Protective Services
Contains Stem Majors
Add ComparisonIn 2024, the locations with the highest concentration of Protective Services degree recipients are New York, NY, Orange Beach, AL, and Phoenix, AZ. In 2024, the locations with a relatively high number of Protective Services degree recipients are Xenia, OH, Canfield, OH, and Inverness, FL. The most common degree awarded to students studying Protective Services is a bachelors degree.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Protective Services and the types of students that study this field. Columbia Southern University awards the most degrees in Protective Services in the US, but Caribbean Forensic and Technical College and Greene County Career Center have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Protective Services.
Tuition costs for Protective Services majors are, on average, $6,084 for in-state public colleges, and $31,265 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Protective Services programs are Public, 2-year institutions (688 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (64,537 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Protective Services, is Public, 4-year or above (64,537 completions in 2024).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Protective Services programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
Columbia Southern University has the most Protective Services degree recipients, with 2,381 degrees awarded in 2024.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Protective Services.
Out of all institutions that offer Protective Services programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Caribbean Forensic and Technical College has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Protective Services, with 100%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Protective Services by year.
Information on the businesses and industries that employ Protective Services graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.
The average salary for Protective Services majors is $82,826 and the most common occupations are Police officers, Other managers, and Security guards & gaming surveillance officers.
The industry that employs the most Protective Services majors is Justice, public order, & safety activities , though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Not specified metal industries.
The average salary for Protective Services majors is $82,826 and the most common occupations are Police officers, Other managers, and Security guards & gaming surveillance officers.
This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Protective Services majors.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Protective Services majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Protective Services majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
The most common occupations for Protective Services majors, by number of employees, are Police officers, Other managers, and Security guards & gaming surveillance officers.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Protective Services majors working as Probation officers & correctional treatment specialists, Detectives & criminal investigators, and Firstline supervisors of police & detectives.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Protective Services majors are Podiatrists, Surgeons, and Physicians.
The number of Protective Services graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.17%, from 1.26M in 2023 to 1.3M in 2024.
The largest single share of Protective Services graduates go on to work as Police officers (10.5%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Protective Services by share of the total number of graduates.
The most common industries that employ Protective Services majors, by number of employees, are Justice, public order, & safety activities , Elementary & secondary schools, and Legal services.
The highest paying industries of Protective Services majors, by average wage, are Not specified metal industries, Carpet & rug mills, and Prefabricated wood buildings & mobile homes.
The number of Protective Services graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.17%, from 1.26M in 2023 to 1.3M in 2024.
The industry which employs the most Protective Services graduates by share is Justice, public order, & safety activities , followed by Elementary & secondary schools. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Protective Services.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Protective Services majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Protective Services majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Protective Services in the United States.
The average age of a person in the workforce with a degree in Protective Services is 40.4.
The most common degree type these workers hold is a Bachelors Degree. Male employees are more likely to hold Protective Services degrees, and White students are the most common race/ethnicty group awarded degrees in Protective Services (61,829 students).
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Protective Services. The most common ages of employees with this major are 31 and 32 years old, which represent 3.31% and 3.21% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Protective Services are Bachelors Degree, Certificate of at least 1 but less than 2 academic years, and Associates Degree.
The most common degree types held by the working population in Protective Services are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Professional degree.
This chart shows the granted degrees by sex at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Protective Services.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Protective Services for each race & ethnicity.
In 2024, White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.
This chart illustrates the differences by sex for each race & ethnicity of Bachelors Degree recipients in Protective Services.
White Female students, who earn most of the degrees in this field, are the most common combination of race/ethnicity and sex.
There are a relatively high number of people that were born in Caribbean, Not Specified that hold Protective Services degrees (7.97 times more than expected), and the most common country of origin by total numbers for non-US students earning a degree in this field is Mexico (15,844 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Protective Services field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Protective Services majors need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Protective Services majors need more than the average amount of Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, and Troubleshooting.
These two visualizations, one a radial chart and one a bar chart, show the same information, a rating of how necessary the following skills are for Protective Services majors. Toggle between "value" and "RCA" to see the absolute rating of that skill (value) and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA), or how much greater or lesser that skill's rating is than the average. The longer the bar or the closer the line comes to the circumference of the circle, the more important that skill is. The importance of Operation and Control is very distinctive for majors, but the Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, and Speaking are the three most important skills for people in the field.