Security Guards in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,654
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$5,116
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,388
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$35,770
Kept after tax
$30,654
Worth in national money
$33,388
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Ohio is among the lower-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $35,770, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 5.92% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Ohio this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 451. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,770 you keep $30,654 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,388 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- Ohio ranks 43 of 51 for security guards, with a median of $35,770 — about 5.92% 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 Ohio reports, security guards ranks 451 of 494, 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.
- Retained pay in Ohio is $30,654 after the full tax stack, from $35,770. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,388 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,950 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 | $29,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,440 |
| This salary | $35,770 |
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 Ohio | $30,654 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,568 |
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 | $35,437 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,896 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,770 as a midpoint for Ohio, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,030 and the ninetieth is $55,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $30,654, worked from $35,770. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 451 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,388 uses one figure for the whole of Ohio. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 451.
- The Ohio median of $35,770 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,030 to $55,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Ohio take-home of $30,654, on $35,770 for work ranking 451 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 451 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,388, worked from $35,770, 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 Ohio address, on work sitting at 451 of 494 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 $39,950, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,030 and the top tenth $55,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Ohio sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,388 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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,654 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 Ohio is $39,950. 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 ($29,030) and the ninetieth ($55,440) 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?
Ohio'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 $33,388 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 $30,654 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.