Security Guards in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,812
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,238
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,602
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$37,050
Kept after tax
$30,812
Worth in national money
$31,602
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Pennsylvania is 34 of 51 states for security guards, with a middle wage of $37,050. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Pennsylvania this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 435. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $37,050 the take-home is $30,812, which is worth about $31,602 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $40,180, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 34 of 51 for security guards at $37,050. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Pennsylvania reports, security guards ranks 435 of 492, 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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for security guards on its $37,050 median: $30,812 retained after tax becomes $31,602 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $40,180 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,830 |
| This salary | $37,050 |
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 Pennsylvania | $30,812 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,950 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,276 |
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 | $35,634 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,543 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,050 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,050 and the ninetieth is $54,830 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,812 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $37,050. 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 435 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,602, the adjusted value of that $37,050 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 435 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $37,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,050 to $54,830. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,812, from $37,050, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 435 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $31,602 — the adjusted value of that $37,050 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 435 of 492 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 $40,180 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,050 at the tenth percentile, $54,830 at the ninetieth.
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 $31,602.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $30,812 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 Pennsylvania is $40,180. 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 ($30,050 to $54,830) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $31,602 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 $30,812 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.