Protective service occupations

Minor Occupation Group

Add Comparison
2023 Workforce
3.47M
Average Age
41
Average Salary
$64,849
Average Male Salary
$69,784
Average Female Salary
$48,564

About

Protective service occupations are most often employed by the Justice, public order, & safety activities industry. The average yearly wage for Protective service occupations was $64,849 in 2023.

Photo by USAG- Humphreys
Service Occupations

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Protective service occupations workforce. Protective service occupations workforce in 2023 was 3,471,287 people, of which 23.3% were women and 76.7% were men. Protective service occupations are paid most in NYC-Manhattan Community District 4--Chelsea & Hell's Kitchen PUMA, NY but are relatively concentrated in Chicago City (Southwest)--Auburn Gresham, Washington Heights, Morgan Park & Beverly PUMA, IL.

Employment Over Time

Metric
Grouping
2,664,037
Male Workforce
± 39.7k
807,250
Female Workforce
± 22k

The Protective service occupations workforce in 2023 was 3,471,287 people (23.3% women and 76.7% men). This implies an average annual growth of 5.74% between 2014 (3,282,767) and 2023 (3,471,287).

View Data
Save Image

Employment by Location

Level
Metric

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by average wage for Protective service occupations.

During 2023, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were Massachusetts ($80,911), California ($79,780), and New Jersey ($78,795).

View Data
Save Image

Yearly Wage Ranking

$64,849
AVERAGE WAGE
#5 in the ranking (2023)
$67,727
NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE
For all occupations across the US

In 2023, Protective service occupations earned an average of $64,849, $2,878 less than the average national salary of $67,727

The graph shows the ranking of Protective service occupations in relation to all Minor Occupation Group in 2023.

View Data
Save Image

Wage Distribution

Gender
0.391
WAGE GINI

In 2023, Protective service occupations had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.391, which is lower than the national average of 0.476. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Protective service occupations (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Protective service occupations compared to the entire workforce in the country.

View Data
Save Image

Industry

Information on the industries that employ Protective service occupations and on wages for those in the field. Justice, public order, & safety activities is the industry that employs the most Protective service occupations, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Protective service occupations, by average wage, is Data processing, hosting & related services ($117,837).

Occupations by Industries

Metric
Value
3.47M
2023 Workforce
± 45,222
0.178%
1 YEAR GROWTH
± 1.84%

This graphic shows the share of Protective service occupations employed by various industries. Justice, public order, & safety activities employs the largest share of Protective service occupations at 64.7%, followed by Investigation & security services with 20.7% and uninformed with 9.23%.

View Data
Save Image

Diversity

Demographic information on Protective service occupations in the US. The workforce of Protective service occupations in 2023 was 3,471,287 people, with 23.3% woman, and 76.7% men. The average age of male Protective service occupations in the workforce is 41.4 and of female Protective service occupations is 39.6, and the most common race/ethnicity for Protective service occupations is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Protective service occupations in 2023 was 3,471,287 people, with 23.3% woman, and 76.7% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 30 to 34 years (437,785 people), 25 to 29 years (424,263  people), and 35 to 39 years (413,905 people). Among them they concentrated 36.8% of the total workforce.

View Data
Save Image
View Data
Save Image

Ethnicity

Gender

In 2023, 17.6% of Protective service occupations workers were Hispanic and 82.4% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (51.5%), Puerto Rican (21.5)%, and All Other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino (4.57)%

You can review this information by gender using the selectors above.

View Data
Save Image
View Data
Save Image

Races

In 2023, 61.6% of the Protective service occupations workforce were White, of which 19.5% were women and 80.5% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black (19.3%) and Two or More Races (10.1%).

View Data
Save Image
View Data
Save Image

Education & Skills

Data on higher education choices for Protective service occupations from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Protective service occupations is Protective Services but the most specialized major according to RCA in 2023 were Protective Services.

Among the necessary skills for Protective service occupations, Reading Comprehension stands, but the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Protective service occupations need more than the average amount of Persuasion.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.
Type of Majors
Degree

The most common majors achieved by Protective service occupations in 2023 (counting all academic degrees) were Protective Services (293,485 people), Business (156,411 people), and Social Sciences (106,505 people).

You can review this information for different academic grades by modifying the option selected in the selector above.

View Data
Save Image

Education Levels

Metric

The main educational levels achieved by the Protective service occupations workers were Some college (1,025,171 people), High School or Equivalent (828,738 people), and Bachelors Degree (770,781 people).

The graphic shows the Protective service occupations workforce by gender and educational level.

View Data
Save Image

Skills

Chart
Value

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for Protective service occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Protective service occupations need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Active Listening.

View Data
Save Image