Difference between 帰る and 帰宅

I understand that 帰る is a verb and 帰宅 is a noun. Is there a difference between…

帰りました

and

帰宅しました

?

Like, is one more natural to say, or are they the same?

I feel like I have seen 帰りました more, but I could be wrong because I have not been learning Japanese for very long. When I see 帰宅 it seems to be more when someone is talking to themselves in the abstract about whether or not they will return to their home or talking about like a daughter who was kidnapped in a foreign country finally coming home. 帰りました feels more everyday to me, like if you were telling a friend you went home or something. That is just my beginners impression though. I would be curious to see what smarter people think…

The best, simplest answer I found is:

帰宅→自分の家(自宅)に戻ること
帰る+自宅=帰宅

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This is very common, to have a Japanese kunyomi verb and a jukugo suru verb that basically mean the same thing. The rule of thumb is that the jukugo will sound more formal or literary. In this case, the jukugo suru verb feels much more formal to me.

Nitpick edit: they are not perfect synonyms.

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They don’t mean the same thing though. 帰る has a broader meaning. 初めにいた所,またはもといた場所にもどる。You can use 帰る in many situations where you can’t use 帰宅

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You can use 帰る when talking of places other than home. If you really feel that place is somewhere you belong to or love being at. The jukugo version is exclusively used for home.

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Where the meaning overlaps, 帰宅 is more formal. That’s the point.

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