Tennessee / Mental Health / Security Guard 1
Job-title file
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
33 employees hold this title in Mental Health. Median total compensation for the role is $31,236, below the department median of $52,260.
What the records show
How total compensation varies among the 33 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in Tennessee, the median wage for Security Guards — about 27,690 people — is $36,000. Mental Health pays a median base salary of $34,548 for this role, 4% below that figure — about the 43rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Security Guards across every employer in Tennessee, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Mental Health’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Security Guards — about 1,283,470 people — is $38,020. Mental Health’s median base salary is 9% below that national figure, about the 23rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Tennessee range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Mental Health is $35,400, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
Security Guard 1 is held in 3 Tennessee departments. In Mental Health, the median of $31,236 ranks #3 of 3.
Median total compensation for the Security Guard 1 role in other Tennesseedepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 15 jurisdictions. In Tennessee, the median of $36,264 ranks #8 of 15. See Security Guard across all of Tennessee →
Median total compensation for comparable Security Guardroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Page 1
Security Guard 1/Mental Health
Source-specific fields
John Baer holds the role of Security Guard 1 at Mental Health within Security. Their status is full-time. In 2026, their total compensation was $33,384.