Lockout and Locksmith · Costs
How much does a locksmith cost? A residential lockout runs $160 to $226 and a rekey $50 to $130 plus $10 to $25 per cylinder (2026 rate aggregator data, read 2026-08-16). The call out fee and the labor are separate numbers, and the night rate is firm.
A locksmith costs $187 to $226 for an average job in the United States according to Thumbtack 2026 data (read 2026-08-16), with a low-end range of $160 to $169. Underneath that average, a house lockout runs $50 to $150 and a trip fee of $50 to $100 is charged separately in many markets.
The most-read answer online to how much a locksmith costs is a Reddit thread, which tells you how much published commercial pricing is trusted.
Indicative US ranges. Always get a written quote.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| House lockout | $50–$150 | The entry itself, before fees |
| Car lockout | $60–$85 | Read 2026-08-16. Usually cheaper than a house door |
| Rekeying | $50–$130 | Plus $10–$25 per cylinder |
| Broken-key extraction | $50–$200 | Depends whether the cylinder survives |
| Standard residential task | $75–$200 | On top of the service fee |
| National average locksmith job | $187–$226 | Read 2026-08-16. Low end around $160–$169 (read 2026-08-16) |
Source: Thumbtack 2026 national locksmith price data; published 2026 locksmith cost guides (retrieved August 2026). Figures vary by region and timing.
Figures last checked
“What will this cost if you can't pick the lock and you have to drill it.”
Add $50 to $100 for the trip fee in many markets, on top of the job itself. This is where headline quotes mislead, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
The lockout and locksmith guide covers the trade, the scam pattern covers the quotes that move, and Emergency Services 24H routes the call.
In many markets the service or trip fee is charged for attending, separately from the job, and it lands between $50 and $100.
Ask two questions: is the trip fee separate, and is it credited against the work if I go ahead.
Ask for the total rather than the increment. An increment is easy to quote on the phone and easy to expand at the door, whereas a stated total is a commitment.
Expect that total to be firm. Pete Slauson, a working US locksmith, states the position without softening it: there is no negotiating, especially at night.
What makes that credible rather than opportunistic is his reason for it - the premium exists because a technician is being taken away from their family, and if the night rate were only a few dollars above the day rate, nobody would answer the phone after dark at all.
The out-of-hours price is the thing that makes an out-of-hours service exist.
It is worth being clear about which figures on this page come from where. The national bands in the tables are published price data.
The trade data point we have from a shop owner is Slauson’s own: his shop charges around $100 an hour for commercial work.
Because published locksmith pricing is thin, the most useful numbers come from the trade talking to itself and from homeowners posting invoices afterwards.
The most useful thing in them is not a number at all, it is a unit.
That is the single most checkable thing on this page.
On the after-hours question, practitioners in the same threads put a residential lockout in the region of $160 to $220 depending on difficulty, with an overtime rate around $185.
Hold that against the complaint threads: what a working locksmith calls a generous emergency price is far below what the bait-and-switch operators actually collect.
The gap is visible in the reports themselves.
One complaint recurs more than any price.
The honest caveat: these are individual reports from named public threads, spread across different cities, years and job types.
Indicative US ranges. Always get a written quote.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Service / trip fee | $50–$100 | Charged to attend, separate from the job |
| After-hours premium | +$100–$250 | Nights, weekends and holidays |
| Reported residential lockout, trade forum | $160–$220 | Read 2026-08-16. Locksmiths describing their own pricing |
| Reported flat rate per door opening | $130 reported | For the opening, not per lock, per a locksmith employee |
| Reported after-hours overtime rate | ~$185 reported | Read 2026-08-16. Practitioner-stated in the same trade thread |
| Reported car lockout, single metro | $302 reported | Read 2026-08-16. Owner-reported and questioned as high by locals |
| Reported drilled-knob lockout, LA | $415 reported | Read 2026-08-16. Locals put a fair rate nearer $100–$200 |
| Advertised bait price to be wary of | $15–$29 | FTC-documented opening move, not a real quote |
How much does a locksmith cost within each band is not arbitrary. Four things explain most of the spread.
This is the most common follow-on purchase after a lockout, a break-in or a house move, and the numbers make the decision straightforward.
Full detail sits on our page about rekeying your locks, including which locks cannot be rekeyed at all.
What homeowners actually ask
Drawn from real public forum threads and reported prices, summarized and attributed as patterns. These are not reviews of this site, and no names or ratings have been invented.
“I work for a locksmith and a lockout is like $130 for a door, so if your deadbolt and knob are both locked we still charge $130”
“Locksmith says it may range between $160 and $220 for the job because it depends on difficulty. Our overtime charge is around 185 to unlock a…”
“$120 is incredibly fair for even a week’s notice, much less an emergency”
“$415 for drilling a knob sounds steep, especially for a basic lockout. In LA, a fair emergency locksmith rate is usually closer to $100–$200”
“Just had a locksmith come out to help my friend get into their car and they charged $302. Is that a normal lockout charge here?”
“Every time I call, they either can’t give me estimated…”
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Every other trade on this site has the same advice: get several quotes and be wary of the highest. Locksmithing is the exception, and the reason is documented.
The Society of Professional Locksmiths, a US trade association, describes the same mechanic from inside the trade and is blunt about which half of the ad does the damage: the very low headline figure exists to get you to click, and it is the "and up" after it that gets you.
Their estimate of what victims end up paying is 200 to 800 percent (Society of Professional Locksmiths, read 2026-08-16) above market rates - which is the reason a low quote deserves more scrutiny rather than less.
The single question that defuses it costs nothing to ask before dispatch: what will this cost if you cannot pick the lock and have to drill it? Drilling is the expensive outcome, because it turns an opening into an opening plus new hardware plus fitting.
The practical consequence for pricing is that a quote well below the national band should raise your scrutiny rather than lower it. The full pattern is on our page on locksmith scams and red flags.
No. Payment on completion is normal, and asking for it is not a warning sign. How they take it is more informative than when.
Card acceptance and an itemized invoice are ordinary business behavior. Cash-only insistence, or a demand for a wire transfer or a payment app before any paperwork exists, is one of the FTC-listed red flags and is worth refusing on the doorstep.
The most-upvoted DIY answer in the most popular lockout thread online says exactly this: a drill and a screwdriver will get you in quickly, and you will be replacing the whole thing afterwards. That is honest, and it is the arithmetic that decides it.
Emergency Services 24H is a referral service. We do not employ locksmiths, we do not open doors, and we never quote a price for the work.
Your request routes to local contractors covering your area, and they contact you directly. The five questions above apply to whoever calls you, and we would rather you asked them than not.
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Straight answers
Short, plain answers to the questions people ask us most about this page.
Browse all guidesA locksmith call out fee of $50 to $100 covers the visit, and the labor sits on top.
It is higher because the technician is called away from home, and it is not negotiable.
Not usually by the lock, but by the method.
For a lockout, yes: you are paying for travel and the hour of the day.
Thumbtack 2026 data (read 2026-08-16) puts the national average locksmith job at $187 to $226, with a low-end range of $160 to $169.
Expect a trip or service fee of $50 to $100 plus the job itself.
Between $100 and $250 on top of the normal job price.
For rekeying several locks, a rekey kit is genuinely cheaper.
Payment on completion is normal and reasonable. What matters more is how.
Because it may not be a quote.
Independent, publicly published sources, quoted with attribution and linked in full. None is affiliated with Emergency Services 24H, reviewed this page, or works in the referral network.
Reviewed on . If a figure here no longer matches its source, that is a bug, so tell us and we will correct it.
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Tell us what has failed and how soon you need someone. We route your request to local contractors covering your area, and they contact you directly.
Fire, a gas smell, or an injury? Leave the building and call 911 first, then your gas utility or power company. Use this form once you are safe.