Security Guards in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,191
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$6,079
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,197
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$36,270
Kept after tax
$30,191
Worth in national money
$34,197
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oklahoma is among the lower-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $36,270, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 4.6% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Oklahoma, this one sits low: 419 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,270 you keep $30,191 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,197 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma ranks 38 of 51 for security guards, with a median of $36,270 — about 4.6% 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.
- Security guards occupies position 419 of 492 in Oklahoma's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $30,191 after the full tax stack, from $36,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,197 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,560 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 | $26,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,080 |
| This salary | $36,270 |
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 Oklahoma | $30,191 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,323 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,964 |
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 | $34,862 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,375 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,270 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,940 and the ninetieth is $56,080 — 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 Oklahoma's $30,191, worked from $36,270. 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 419 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oklahoma, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,197, the adjusted value of that $36,270 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 419 of 492 in the state.
- The Oklahoma median of $36,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,940 to $56,080. 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 Oklahoma take-home of $30,191, on $36,270 for work ranking 419 of 492 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 419 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oklahoma, so $34,197 — the adjusted value of that $36,270 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 419 of 492 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 $39,560, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $26,940, the highest tenth $56,080, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $34,197.
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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,191 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 Oklahoma is $39,560. 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 ($26,940) and the ninetieth ($56,080) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $34,197 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 $30,191 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.