Security Guards in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,453
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$6,037
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,035
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$36,490
Kept after tax
$30,453
Worth in national money
$33,035
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays security guards a middle wage of $36,490, 36 of 51 states and about 4.02% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 437. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,490 you keep $30,453, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,035 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana's $36,490 median for security guards places it 36 of 51 states, about 4.02% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, security guards ranks 437 of 493, 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 Indiana income tax, retained pay for security guards on $36,490 is $30,453. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,035 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 $40,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,990 |
| This salary | $36,490 |
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 Indiana | $30,453 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,500 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$619 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $35,187 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$749 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $36,490. The published range is $29,850 up to $59,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,453 take-home in Indiana comes from $36,490. 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 437 of 493.
- Two cautions on $33,035, the adjusted value of that $36,490 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 437 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for security guards in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,850 to $59,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,453, from $36,490, assumes a single Indiana 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 437 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- This $33,035 adjusted figure, worked from $36,490, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 437 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 437 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $29,850 at the bottom tenth to $59,990 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,035 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,453 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Indiana is $40,660. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($29,850) and the ninetieth ($59,990) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $33,035 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 $30,453 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.