What is an Armed Guard?
The average armed guard salary is $43,189. The most common degree is a high school diploma degree with an criminal justice major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become an armed guard. Armed guards with a Security 5 Certification certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 40,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Armed Guard Do
There are certain skills that many armed guards have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, good judgment and observation skills.
How To Become an Armed Guard
If you're interested in becoming an armed guard, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 20.7% of armed guards have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.5% of armed guards have master's degrees. Even though some armed guards have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Armed Guard Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an armed guard can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as security supervisor, progress to a title such as supervisor and then eventually end up with the title co-owner.
Average Salary for an Armed Guard
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Armed Guard
The role of an armed guard includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general armed guard responsibilities:
- Provide for the security and safety of client property
- Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position) required to follow all company personnel
- Replenish atm machines on a set schedule. Loading
There are several types of armed guard, including:
Security Officer
Role:
As a security officer, it is your duty to partrol and protect. Most security officers are given a certain property to protect from illegal activity. These properties can vary from public buildings to retail stores and office buildings.
However, you could get a job as a security officer in a casino, and we all know how cool these security officers are just based on movies. No matter how cool and important this role is, it's important to note that it can be taxing. Since a lot of these properties are open 24 hours a day, many security officers work long hours, if not around the clock. One thing is for sure. If you become a security officer, you'll probably become addicted to caffeine.
- Average Salary: $31,101
- Degree: High School Diploma
Security Guard
Role:
Security guards help protect some valuable stuff, which varies depending on where they're working. Maybe you'll work for a jewelry store so you'll learn to protect precious gems or maybe you'll work for an apartment complex where you'll be protecting the residents.
Really, there isn't a limit for who or what business needs a security guard. You can find work just about anywhere. A lot of businesses struggle with theft, some even have violent situations arise frequently. Other companies deal with people not following the rules and like to have a security guard to help. So you see, you're needed everywhere.
Sometimes a venue or event will be so big, they'll have x-ray and metal detector equipment setup. In these situations, you'll have to operate and examine those machines as people walk through. Or maybe you'll end up as an individual person's security guard. Whatever you end up guarding, just make sure you're ready for whatever is thrown at you.
- Average Salary: $31,983
- Degree: High School Diploma
Officer
Role:
When you think of an officer, perhaps you're thinking of a police officer. But there are a lot of different types of officers. Maybe you want to become an administrative officer. Or a personnel officer. Maybe even an administrative officer. Whatever you want, you've got options.
From managing office stock to putting a stop to crime, your position as an officer is an important one. It's a position that many people count on. An administrative officer makes sure that the company's expenses and budget reports are prepared. While a personnel officer helps with employee relations.
Whatever type of officer you want to become, you'll have plenty of job opportunities. In addition to choosing the industry you go into, lots of companies rely on a type of officer to thrive. Even grocery stores need police officers to stand by to ensure nothing is stolen.
- Average Salary: $52,506
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Armed Guard Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active armed guard jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where armed guards earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Armed Guard Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,731 | $48,225 |
| 2 | Florida | 1,415 | $33,677 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | 1,037 | $39,606 |
| 4 | Texas | 1,010 | $36,530 |
| 5 | Illinois | 994 | $39,446 |
| 6 | New York | 987 | $55,028 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 838 | $45,381 |
| 8 | Ohio | 675 | $39,039 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 669 | $37,749 |
| 10 | New Jersey | 665 | $45,353 |
| 11 | Georgia | 589 | $34,515 |
| 12 | Virginia | 548 | $42,499 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 521 | $46,241 |
| 14 | Indiana | 433 | $38,823 |
| 15 | Michigan | 401 | $41,088 |
| 16 | Wisconsin | 371 | $40,832 |
| 17 | Colorado | 364 | $43,416 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 363 | $35,697 |
| 19 | Maryland | 344 | $43,752 |
| 20 | Missouri | 337 | $38,791 |
| 21 | Washington | 335 | $52,292 |
| 22 | Arizona | 326 | $42,672 |
| 23 | Alabama | 280 | $34,251 |
| 24 | Utah | 274 | $42,433 |
| 25 | Mississippi | 242 | $30,166 |
| 26 | South Carolina | 222 | $31,661 |
| 27 | Kentucky | 213 | $36,509 |
| 28 | Connecticut | 207 | $49,216 |
| 29 | Oklahoma | 192 | $36,159 |
| 30 | Iowa | 180 | $33,741 |
| 31 | Louisiana | 167 | $34,176 |
| 32 | Nevada | 126 | $45,020 |
| 33 | Oregon | 118 | $46,354 |
| 34 | Kansas | 118 | $40,415 |
| 35 | Arkansas | 115 | $34,038 |
| 36 | Nebraska | 103 | $44,172 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 94 | $35,506 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 82 | $45,189 |
| 39 | New Mexico | 81 | $39,356 |
| 40 | Delaware | 80 | $35,257 |
| 41 | Hawaii | 78 | $43,750 |
| 42 | West Virginia | 62 | $35,413 |
| 43 | Maine | 55 | $39,676 |
| 44 | Idaho | 42 | $38,576 |
| 45 | Alaska | 41 | $66,586 |
| 46 | Montana | 37 | $37,882 |
| 47 | Vermont | 29 | $41,266 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 28 | $52,395 |
| 49 | Wyoming | 21 | $43,063 |
| 50 | South Dakota | 19 | $41,324 |
Top Skills For an Armed Guard
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 22.0% of armed guards listed patrol on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and good judgment are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Armed Guard Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Armed Guard templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Armed Guard resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Armed Guard diversity
Armed Guard Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among armed guards, 15.5% of them are women, while 84.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among armed guards is White, which makes up 54.1% of all armed guards.
- The most common foreign language among armed guards is Spanish at 69.0%.
Online Courses For Armed Guard That You May Like
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Welcome to course 3 of 5 of this Specialization, Access Control Concepts. In Course 1, we introduced access control concepts. Now, we will take a more detailed look at the types of access control that every information security professional should be familiar with. We will discuss both physical and logical controls and how they are combined to strengthen the overall security of an organization. This is where we describe who gets access to what, why access is necessary, and how that access is...
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Best States For an Armed Guard
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an armed guard. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, New York, North Dakota, and Washington. Armed guards make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $66,586. Whereas in New York and North Dakota, they would average $55,028 and $52,395, respectively. While armed guards would only make an average of $52,292 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$55,028
Avg. Salary
2. Minnesota
$46,241
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$66,586
Avg. Salary
How Do Armed Guards Rate Their Jobs?
Top Armed Guard Employers
Most Common Employers For Armed Guard
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wells Fargo | $49,402 | $23.75 | 13 |
| 2 | Universal Protection Service | $47,820 | $22.99 | 10 |
| 3 | Arkansas Heart Hospital | $43,327 | $20.83 | 14 |
| 4 | Dunbar | $42,166 | $20.27 | 14 |
| 5 | Loomis Group | $41,771 | $20.08 | 150 |
| 6 | Chenega | $40,681 | $19.56 | 35 |
| 7 | Pendum | $39,821 | $19.14 | 10 |
| 8 | Rochester Armored Car | $39,018 | $18.76 | 25 |
| 9 | Brink's | $39,009 | $18.75 | 193 |
| 10 | MVM | $38,691 | $18.60 | 12 |
Armed Guard Videos
