Security Guards in New Hampshire
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,498
after federal, FICA and New Hampshire tax
Tax takes
$6,702
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,545
New Hampshire costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Hampshire — 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
$45,200
Kept after tax
$38,498
Worth in national money
$36,545
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Hampshire is one of the better-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $45,200, which ranks 6 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 18.88% above the national middle.
- Against 488 occupations New Hampshire publishes, security guards lands at 406. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- New Hampshire is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $45,200 the take-home is $38,498; in national-average money that behaves like $36,545. The average comes to $47,850, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Hampshire ranks 6 of 51 states publishing a median for security guards, at $45,200 — about 18.88% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within New Hampshire, this work ranks 406 of 488 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.
- Take-home for security guards in New Hampshire, on $45,200, is $38,498; deflated by the state's price level, $36,545. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $47,850 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,400 |
| This salary | $45,200 |
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 New Hampshire | $38,498 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,498 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,073 |
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 | $45,200 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,716 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Hampshire earn less than $45,200. The published range is $36,500 up to $62,400, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,498 take-home in New Hampshire comes from $45,200. 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 406 of 488.
- Two cautions on $36,545, the adjusted value of that $45,200 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Hampshire. 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 406 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for security guards in New Hampshire the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,500 to $62,400. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,498, from $45,200, assumes a single New Hampshire 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 406 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- This $36,545 adjusted figure, worked from $45,200, 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 406 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 406 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $47,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,500 and the top tenth $62,400, so most people doing this work in New Hampshire sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New Hampshire run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $36,545 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $38,498 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 New Hampshire is $47,850. 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 ($36,500 to $62,400) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Hampshire rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Hampshire's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,545 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
New Hampshire levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $38,498 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.