Security Guards in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,935
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$8,305
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,389
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$44,240
Kept after tax
$35,935
Worth in national money
$33,389
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for security guards is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $44,240, putting the state 9 of 51 — about 16.36% ahead of the national figure.
- Within New York this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 428. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $44,240 the take-home is $35,935; in national-average money that behaves like $33,389. The average comes to $46,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For security guards, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $44,240, ranking 9 of 51 and running about 16.36% 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.
- Against every occupation New York reports, security guards ranks 428 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.
- Take-home for security guards in New York, on $44,240, is $35,935; deflated by the state's price level, $33,389. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $46,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,580 |
| This salary | $44,240 |
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 York | $35,935 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,727 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,435 |
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 | $42,010 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,573 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $44,240 and half over. The published range runs $35,650 at the tenth percentile to $60,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New York the take-home figure of $35,935, from $44,240, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 428 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,389 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 428.
- Figures are distribution medians for security guards in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,650 to $60,580; 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.
- Take-home for New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,935 from $44,240. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 428 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,389, worked from $44,240, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New York address, on work sitting at 428 of 493 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 $46,450, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,650 at the tenth percentile, $60,580 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $33,389 of national purchasing power.
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 New York's own levy, $35,935 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.
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 York is $46,450. 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 ($35,650 to $60,580) 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 York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,389 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 $35,935 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.