Compared with the local labor market
Security Officer III pay vs. Texas
Across all employers in Texas, the median wage for Security Guards — about 106,210 people — is $35,980. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles pays a median base salary of $45,000 for this role, 25% above that figure — about the 78th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Texas Department of Motor Vehicles sits in the local pay range
$26,950
$29,290
$35,980
$43,630
$50,740
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles median · $45,000
The bar is the range of annual wages for Security Guards across every employer in Texas, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Texas Department of Motor Vehicles’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. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles’s median base salary is 18% above that national figure, about the 71st percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$30,210
$35,210
$38,020
$46,200
$58,840
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles median · $45,000
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 Texas range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is $45,000, 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 jurisdictions
Security Officer beyond Texas
This role is reported in 16 jurisdictions. In Texas, the median of $47,355 ranks #8 of 16. See Security Officer across all of Texas →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Security Officerroles 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.