Inspired by this thread, and the assertion of some Dopers that they don’t ever answer the door at all (a situation I find exceedingly odd), I got to thinking about how often my door is knocked upon. I live in a steep, hilly neighborhood of low density housing on the outskirts of the city, with most houses set in pods on private cul-de-sacs, and very rarely does anyone come a-knocking. Once or twice a year is all, max (I’m not counting deliveries – the postman etc. leave the package on my front deck and ring the bell once as they leave). So of course I would answer the door because I would be quite curious to see who it is. Or maybe I got a package! Regardless of whether you answer the door or not, how often does your doorbell ding-dong?
And BTW those few callers I get per year are almost always neighbors.
Two or three times a month, maybe more in summer. Almost invariably neighbors or friends. This is a fairly close-knit little 'hood and while I’d prefer a phone call or text to give me a heads up, not everyone does that and I’m OK with it. My dogs are acutely aware of what is going on so they let me know if someone is walking up the road, or pulling into my driveway so I’m rarely surprised.
I’m also in a low-density neighborhood, and almost at the end of my dead-end road so door-to-door sales aren’t common.
I get knocks from neighbors, family, and package delivery two to three times a month.
Every few months the sweet lady from Jehovah’s Witnesses shows up. I always tell her politely that I’m not interested, but she’s ever hopeful that I’ll change my mind one day.
I must look like someone who desperately needs to be saved. 
If I don’t count deliveries, less than once a month and the majority of those would be my landlord coming to repair something. I have very few visitors and those that do visit, call me from their cell phones to tell me they’ve parked in the far off guest parking are on their way to my apartment. Hearing knocking on the door oddly makes me very nervous.
I have a sign on the front door that says “If you’re here to deliver food, alcohol or women, please knock. Otherwise kindly piss off”
I don’t get a lot of knocks on the door but when someone does knock, I answer.
Almost never unexpectedly. We live in a very secure condominium, and anyone who comes knocking would pretty much have to be fellow residents or building staff, and they usually call first on the internal phone system. If anyone from outside were to show up, the guard downstairs would call up to us, but usually we’re already expecting such people and are already down to meet them.
Not very often, a few times a year. Usually because of neighbourly business, like I left the lights on in the car or a letter was misdelivered. Every now and then there will be Jehovah’s Witnesses, or someone collecting/selling for charity. I live on a busy street in a medium suburb of a big city.
My son has a friend in the neighborhood who rings the bell when he wants to come over to play. That happens several times a week.
Three or four times a year. I usually answer the door.
Rarely enough that when it happens we all freeze like deer caught in the headlights. Who could that be? It’s occasionally been neighbors but usually it’s somebody looking for work. “Want me to mow your lawn?” We live in Florida; we mostly grow sand. “Need your gutters cleaned?” We don’t have any. Didn’t you look?
It’s never anybody selling Girl Scout cookies which we would buy. It’s for the children.
We live on one of the older streets in the neighborhood.
Not frequently enough to estimate a good count, but several times a year for sure. Most often it’s some religious faction (JW, local church, whatever) that doesn’t linger after I say I’m not interested. Random sales types, occasional package delivery, pleasant types.
For me, it usually happens on the weekend during the early morning hours and when I don’t open the door someone inevitably shouts, “Come out with your hands up!”
When I lived in a condo I would almost never get a knock on my door. Since I bought
a house last year it has been about once or twice a month. Reading this thread makes
me think of this.
Two or three times a week I suppose. It’s usually neighbours, but it can also be strangers.
I always come to the door, which I leave open whenever I’m at home to let in the fresh air.
In the last six months, there were only 2 unexpected knocks. One was a guy was looking for someone and got the wrong house - we didn’t recognize the name of the person he sought. I suppose he could have been casing the joint. The other was a young guy trying to sell us windows or siding or whatever. If he was even marginally observant, he should have been able to tell that our windows, siding, gutters, and roof were all pretty new (only 4 years old, in fact.)
Other than that, maybe every couple of years, some folks will come to “save” us. My computer is right next to a window that faces the driveway. It’s pretty easy to recognize the signs of “saving” and I don’t bother answering the door for them. They tend to go away after 2 knocks.
It’s pretty nice living in the boonies.
Almost never. I live at the end of a dirt road, around a curve that is disguised by massive trees. If you’re not aware that it’s there, you would think the road ends before the curve.
Due to this, only friends and family ever come to my place. All of them know that if I’m home the door will be unlocked and come on in, so they don’t knock.
Even if I had a different policy, my dogs let me know ahead of time when someone has made it around the curve, so I’m never surprised anyway.
UPS, Fedex, and USPS just leaves my packages in my car, as it’s closer to get to than my door, which they all have permission to do.
The only knocks I get on my door are police, the landlord, and a couple of homeless folks living in the woods, and out of all of them I might get 3 knocks a year.
3-4 times per day, every day. Beggars/homeless people, usually. I live in a suburb fairly close to the city, but more importantly, on the walking route between lots of places like stations, bus depots and a provincial hospital.
Couple of times of year – the random political candidate or Boy Scout selling popcorn. I live in a small college town (26,000) but on a relatively busy street. I always open the door, although if it’s a political candidate, I usually regret it.
It happened once when my uncle arrived without warning. Otherwise, it’s only for the official things you said not to count, like delivery and service people.
I do often not answer the door, however. I look and see who it is, and if it’s someone I know will go away, and I am not dressed or whatever, I will just let them leave.
Three, maybe four times a year. Jehova’s Witnesses and election canvassers mainly. I don’t answer the door unless my gut tells me it’s important. Like the time a neighbor let me know that my parked car had been totaled. I had heard the crash, but it hadn’t shocked me enough to compel me look out of the window.