Security Guards Average Salary in United States
$42,595 average · $42,070 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 33-9032What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Security Guards in United States, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. For public-safety roles, jurisdiction is nearly everything: the same job pays dramatically differently across cities and states, and overtime commonly adds 20-40% to the base wages shown here. Rank progression is the internal ladder. For private security, armed/specialized credentials and site type create the more modest variation visible at the lower end of the distribution.
How much do Security Guards make in United States?
The average security guards salary in United States is $42,595 per year, with a median of $42,070. That works out to about $20.48 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 7,593,360 security guards jobs in United States.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $42,070. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $41,330; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $46,320 — a 12% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Protective Service Careers Are Structured
Protective service wages — police, fire, corrections, security — split sharply between the public-safety core, with civil-service pay scales, strong benefits, and pensions, and private security, with little of any of those. The two halves share a group code but not an economic reality, and the spread in this data reflects that split.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how security guards pay is distributed in United States specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
For public-safety roles, jurisdiction is nearly everything: the same job pays dramatically differently across cities and states, and overtime commonly adds 20-40% to the base wages shown here. Rank progression is the internal ladder. For private security, armed/specialized credentials and site type create the more modest variation visible at the lower end of the distribution.
Public-safety entry runs through civil-service testing and academies, with hiring tied to municipal budget cycles — timing applications across multiple jurisdictions matters. The headline wage understates these careers: defined-benefit pensions and retirement eligibility at 50-55 are worth a substantial wage premium that no salary table captures.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Security Guards Do?
Security Guards positions belong to the protective service field. Protective service wages — police, fire, corrections, security — split sharply between the public-safety core, with civil-service pay scales, strong benefits, and pensions, and private security, with little of any of those. The two halves share a group code but not an economic reality, and the spread in this data reflects that split.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 33-9032
Security Guards pay in United States
In United States, security guards report a median of $42,070 and an average of $42,595 (about $20.48/hour) across roughly 7,593,360 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $41,330 at the 10th percentile to $46,320 at the 90th.
National figures average across high-cost coastal metros and lower-cost inland markets, so individual state pages on Wage Atlas are usually the better reference for a specific offer.
Income reality check
The median salary for Security Guards in United States of $42,070 falls in the Stably paid band of this framework - roughly ~12% of the U.S. population and ~15% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Top Industries for Security Guards
| $47,930 | $46,543 | $23 | 109,650 | |
| $46,370 | $44,700 | $22 | 119,410 | |
| $45,507 | $43,209 | $22 | 281,950 | |
| $41,355 | $37,345 | $20 | 3,130,660 | |
SOC: 455000 | $36,010 | $35,190 | $17 | 103,480 |
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