Occupation / job
Security Guards
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
Security Guards pays $38,020 where the typical American job pays $50,020 — $12,000 a year short, or $5.76 an hour. That is a liveable wage in a cheap state and a difficult one in an expensive city, and nothing about the national figure tells you which you would be in.
With 1,283,470 employed, this is one of the biggest occupations in the country. Work at this scale is always available and rarely scarce, and the wage on this page is what that combination produces.
These roles suit people who can be reliably present and observant for a whole shift, in work where nothing happening is the intended outcome.
No verified preparation time is on file for Security Guards. The wage survey behind every figure on this page asks employers what they pay, not what they required, so the honest answer here is that we do not know.
Who should not do this
A quarter of Security Guards earn under $35,210 and a quarter over $46,200: 1.3x, and $10,990 between the ends. That is a narrow band — enough room to be paid better than average, not enough for the occupation to be a route to a materially different income.
A quarter of the field earns under $35,210 — $14,810 below the $50,020 the typical American job pays. That is the number to plan on for a first year, not the midpoint.
Avoid it if rotating shifts damage you. The sleep disruption outlasts the career for a meaningful share of people who do this.
You will not find a "what share make it" figure here. 1,283,470 is a headcount of the employed, which is a numerator without a denominator — everyone who qualified and never got hired is missing from it, and we will not estimate them to complete a percentage.
What the spread tells you
A 1.3x spread means the top quarter of Security Guards is not doing a different job from the bottom quarter, just a slightly better-paid version of the same one. Between $35,210 and $46,200 is the whole of the negotiation.
In cash terms the middle half of Security Guards runs $35,210 to $46,200 — $10,990 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $38,020.
The 75th percentile is $46,200. Reaching it from the $38,020 midpoint is $8,180 a year; reaching it from the $35,210 that the bottom quarter of Security Guards earn is $10,990.
The top quarter of Security Guards begins $8,180 above the $38,020 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $2,810 below it. A range stretched that far in one direction is the signature of a field where a small group earns a great deal more than the middle does.
Converted to an hourly rate over a full-time year: $16.92 at the bottom quarter, $18.27 at the midpoint, $22.21 at the top quarter. The typical American job works out at $24.04 on the same basis.
What these figures are, and what they are not
This is payroll data: it comes from employers, about people they employ. Anyone doing the work of Security Guards for themselves is not in it, and there is no reason to assume $38,020 describes them.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Security Guards, the hourly figure is $38,020 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else