High paying security and protective service jobs in Iowa with no experience

The best paid security and protective service occupations in Iowa that require neither a degree nor prior experience in a related job. 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 Iowa run 12.2% below the national average (2024), so a Iowa salary is worth about 1.14× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order. To see where a job pays a real premium, use jobs that pay more in Iowa.

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

Find security jobs in Iowa

OccupationMedian, Iowa · Employed

1Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$74,470
High school diploma or equivalent
$59,360 – $101,5205,130
2Firefighters$55,810
Postsecondary nondegree award
$32,240 – $87,7202,170
3Correctional Officers and Jailers$53,040
High school diploma or equivalent
$47,670 – $73,5303,440
4Security Guards$37,080
High school diploma or equivalent
$30,350 – $59,2906,890
5School Bus Monitors$32,740
High school diploma or equivalent
$28,180 – $36,540520
6Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$25,460
No formal educational credential
$20,560 – $31,4601,410

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

#	Occupation	MedianIowa	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Police and Sheriff's Patrol OfficersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$74,470	$59,360 – $101,520	5,130
2	FirefightersPostsecondary nondegree award	$55,810	$32,240 – $87,720	2,170
3	Correctional Officers and JailersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$53,040	$47,670 – $73,530	3,440
4	Security GuardsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$37,080	$30,350 – $59,290	6,890
5	School Bus MonitorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$32,740	$28,180 – $36,540	520
6	Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service WorkersNo formal educational credential	$25,460	$20,560 – $31,460	1,410

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Iowa. 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.

More for Iowa

Metro areas in Iowa

Pay varies more between metros than between states — the spread inside one state is often wider than the gap between two.

By field in Iowa

Without a degree

The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Iowa to rank honestly.

High paying security and protective service jobs in Iowa with no experience

More for Iowa

Metro areas in Iowa

By field in Iowa

Without a degree

High paying security and protective service jobs in each state with no experience