Security Guards salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

The figures

The median Security Guards in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area earns $39,990 a year ($19.22 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Security Guards in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN earn between $37,060 and $46,360 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $35,940 or less and the top 10 percent earn $64,180 or more. BLS estimates 48,360 Security Guards jobs in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area — 10.716 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 1.3 (well above the national concentration). That is 3.8% of all Security Guards employment in the United States (1,283,470 jobs nationally). By employment, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is the #3 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Security Guards. In aggregate, Security Guards in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN earn about $2.15 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $35,772.20 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Security Guards is about $1.73 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 2.2% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN stands #11 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Security Guards. By employment, Security Guards is the #16 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. Placed against the national distribution for Security Guards, the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median of $39,990 falls between the national median ($38,020) and the national 75th percentile ($46,200). Across all occupations, the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median is $54,720 a year — Security Guards pay is 26.9% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Security Guards in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN earn 1.8 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($64,180 against $35,940). The middle half spans $9,300 — from $37,060 to $46,360. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($30.86) is 1.79 times the 10th ($17.28). In the upper half of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $46,360 takes home $37,280.54 and the 90th percentile wage of $64,180 takes home $50,716.68 — $13,436.14 more net for $17,820 more gross. Against the median take-home of $32,477.30, the top decile keeps 1.56 times as much. The mean wage of $44,360 sits 10.9% above the median: higher-paid Security Guards pull the average up in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. Among the 30 covered occupations in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, Security Guards ranks #22 by median pay. In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN wage ladder of covered occupations, Security Guards sits between Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand at $40,550 and Cooks, Restaurant at $38,930. Security Guards accounts for 1.1% of all employment in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area. The average covered metro employs 28,378 Security Guards; Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN employs 1.7 times that.

Take-home pay on the median wage in Illinois

Single filer, no dependents, no pre-tax contributions, paid biweekly, a full year of W-2 wages in Illinois; city and local taxes are not included:

At the median, $32,477.30 of the $39,990 gross is kept ($1,249.13 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 18.79%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 18.13% at the 10th percentile, 18.33% at the 25th percentile, 19.58% at the 75th percentile, 20.98% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $7,012.52 on a gross rise of $9,300.

The same engine at the other published points of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN wage distribution:

Across the published distribution, take-home pay runs from $29,423.62 a year at the 10th percentile to $50,716.68 at the 90th — a spread of $21,293.06 of net pay inside one occupation and one metro area.

For scale: across all occupations, the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median wage of $54,720 takes home $43,583.42 a year ($1,676.29 per paycheck, deduction rate 20.35%). The Security Guards median take-home of $32,477.30 sits $11,106.12 (below that area-wide figure.

Multi-state metro area. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN also covers parts of Indiana. The take-home estimate above uses Illinois rules — the metro area's primary state. If the job is based in another part of the metro area, the state tax changes: see the Indiana paycheck calculator.

Run your own numbers

Your own withholding depends on your Form W-4, your benefits and your other income — run your exact figures through the calculator:

Take-home pay for $39,990 in Illinois

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Security Guards earns $38,020 a year ($18.28 an hour). The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN median of $39,990 is $1,970 (5.2%) above the national median.

The means rank the area the same way: $44,360 a year in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN against $42,470 nationally, a gap of $1,890 (4.5%).

Set against the whole local market, the Security Guards 90th percentile of $64,180 is 49% of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN all-occupations 90th percentile ($130,790), and its 10th percentile of $35,940 is 105% of the area-wide 10th ($34,260).

Sources and method

Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released May 15, 2026), retrieved October 27, 2026 — bls.gov/oes. OEWS figures are survey estimates for May 2025, not job offers. Take-home pay is computed by this site's paycheck engine with 2026 federal and state rules; the method, and what the engine does not model, is documented in the paycheck methodology guide. Estimates only — not tax advice.