The private security industry has grown into a $50 billion enterprise, driven by high-profile attacks and rising anxiety despite decades of falling violent crime rates.
Revenue in the private security sector climbed 17% over the past decade to above $50 billion in 2025, according to industry broker Robert H. Perry and Associates.
Nearly 1.3 million Americans worked as security guards in May 2025, almost double the number employed as police and sheriff’s patrol officers nationwide.
The number of security guards surged more than 16% between 2016 and 2025, while the nationwide police force grew by only around 2% over the same period.
At the centre of the boom is Allied Universal, a privately held company operating in more than 100 countries with annual revenue of approximately $23 billion.
Allied Universal lists more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies among its clients and has supported major global events including this summer’s World Cup.
The company employs roughly 800,000 people worldwide, making its workforce nearly double the size of Target’s and more than three times larger than Disney’s.
“We’re everywhere,” said Glen Kucera, president of Allied Universal’s enhanced protection services division. “I can take you down streets where you’re going to have a tough time taking three steps without tripping over one of our dogs.”
About 40% of S&P 500-listed firms provided security services to at least some executives in 2025, up from just under 19% in 2019, according to an analysis by Equilar.
The median cost of executive security ballooned by 178% over that period, with major companies including Walmart adding such protection for the first time in recent years.
Cracker Barrel said in a regulatory filing that it would continue covering protective service expenses for former CEO Julie Masino even after her departure from the company.
“Who would have thought 10 years ago that you would need to hire private security at a school board meeting or at a town meeting,” said Steve Amitay, executive director of the National Association of Security Companies.
“We live in a very divisive and inflammatory society right now,” Amitay added, reflecting broader concerns about political and cultural tensions across the United States.
The mean wage for a security guard stood at $20.42 per hour, or $42,470 annually, well below the $79,200-a-year average for police and sheriff’s patrol officers.
More than two out of every five security guards lack health insurance through their own or a family member’s employer, according to a UC Berkeley Labor Center report.
“This is an essential workforce that’s being asked to do more and more,” said Enrique Lopezlira, director of the UC Berkeley Center’s Low-Wage Work Program. “Yet the pay, training and other labor standards of the job have not kept up.”
Annual staff turnover in the security industry hit 89% in 2024, well above the 66% average seen across broader private-sector payrolls nationally.
Despite violent crime falling 71% between 1994 and 2024, nearly half of Americans still believe crime is increasing compared with a year prior, according to a Gallup poll of 1,000 adults.
“The most fundamental fact about public perception of crime and violence in the U.S. is that it is nearly always out of step with reality,” said David Kennedy, director of the National Network for Safe Communities.
A string of attacks, including the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in late 2024, has intensified public concern about personal safety across all walks of American life.