50+ Security & Public Safety Jobs in Boston, MA

Government wage data says the Boston metro protective-service group had a median annual wage of $69,990 and a median hourly wage of $33.65 in May 2025, with the 10th percentile at $29.19 an hour and the 90th percentile at $40.14. A narrower police-and-sheriff-style local estimate puts the median at $78,180, with a 25th-75th range of $52,430 to $98,820, and Boston police and detectives had a mean annual wage of $104,880. By contrast, current hourly postings in the local sample center on about $19 to $21 an hour, with a broader band of about $16 to $25 an hour, and several recent Boston openings advertised pay up to $25 per hour.

Full July 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 56 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $45,630 at the 25th percentile, $49,587 at the median and $56,160 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of September 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 74 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

Boston is still a viable market for Protective Services & Public Safety because metro unemployment was 3.9%, the region had 48,260 protective-service jobs in the latest metro wage release, and the Boston Police Department is actively recruiting for the 2026 civil service exam. But it is a two-track market: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows Massachusetts public-safety postings up 12.2% year over year while statewide employment in the field was down 1.6%, which points to replacement hiring and hard-to-fill openings more than broad headcount expansion. Your odds improve if you can clear formal screening quickly or if you are willing to start in hospital, education, recreation, retail, or contract-security coverage roles while building credentials.

Best positioned: Credentialed or near-ready candidates with de-escalation, emergency-response, and current First Aid/CPR/AED credentials, plus civil-service exam readiness for policing tracks, have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not confuse Boston's higher headline wage levels with the pay on most open postings, because many visible entry openings still cluster around about $19 to $21 an hour even though metro protective-service medians are much higher.

From the July 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 74 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. AUS: 15 open roles
2. Windwalker: 4 open roles
3. Allied Universal Corp: 3 open roles
4. Securitas Security Services USA, Inc.: 3 open roles
5. Alliance Detective & Security Service Inc: 2 open roles
6. Casella: 2 open roles
7. FailSafe Communications: 2 open roles
8. Hallcon Corporation: 2 open roles
9. Hebrew SeniorLife: 2 open roles
10. Maersk Company: 2 open roles

Where the openings are

• Boston: 21
• Norwood: 5
• Peabody: 5
• Framingham: 5
• Waltham: 4
• Everett: 4
• Somerville: 3
• Quincy: 2

Work arrangement

on-site 72 (99%), hybrid 1 (1%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is split between high-barrier public agencies and high-volume site coverage jobs. The public-agency side includes the Boston Police Department, MBTA Transit Police, Massachusetts State Police, and Securitas-linked infrastructure or security hiring, while Boston Police is actively recruiting for the 2026 civil-service exam. The visible online-posting side is much broader: more than 100 local postings were observed across more than 50 companies over the last 90 days, and the sample is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. That broader posting mix is not mostly sworn work. In the local sample, education accounts for about 25% of postings, sports & recreation about 20%, retail about 15%, government & public sector about 10%, and security & safety about 10%. Recent examples line up with that pattern, including Securitas in Downtown Crossing, Allied Universal in an educational setting, Windwalker Group at Boston Public Market, Beth Israel Lahey Health listings tied to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, and Northeast Security advertising all-shift coverage in Boston and Cambridge. The practical takeaway is that online visibility is strongest in shift-heavy coverage roles, while the best-compensated routes sit behind longer screening pipelines. If you want fast entry, follow the hospital, campus, recreation, and contract-security path first; if you want top-end pay, accept the slower civil-service or public-agency route.

• Sworn public-sector pathways (high): Boston Police, MBTA Transit Police, and Massachusetts State Police remain core names, and Boston Police is actively recruiting for the 2026 civil-service exam.
• Campus, recreation, and seasonal safety coverage (high): Education, sports & recreation, and retail together make up about 60% of the visible local posting mix, which is why lifeguard, access-control, and site-safety roles show up so often online.
• Hospital and contract security (moderate): Recent Cambridge and Boston signals from Beth Israel Lahey Health, Securitas, and Northeast Security point to steady coverage needs in hospitals, downtown commercial spaces, and all-shift security contracts.

Where to focus: If you can pass formal screening, lead with public-sector and transit applications; otherwise build experience fast in hospitals, campuses, recreation sites, or contract-security roles that are hiring continuously.

Roles worth searching next

• Public safety telecommunicator / dispatcher: CAD and incident reporting systems are named local demand areas, so dispatch and call-handling roles use much of the same documentation and incident-flow discipline without requiring the same patrol pathway.
• Emergency management coordinator or operations specialist: Emergency management response is explicitly cited in local skill demand, which makes planning and incident-coordination roles a realistic move for people who like the mission more than patrol work.
• Community outreach or youth program coordinator: Community policing is a named priority, and Boston-area public-service nonprofits continue to show active careers activity, so prevention and outreach work can be a credible mission-adjacent alternative.
• Safety, compliance, or evidence-management administrator: Incident reporting systems, body-worn camera data solutions, and newer crime-analytics tools show some local value shifting toward documentation, evidence, and technology workflows around public safety.

What postings ask for

• De-escalation tactics (table_stakes | immediate): De-escalation is called out both in Massachusetts training priorities and in the Boston Police academy pathway, so it is no longer a nice-to-have for public-facing roles. Who: Everyone, especially entry-level applicants, career switchers, and candidates targeting public agencies.
• First Aid / CPR / AED (table_stakes | immediate): These are the most repeated baseline credentials in local postings, with first aid appearing in about 15%, CPR in about 10%, AED in about 10%, and CPR/AED in about 5%. Who: Entry-level candidates, lifeguard and recreation applicants, hospital or campus security seekers, and career switchers.
• Emergency response (table_stakes | immediate): Emergency response appears in about 30% of sampled local postings and is also embedded in state training priorities, making it one of the clearest cross-role demand signals. Who: Anyone applying outside purely observational security work.
• CAD and incident reporting systems (differentiator | near-term): Massachusetts demand signals specifically mention CAD software and incident reporting systems, which is valuable because many applicants still present themselves only as physical-presence hires. Who: Mid-career candidates, dispatch-adjacent applicants, and switchers with admin or operations backgrounds.
• Body-worn camera and evidence-management workflows (differentiator | near-term): Body-Worn Camera data solutions and evidence workflows are named demand areas, which means documentation, chain-of-custody habits, and digital evidence comfort can separate you from basic coverage applicants. Who: Candidates aiming at sworn, transit, campus, or investigative environments.
• Situational awareness, communication, and community policing (differentiator | immediate): Massachusetts highlights community policing, local postings emphasize communication, and 2026 training commentary stresses situational awareness and observation. Who: Career switchers and anyone whose background is customer service, education, youth work, or healthcare.

Questions about this market

What do Protective Services & Public Safety roles pay in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH?

Government wage data says the Boston metro protective-service group had a median annual wage of $69,990 and a median hourly wage of $33.65 in May 2025, with the 10th percentile at $29.19 an hour and the 90th percentile at $40.14. A narrower police-and-sheriff-style local estimate puts the median at $78,180, with a 25th-75th range of $52,430 to $98,820, and Boston police and detectives had a mean annual wage of $104,880. By contrast, current hourly postings in the local sample center on about $19 to $21 an hour, with a broader band of about $16 to $25 an hour, and several recent Boston openings advertised pay up to $25 per hour. Boston can pay well in public safety, but the best pay is concentrated in sworn, unionized, or specialized public roles rather than across the whole category.

Where is demand for Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH concentrated?

Real opportunity is split between high-barrier public agencies and high-volume site coverage jobs. The public-agency side includes the Boston Police Department, MBTA Transit Police, Massachusetts State Police, and Securitas-linked infrastructure or security hiring, while Boston Police is actively recruiting for the 2026 civil-service exam. The visible online-posting side is much broader: more than 100 local postings were observed across more than 50 companies over the last 90 days, and the sample is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. That broader posting mix is not mostly sworn work. In the local sample, education accounts for about 25% of postings, sports & recreation about 20%, retail about 15%, government & public sector about 10%, and security & safety about 10%. Recent examples line up with that pattern, including Securitas in Downtown Crossing, Allied Universal in an educational setting, Windwalker Group at Boston Public Market, Beth Israel Lahey Health listings tied to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, and Northeast Security advertising all-shift coverage in Boston and Cambridge. The practical takeaway is that online visibility is strongest in shift-heavy coverage roles, while the best-compensated routes sit behind longer screening pipelines. If you want fast entry, follow the hospital, campus, recreation, and contract-security path first; if you want top-end pay, accept the slower civil-service or public-agency route.

Which employers are hiring the most Protective Services & Public Safety talent in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH?

Recent postings show the most activity from GetBadged (15 postings), Merrimack Valley YMCA (5 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 0% are remote and 5% hybrid, with 95% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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