Salaries / Security Guard
Personal Care & Service · SOC 33-9032
Security Guard salary
Security guards patrol and protect property, people, and assets, often for events, buildings, and businesses.
Median annual
$37,000
Median hourly
$17.80
Typical range
$27,000 to $56,000
Source: National estimate (to be replaced by live BLS data). Figures are gross pay and vary by location, employer, and experience.
The pay range, visually.
Low end (about the 10th percentile), median, and high end (about the 90th percentile).
By state
State figures are estimates derived from the national median and a state wage index, shown to give a rough sense of local differences.
Your skills are a business
Ideas we have for people in personal care & service.
The same experience that earns a paycheck as a security guard can start a business. Here are real ideas from our marketplace that fit this field.
Start a Festival and Event Security Staffing Business
Provide and staff security for festivals, concerts, fairs, and private events: licensed event guards, crowd management, bag check, and access control, delivered through a properly licensed and insured company.
Start a Staffing Agency
Place candidates with companies that already pay for people. Pick a niche, a model, and a fee structure, then land the first job order.
Start a Healthcare Staffing Agency
Place nurses, aides, and allied health workers with hospitals and facilities, earning a markup on every hour worked or a fee per placement.
Start a Cybersecurity Consulting Business
Run security audits, harden systems, and train staff for small businesses that cannot afford an in-house security team.
You could hire security guards, not just be one.
We have a staffing calculator to price the work and a full course on how to start a staffing agency, so you can turn a field you already know into a business that puts other people to work.