Security guards are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, security guards rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 7% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy security guards are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Probation officer | 2.9 | $60k |
| Command and control center specialist | 2.9 | $37k |
| Customs inspector | 2.9 | $84k |
| Artillery crew member | 2.8 | $35k |
| Highway maintenance worker | 2.8 | $46k |
| Security guard | 2.6 | $31k |
| Exterminator | 2.5 | $38k |
| Correctional officer | 2.4 | $48k |
| Garbage collector | 2.4 | $38k |
| Vehicle cleaner | 2.4 | $29k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are security guards happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do security guards find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as security guards?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are security guard’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are security guards making the best use of their abilities?
Are security guards happy with their salary?
Security guards rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Security guards tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked security guards how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
1965 security guards
7% of security guards rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of security guards rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of security guards rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of security guards rated their compensation 2 stars
26% of security guards rated their compensation 1 stars
Do security guards find their jobs meaningful?
On average, security guards rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.1/5. The majority of security guards struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked security guards how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.1 out of 5 stars
1966 security guards
7% of security guards rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
8% of security guards rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
18% of security guards rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of security guards rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
42% of security guards rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as security guards?
Security guards rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of security guards find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked security guards how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
2081 security guards
26% of security guards rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of security guards rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of security guards rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of security guards rated their career fit 2 stars
9% of security guards rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a security guard’s work environment?
As a whole, security guards rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked security guards how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
2073 security guards
17% of security guards rated their work environment 5 stars
28% of security guards rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of security guards rated their work environment 3 stars
17% of security guards rated their work environment 2 stars
12% of security guards rated their work environment 1 stars
Are security guards making the best use of their abilities?
Former security guards on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.3/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a security guard.
We asked security guards how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
2086 security guards
8% of security guards rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
10% of security guards rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
17% of security guards rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of security guards rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
37% of security guards rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars