Many home CCTV systems use a combination of visible perimeter cameras and less prominent cameras around entrances.

Can one camera cover the front door and driveway?

Sometimes, particularly on compact properties. However, a very wide camera view may reduce the amount of detail captured at each location. Separate cameras may provide better identification when the driveway and entrance are some distance apart.

How many security cameras does an average house need?

Many homes can achieve practical coverage with four to six cameras, although the correct number depends on the property's layout, entrances, blind spots and outdoor areas. Larger homes and properties with multiple access points may require additional cameras. See our complete guide to choosing the number of home security cameras for more detail.