Schlage vs Kwikset vs Mul-T-Lock: Best NYC Apartment Deadbolt?

A NYC residential burglary takes 90 seconds. Most do not involve picking the lock; the attacker kicks the door, snaps the cylinder, or uses a bump key. Whether they get in depends on which deadbolt you bought.

Three brands cover roughly 90% of NYC residential doors: Schlage, Kwikset, and Mul-T-Lock. Walk into any hardware store on Atlantic Avenue and you can buy all three off the shelf. They look similar. They are not similar. Here is what each one actually does when an intruder tries to defeat it.

The grading system every shopper should know

Before brands, the rating: ANSI/BHMA grade. Three tiers, defined by BHMA standard A156.36 for deadbolts:

• Grade 1, the strongest residential rating. Lock must survive 800,000 operating cycles, 10 door strikes with a 75-pound impact, a 1-inch minimum bolt throw, and specific torque/pull resistance tests.
• Grade 2, survives 400,000 cycles and 5 strikes. Common big-box residential standard.
• Grade 3, survives 200,000 cycles and 2 strikes. The cheap stuff. Avoid for any exterior door.

Grade is stamped on the lock packaging. If you cannot find the grade, the lock is probably worse than Grade 3 and not certified at all.

A second standard layered on top: UL 437 (forced entry and pick resistance, the same standard used for commercial bank vaults). Locks rated UL 437 resist drilling, picking, and prying at a much higher threshold than ANSI alone. Mul-T-Lock and Medeco high-security cylinders carry UL 437. Most Schlage and Kwikset residential models do not.

Schlage B660 and the B-series

The Schlage B660 is the most common Grade 1 residential deadbolt in the country. It is genuinely good. Solid brass body, 1-inch hardened steel bolt, anti-pick pins, anti-bump pins on the newer revisions, and an anti-saw roller pin inside the bolt itself. A B660 with a reinforced strike plate is a serious obstacle to a kick attack, most opportunistic burglars walk past doors with a visible Schlage B-series logo.

What the B660 does NOT have: UL 437 certification, anti-snap protection on the cylinder, or true pick resistance against a trained attacker. A skilled picker with a bump key can defeat a B660 in 30-60 seconds. For NYC, where most burglaries are kick-and-run rather than pick-and-enter, the kick resistance matters more.

Schlage's Primus and Everest 29 high-security lines fix the picking weakness but cost three to four times as much as a B660. We install them for high-value units, ground-floor apartments, and clients who have been targeted before.

Best for: the standard NYC apartment door that needs a real Grade 1 deadbolt at a reasonable price. Pair with a reinforced strike plate (3-inch screws into the framing stud) and the door is harder to defeat than 90% of NYC doors around it.

Kwikset and the SmartKey question

Kwikset SmartKey is the rekey-yourself line every big-box store pushes. It is the most-installed deadbolt in NYC and the easiest to defeat.

The SmartKey cylinder uses a different mechanism than a standard pin-tumbler. Rekeying is genuinely easy: insert the existing key, turn it, insert a SmartKey reset tool, insert the new key, done. The convenience comes at a cost. Multiple published attacks defeat SmartKey cylinders quickly:

• Screwdriver attack: insert a flat-head, apply rotational force, the internal slider deforms. Documented in security research videos with completion times under 30 seconds on lower-end SmartKey models.
• Bump key: standard bump keys cut for the SmartKey profile defeat many residential SmartKey models.
• Pick resistance: the wafer-style internal mechanism is not designed for pick resistance.

Higher-end SmartKey commercial cylinders address some of these issues. The big-box residential SmartKey knobset most homeowners buy does not.

Kwikset Halo and HOME Wi-Fi smart lock lines bolt a connected motor onto the same SmartKey cylinder. The smart features work fine; the physical cylinder under the motor is still SmartKey. A connected lock with a vulnerable cylinder is still a vulnerable lock.

Best for: interior doors, garages, low-risk situations where rekey convenience matters more than security. Not for an exterior NYC apartment door.

Mul-T-Lock and high-security cylinders

Mul-T-Lock makes the cylinders we install when a client is genuinely concerned about a targeted break-in. The flagship residential line is the Hercular series with MT5+ keyway.

What you get with a Mul-T-Lock high-security deadbolt:

• Patented key control. The key blanks are restricted by Mul-T-Lock. Walking into a hardware store and getting a copy made is impossible. We cut authorized duplicates only against the original signature card you receive at install. A locksmith who is not authorized cannot duplicate the key.
• Anti-pick, anti-bump, anti-drill. The MT5+ uses an alpha-pin and ball-bearing system that defeats standard picking and bumping. The cylinder body has hardened steel inserts to resist drilling.
• Anti-snap protection. The cylinder is designed so the front section snaps off without exposing the working mechanism, the lock remains secure after the attack.
• UL 437 certification on the Hercular line.

The catch: cost. A Mul-T-Lock Hercular deadbolt installed in a NYC apartment runs $400 to $700 depending on hardware and door modification. The key cost is also higher, duplicates are $35 each, not the $4 you pay at a hardware store. Worth it for a commercial unit, a ground-floor apartment, or a client who has been burgled before. Not always necessary for a 14th-floor unit in a doorman building.

Best for: high-risk situations, key control concerns (e.g., commercial offices where you cannot trust every former employee), and homes where break-in attempts are part of the threat model.

Comparison in one table

Feature	Kwikset SmartKey	Schlage B660	Mul-T-Lock Hercular
ANSI Grade	Often Grade 2	Grade 1	Grade 1
UL 437 cert	No	No	Yes
Pick resistance	Low	Medium	High
Bump resistance	Low (most models)	Medium (newer revs)	High
Snap resistance	Low	Medium	High (designed-in)
Anti-drill	None	Roller pin	Hardened inserts
Key control	Open	Open	Restricted (signature card)
Approximate installed cost (NYC)	$90-$180	$200-$350	$400-$700

What we recommend for the typical NYC door

Most NYC apartments do not need a Mul-T-Lock. They need three things that together cost a lot less and stop most attacks:

1. A Grade 1 deadbolt (Schlage B660 or equivalent), installed with the cylinder set deep so it cannot be easily pulled or pried.
2. A reinforced strike plate with 3-inch screws into the framing stud, not the door jamb pine. This single change defeats most kick attacks because the wood holds, not the screws.
3. A door reinforcement plate if the door is hollow-core or thin. A $40 wraparound plate distributes a kick across the full door, not just the strike point.

Total installed cost on a typical NYC unit: $300 to $450. The marginal security gain from going to Mul-T-Lock at that level is small unless the threat model has changed (you have been targeted, or the unit holds high-value contents).

What about smart locks?

Smart locks are a separate question. The mechanical cylinder underneath is what matters when an intruder is at the door. A great smart lock with a Kwikset SmartKey cylinder is still as defeatable as the SmartKey cylinder. A modest smart lock added onto a Mul-T-Lock or Medeco cylinder is secure. The connectivity layer is convenience; the cylinder is security.

We cover smart-lock installation in our smart-lock installation service, but we always quote the underlying cylinder grade separately.

For installation work itself, see lock installation and repair and high-security lock upgrades. If the cylinder is what you actually want to replace and the rest of the deadbolt is fine, that is a rekey job, much faster and cheaper than a full deadbolt swap. Whatever the choice, we cover the install under our DCWP license and $1M liability insurance. Call (844) 912-1908 for an honest quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Schlage always better than Kwikset? For the average residential model, yes. Commercial-grade Kwikset cylinders are competitive, but the consumer SmartKey line that most stores stock is the weakest of the three brands at the same price point.

Can I just upgrade my cylinder without changing the whole deadbolt? Often yes. If the existing deadbolt body is in good shape, we can swap a Schlage cylinder out for a Mul-T-Lock cylinder for a fraction of the cost of a full new deadbolt. Same lock body, much better cylinder.

Are smart locks safe? The smart layer is generally fine. The physical cylinder under it is what determines security. We will tell you the truth about which model your smart lock uses.

Why does the strike plate matter so much? Most break-ins in NYC are forced-entry kicks. A kick concentrates ~200 pounds of force on the strike plate. If the plate is held by 3/4-inch screws into the door jamb, the wood splinters and the door swings open. If 3-inch screws go through the jamb and into the framing stud behind it, the wood holds.

What does UL 437 actually mean? Underwriters Laboratories standard 437 is the high-security cylinder rating. Locks meeting it have been tested against drilling, picking, prying, and impact at thresholds substantially higher than standard ANSI grades. UL 437 + ANSI Grade 1 together is the strongest residential certification combination available.

How long does an upgrade take? A cylinder swap or full deadbolt replacement on an existing prepped door is 30-60 minutes. Adding a reinforced strike plate adds 15-20 minutes. We can usually do the full hardening package on a NYC apartment door in under two hours.