Security Guards in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,736
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$8,084
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,983
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$42,820
Kept after tax
$34,736
Worth in national money
$31,983
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for security guards is strong here. Hawaii's middle earner gets $42,820, putting the state 14 of 51 — about 12.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 437 occupations Hawaii publishes, security guards lands at 387. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $42,820, tax leaves $34,736 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,983 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $43,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- For security guards, Hawaii sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $42,820, ranking 14 of 51 and running about 12.62% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Hawaii, this work ranks 387 of 437 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $34,736 remains from the Hawaii median of $42,820 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,983 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $43,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,840 |
| This salary | $42,820 |
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 Hawaii | $34,736 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,586 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,666 |
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 | $40,518 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,853 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Hawaii earn under $42,820 and half over. The published range runs $35,140 at the tenth percentile to $58,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,736 take-home in Hawaii comes from $42,820. 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 387 of 437.
- One number stands for prices across all of Hawaii, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,983, the adjusted value of that $42,820 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 387 of 437 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for security guards in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,140 to $58,840; 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 $34,736, from $42,820, assumes a single Hawaii 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 387 of 437 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Hawaii, so $31,983 — the adjusted value of that $42,820 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 387 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,140 at the bottom tenth to $58,840 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $31,983 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Hawaii's own levy, $34,736 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,140 to $58,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,983 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $34,736 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.