Security Guards salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

The figures

The median Security Guards in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area earns $36,970 a year ($17.78 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Security Guards in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn between $35,390 and $45,460 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $32,810 or less and the top 10 percent earn $62,200 or more. BLS estimates 16,020 Security Guards jobs in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area — 11.811 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 1.43 (well above the national concentration). That is 1.2% of all Security Guards employment in the United States (1,283,470 jobs nationally). By employment, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD is the #16 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Security Guards. In aggregate, Security Guards in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn about $0.68 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $34,764.36 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Security Guards is about $0.56 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 3.1% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD stands #18 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Security Guards. By employment, Security Guards is the #15 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD. Placed against the national distribution for Security Guards, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median of $36,970 falls between the national 25th percentile ($35,210) and the national median ($38,020). Across all occupations, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median is $59,070 a year — Security Guards pay is 37.4% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Security Guards in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn 1.9 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($62,200 against $32,810). The middle half spans $10,070 — from $35,390 to $45,460. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($29.91) is 1.90 times the 10th ($15.77). In the upper half of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $45,460 takes home $36,911.46 and the 90th percentile wage of $62,200 takes home $49,566.86 — $12,655.40 more net for $16,740 more gross. Against the median take-home of $30,492.88, the top decile keeps 1.63 times as much. The mean wage of $42,620 sits 15.3% above the median: higher-paid Security Guards pull the average up in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD. Among the 30 covered occupations in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, Security Guards ranks #25 by median pay. In the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD wage ladder of covered occupations, Security Guards sits between Cooks, Restaurant at $37,420 and Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners at $36,460. Security Guards accounts for 1.2% of all employment in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area. The average covered metro employs 28,378 Security Guards; Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD employs 0.6 times that.

Take-home pay on the median wage in Maryland

Single filer, no dependents, no pre-tax contributions, paid biweekly, a full year of W-2 wages in Maryland; city and local taxes are not included:

At the median, $30,492.88 of the $36,970 gross is kept ($1,172.80 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 17.52%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 16.65% at the 10th percentile, 17.21% at the 25th percentile, 18.80% at the 75th percentile, 20.31% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $7,613.00 on a gross rise of $10,070.

The same engine at the other published points of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD wage distribution:

Across the published distribution, take-home pay runs from $27,347.92 a year at the 10th percentile to $49,566.86 at the 90th — a spread of $22,218.94 of net pay inside one occupation and one metro area.

For scale: across all occupations, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median wage of $59,070 takes home $47,200.74 a year ($1,815.41 per paycheck, deduction rate 20.09%). The Security Guards median take-home of $30,492.88 sits $16,707.86 (below that area-wide figure.

Run your own numbers

Your own withholding depends on your Form W-4, your benefits and your other income — run your exact figures through the calculator:

Take-home pay for $36,970 in Maryland

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Security Guards earns $38,020 a year ($18.28 an hour). The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median of $36,970 is $1,050 (2.8%) below the national median.

The means rank the area differently: $42,620 a year in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD against $42,470 nationally, a gap of $150 (0.4%).

Set against the whole local market, the Security Guards 90th percentile of $62,200 is 45% of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD all-occupations 90th percentile ($138,650), and its 10th percentile of $32,810 is 96% of the area-wide 10th ($34,230).

Sources and method

Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released May 15, 2026), retrieved October 27, 2026 — bls.gov/oes. OEWS figures are survey estimates for May 2025, not job offers. Take-home pay is computed by this site's paycheck engine with 2026 federal and state rules; the method, and what the engine does not model, is documented in the paycheck methodology guide. Estimates only — not tax advice.