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US guarding and security systems companies by state

How many business establishments in the United States work in guard and patrol services (NAICS 561612) and in security systems services, meaning alarm installation and monitoring (NAICS 561621), and how many people they employ. 2023 data.

11,104guard and patrol establishments in the US

799,400guard and patrol employees, mid-March 2023

7,151security systems establishments

Highest values: guarding: employees

  1. California157,154
  2. New York86,889
  3. Texas60,912
  4. Florida55,056
  5. Virginia34,553
  6. Illinois34,528
  7. Pennsylvania29,883
  8. New Jersey23,628
  9. Georgia23,591
  10. Maryland22,089
  11. Tennessee18,983
  12. Massachusetts16,413
  13. Ohio16,307
  14. Arizona15,296
  15. North Carolina15,209

All the data

California2,173157,15478112,532
New York79586,8895317,026
Texas1,02360,91268113,692
Florida98955,05668110,310
Virginia38534,5531785,149
Illinois35634,5281874,144
Pennsylvania31629,8832515,110
New Jersey22523,6282833,895
Georgia33123,5912343,593
Maryland28822,0891673,681
Tennessee24218,9831432,686
Massachusetts17016,4131342,845
Ohio24316,3072103,989
Arizona22315,2961312,061
North Carolina21615,2092063,979
Washington24515,0891232,722
Michigan22114,6311532,685
Nevada17112,594581,246
Colorado21412,3581352,586
Missouri15610,8131105,587
Louisiana1329,3461211,555
Alabama1189,2561241,887
Indiana1719,0231432,381
South Carolina1048,9781432,037
Minnesota1037,701792,149
Kentucky1087,569781,231
Oregon1386,997751,143
Connecticut746,160831,465
Hawaii816,06933535
District of Columbia695,96316183
Oklahoma1225,2001171,765
Wisconsin984,93680991
Mississippi994,68373498
Iowa493,38033489
Arkansas573,30173697
Utah563,125845,516
Rhode Island382,90723162
Kansas622,85944594
New Mexico862,61646400
Nebraska572,32035442
West Virginia392,19628106
Delaware261,78132583
Alaska361,72015122
New Hampshire261,19738435
Idaho481,07242491
Maine2282726372
Vermont1065114131
Montana3161827226
North Dakota2243216111
South Dakota2027319163
Wyoming202681484

How to read these figures

  • The Census counts establishments, not companies: a firm with branches in several states appears once in each state where it has a location with employees.
  • Employees are paid staff in the pay period including 12 March 2023. Businesses without employees, the self-employed and government are excluded.
  • In-house guards at companies in other industries (hospitals, retailers, banks) are not counted here: they fall under their employer’s industry. For all security workers regardless of industry, see the BLS occupation data.
  • The Census adds a small amount of statistical noise to protect individual businesses: for some states the employee figure carries 2–5% noise, and in one case (security systems) more.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, file per stato (cbp23st) e nazionale (cbp23us) · Licence: US government public data; no licence is stated on the page · Data retrieved on

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