High paying security and protective service jobs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN with no degree

The best paid security and protective service occupations in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN that require no bachelor's degree — a high school diploma, a certificate, or an associate's degree is the typical entry. This is the narrowest cut on the site, so it is also the shortest list: where a field has only two or three such occupations, there is no page at all rather than a page pretending otherwise.

Cost of living: prices in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN run 3.6% above the national average (2024), so a Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN salary is worth about 0.97× 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

OccupationMedian, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN · Employed

1First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives$135,080
High school diploma or equivalent
$106,430 – $162,6403,800
2First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers$126,200
Postsecondary nondegree award
$75,340 – $159,9402,600
3Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$107,810
High school diploma or equivalent
$63,450 – $123,13022,680
4Detectives and Criminal Investigators$102,260
High school diploma or equivalent
$57,300 – $171,7902,290
5Correctional Officers and Jailers$84,550
High school diploma or equivalent
$61,000 – $95,9904,940
6Firefighters$82,820
Postsecondary nondegree award
$42,080 – $112,93014,560
7Transportation Security Screeners$70,570
High school diploma or equivalent
$45,070 – $77,4201,780
8First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers$58,990
High school diploma or equivalent
$38,820 – $94,6202,120
9Security Guards$39,990
High school diploma or equivalent
$35,940 – $64,18048,360
10Crossing Guards and Flaggers$38,990
No formal educational credential
$31,850 – $72,9402,140
11School Bus Monitors$33,890
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,200 – $38,2105,210
12Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$33,750
No formal educational credential
$31,200 – $37,7804,960

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

#	Occupation	MedianChicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	First-Line Supervisors of Police and DetectivesHigh school diploma or equivalent	$135,080	$106,430 – $162,640	3,800
2	First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention WorkersPostsecondary nondegree award	$126,200	$75,340 – $159,940	2,600
3	Police and Sheriff's Patrol OfficersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$107,810	$63,450 – $123,130	22,680
4	Detectives and Criminal InvestigatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$102,260	$57,300 – $171,790	2,290
5	Correctional Officers and JailersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$84,550	$61,000 – $95,990	4,940
6	FirefightersPostsecondary nondegree award	$82,820	$42,080 – $112,930	14,560
7	Transportation Security ScreenersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$70,570	$45,070 – $77,420	1,780
8	First-Line Supervisors of Security WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$58,990	$38,820 – $94,620	2,120
9	Security GuardsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$39,990	$35,940 – $64,180	48,360
10	Crossing Guards and FlaggersNo formal educational credential	$38,990	$31,850 – $72,940	2,140
11	School Bus MonitorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$33,890	$31,200 – $38,210	5,210
12	Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service WorkersNo formal educational credential	$33,750	$31,200 – $37,780	4,960

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. 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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The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN to rank honestly.

High paying security and protective service jobs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN with no degree

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