Real salary data
What Security Guards actually earn in 2026.
The median for Security Guard is $42,474 across 161 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Sep 14, 2026.
01 / By source
Real salary bands, by source.
Bands come from 161 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.
Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $37,440–$48,880 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.
| Source | Records | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job postings | 161 | $37,440 | $42,474 | $48,880 |
- Job postings that disclose salary in the ad text
Salary data updated Sep 14, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.
02 / By city
What Security Guards earn, by city.
Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.
| City | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | 26 | $37,892 – $68,929 | $47,268 |
| Nashville, TN | 18 | $39,936 – $45,240 | $42,557 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 15 | $43,160 – $68,900 | $48,360 |
| Louisville, KY | 14 | $38,548 – $42,676 | $39,250 |
| Houston, TX | 13 | $29,120 – $39,728 | $34,320 |
| Chicago, IL | 11 | $39,520 – $51,449 | $42,058 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 10 | $35,610 – $41,080 | $37,190 |
03 / By state
What Security Guards earn, by state.
| State | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| NY | 26 | $37,892 – $68,929 | $47,268 |
| CA | 20 | $43,628 – $64,438 | $50,440 |
| TN | 18 | $39,936 – $45,240 | $42,557 |
| KY | 14 | $38,548 – $42,676 | $39,250 |
| TX | 13 | $29,120 – $39,728 | $34,320 |
| IL | 11 | $39,520 – $51,449 | $42,058 |
| OK | 10 | $35,610 – $41,080 | $37,190 |
04 / Context
How Security Guards pay compares with similar roles.
| Profession | Risk | Median | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facilities Manager | Critical | $72,800 | +3.8% (2024–34) |
| First-Line Supervisor of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers | Medium | $44,720 | +2.5% (2024–34) |
| Maintenance and Repair Worker | Critical | $45,760 | +3.8% (2024–34) |
| Production Supervisor | Medium | $72,000 | +1.2% (2024–34) |
05 / Next step
How to move up the pay band.
The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:
- 01Customer Service
- 02CPR
- 03R
- 04Agile
- 05Windows
- udemyProfessional Security Officer/Security Guard TrainingAdvanced
- udemySecurity Guard Training CourseIntermediate
- udemy#UNOFFICIAL# Information Security OfficerIntermediate
- udemyCertified Chief Security OfficerIntermediate
- udemyData Loss PreventionIntermediate
- udemyLoss Prevention Training 101Intermediate
- udemyCertified Cloud Security Officer (CCSO)Intermediate
- udemyCISO - Certified Information Security Officer (Updated)Intermediate
06 / FAQ
Salary questions, answered.
01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Security Guard in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.