High paying security and protective service jobs in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Every security and protective service occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD. Read the percentile range, not just the median: the gap between the 10th and 90th inside a single security and protective service job is usually wider than the gap between two different ones, so where you land in a field matters more than which field you pick.

Cost of living: prices in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD run 2.6% above the national average (2024), so a Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD salary is worth about 0.98× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order.

Local wage estimates are suppressed more often than state ones — BLS withholds any figure too few local employers report — so an occupation missing here simply has no published local estimate.

Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024

Find security jobs in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

OccupationMedian, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD · Employed

1First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives$119,540
High school diploma or equivalent
$98,200 – $156,4703,250
2First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers$101,050
Postsecondary nondegree award
$91,450 – $129,510950
3Detectives and Criminal Investigators$97,580
High school diploma or equivalent
$74,030 – $159,6602,160
4Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$89,580
High school diploma or equivalent
$55,040 – $121,20013,160
5Firefighters$78,050
Postsecondary nondegree award
$47,580 – $89,1903,970
6Transportation Security Screeners$67,330
High school diploma or equivalent
$48,340 – $74,070930
7Correctional Officers and Jailers$67,200
High school diploma or equivalent
$49,520 – $94,7705,570
8First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers$48,650
High school diploma or equivalent
$36,990 – $86,8001,960
9Security Guards$37,450
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,330 – $57,97025,460
10Crossing Guards and Flaggers$37,350
No formal educational credential
$33,750 – $49,1704,300
11Protective Service Workers, All Other$35,060
High school diploma or equivalent
$21,750 – $65,5202,760
12School Bus Monitors$34,620
High school diploma or equivalent
$32,220 – $42,3802,550
13Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$32,220
No formal educational credential
$27,650 – $37,4302,980

Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.

#	Occupation	MedianPhiladelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	First-Line Supervisors of Police and DetectivesHigh school diploma or equivalent	$119,540	$98,200 – $156,470	3,250
2	First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention WorkersPostsecondary nondegree award	$101,050	$91,450 – $129,510	950
3	Detectives and Criminal InvestigatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$97,580	$74,030 – $159,660	2,160
4	Police and Sheriff's Patrol OfficersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$89,580	$55,040 – $121,200	13,160
5	FirefightersPostsecondary nondegree award	$78,050	$47,580 – $89,190	3,970
6	Transportation Security ScreenersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$67,330	$48,340 – $74,070	930
7	Correctional Officers and JailersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$67,200	$49,520 – $94,770	5,570
8	First-Line Supervisors of Security WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$48,650	$36,990 – $86,800	1,960
9	Security GuardsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$37,450	$31,330 – $57,970	25,460
10	Crossing Guards and FlaggersNo formal educational credential	$37,350	$33,750 – $49,170	4,300
11	Protective Service Workers, All OtherHigh school diploma or equivalent	$35,060	$21,750 – $65,520	2,760
12	School Bus MonitorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$34,620	$32,220 – $42,380	2,550
13	Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service WorkersNo formal educational credential	$32,220	$27,650 – $37,430	2,980

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.

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Without a degree

The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD to rank honestly.

High paying security and protective service jobs in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

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