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

The best paid security and protective service occupations in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania run 2.4% below the national average (2024), so a Pennsylvania salary is worth about 1.02× 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 Pennsylvania.

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

Find security jobs in Pennsylvania

OccupationMedian, Pennsylvania · Employed

1Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$85,470
High school diploma or equivalent
$48,680 – $109,78026,510
2Firefighters$73,460
Postsecondary nondegree award
$48,620 – $89,1905,020
3Correctional Officers and Jailers$63,460
High school diploma or equivalent
$46,840 – $85,63015,560
4Security Guards$37,050
High school diploma or equivalent
$30,050 – $54,83043,610
5Crossing Guards and Flaggers$35,810
No formal educational credential
$30,680 – $59,1909,410
6School Bus Monitors$35,290
High school diploma or equivalent
$29,040 – $41,7203,180
7Protective Service Workers, All Other$34,320
High school diploma or equivalent
$24,320 – $54,6205,720
8Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$29,480
No formal educational credential
$22,650 – $35,9005,450

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

#	Occupation	MedianPennsylvania	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	Police and Sheriff's Patrol OfficersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$85,470	$48,680 – $109,780	26,510
2	FirefightersPostsecondary nondegree award	$73,460	$48,620 – $89,190	5,020
3	Correctional Officers and JailersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$63,460	$46,840 – $85,630	15,560
4	Security GuardsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$37,050	$30,050 – $54,830	43,610
5	Crossing Guards and FlaggersNo formal educational credential	$35,810	$30,680 – $59,190	9,410
6	School Bus MonitorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$35,290	$29,040 – $41,720	3,180
7	Protective Service Workers, All OtherHigh school diploma or equivalent	$34,320	$24,320 – $54,620	5,720
8	Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service WorkersNo formal educational credential	$29,480	$22,650 – $35,900	5,450

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

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

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

By field in Pennsylvania

Without a degree

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

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

More for Pennsylvania

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

By field in Pennsylvania

Without a degree

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