巴尔的摩保安人员的人口统计和工作特征

FACTSHEET:Demographic and Job Characteristics ofBaltimore’s Security Guard Workforce By Kassandra Hernandez,Enrique Lopezlira, and Nari Rhee Security guards in the state of Maryland, including the city of Baltimore, were essentialworkers during the pandemic1— ensuring public safety in buildings, hospitals,and transportation hubs—but their compensation and working conditions do notreflect their significant role. Security guards’ responsibilities have evolved to includede-escalating conflicts, managing crises, and enforcing health and safety protocols—and they do this all without the hazard pay, benefits, and training offered to workersin similar occupations.2They also experience higher rates of assaults and fatal injurieswhile on the job compared to many other workers.3Although the use of private securityservices has grown in recent decades, security guards lack appropriate labor standardsand a sufficient focus from policymakers. This factsheet describes the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforcein Baltimore,4highlighting the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.5With national revenues of $22.7 billion for unarmed guard services alone,6the laborconditions of this industry’s workforce are foundational to broader questions of howcities achieve public safety–in Baltimore as well as throughout the country. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau and Labor Statistics,approximately 15,310 security guards work in the Baltimore-Columbia-TowsonMetropolitan Statistical Area (“Baltimore MSA”). Based on census data from theAmerican Community Survey, these workers are primarily men (65.8%) and workersof color: close to three out of every four security guard workers are Black (73.3%).7,8About three of five have educational attainment beyond high school (62.5 %), includingpost-secondary degrees and some college. The median age is 38. One in four aremarried (25.9 %), and over a third have children (37.9 %). Table 1: Demographics and Job Characteristics of Baltimore Security Guards(all figures are percentages unless otherwise noted) This table provides statistics for all private security guards in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Data are useful for understandingwho works as security guards and the quality of their jobs. Data Source: UC Berkeley Labor Center analysis of American Community Survey pooled 2019-2023data. Note: Percentages for characteristics marked with†(age, race, education) reflect distributionswithin that characteristic only, due to limited sample sizes, and do not represent shares of the totalsecurity guard workforce. Overall, security guards in Baltimore City (“the City”) have a median income of $34,854,which is less than 40% of the Area Median Income (AMI) of all workers in the City($91,300).9Security guards in the City have a median hourly wage of $18.55, less thantwo-thirds of the median for all workers—$28.81. The bottom quarter of security guardsearn less than $15; in other words, 25% of security guards in the City earn $14.54 or less.Two of five security guards (40.4%) are without health insurance through their employeror the employer of a household member (see Table 1).10 Half of all security guards earn well below the MIT Living Wage as well as customarymeasures of “low wage.” The MIT Living Wage captures what a full-time worker wouldneed to be paid to cover the costs of their family’s basic needs; in the City this amountis $21.15 per hour for a household with one adult and no children).11We define “Lowwage,” as two-thirds of the median hourly wage of all workers in the City, the low wagein the City is $19.11. Anyone earning below this would thus be considered a low-wageworker, where the majority of security guards fall. Table 2: Annual Earnings and Hourly Wages of Baltimore Security Guards This table provides earnings statistics for all private security guards in Baltimore City.Data are useful for understanding how security guards compare to all other workers inthe region. For example, half of the security guards in Baltimore are paid $18.55 or lessper hour, while the median hourly wage of all workers is almost $10 more—$28.81. Data Source: UC Berkeley Labor Center analysis of American Community Survey pooled 2019-2023data. Note: Values are in 2025 dollars. “MIT Living Wage Calculator, “Living Wage Calculation for Baltimorecity, Maryland,” accessed December 18, 2025,https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/24510. Finally, we analyzed employee turnover in the Investigation and Security Services sector(in which security guards make up about three-quarters of employment) from 2014to 2024. We find that turnover in the Baltimore MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area)security industry has risen over time and is much higher than in the private sector asa whole. In 2024, the security services sector had a turnover rate of 95%, comparedto the pre-pandemic rate of 90% in 2019 and 76% in 2014. In contrast, ove