Security Guards in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,140
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$5,840
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,134
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$34,980
Kept after tax
$29,140
Worth in national money
$30,134
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Georgia is among the lower-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $34,980, ranking 47 of 51 states — about 8% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Georgia this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 446. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Georgia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,980 you keep $29,140, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $30,134 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Georgia ranks 47 of 51 for security guards, with a median of $34,980 — about 8% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Against every occupation Georgia reports, security guards ranks 446 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Georgia income tax, retained pay for security guards on $34,980 is $29,140. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $30,134 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $37,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,590 |
| This salary | $34,980 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Georgia | $29,140 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,286 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,032 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $33,553 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,249 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of security guards in Georgia earn under $34,980 and half over. The published range runs $29,060 at the tenth percentile to $48,590 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,140 take-home in Georgia comes from $34,980. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 446 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,134, the adjusted value of that $34,980 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 446 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for security guards in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,060 to $48,590; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $29,140, from $34,980, assumes a single Georgia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 446 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $30,134 — the adjusted value of that $34,980 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 446 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $37,890, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,060 at the bottom tenth to $48,590 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Georgia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $30,134 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $29,140.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Georgia is $37,890. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,060 to $48,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $30,134 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $29,140 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.