Security Jobs in Columbus, OH

Government wage data says the Columbus protective-services family paid $54,370 at the median and $61,630 at the mean in 2025, with a $35,900 25th percentile and a $103,210 90th percentile. Broader metro protective service occupations averaged $29.63 per hour in May 2025. Sworn police pay sits above that family midpoint: police and sheriff's patrol officers had a local median of $86,630 in May 2023. Directional current offer data is lower: Ohio new openings in this occupation averaged about $52,788 in September 2026 (n=217), and hourly postings in the local sample centered on about $16 to $20 / hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 32 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $37,398 at the 25th percentile, $39,842 at the median and $45,760 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 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 37 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

This is a balanced market with better odds in sworn public safety and specialized in-person security than in generic private-guard searches. Columbus unemployment was 3.3% in August 2026, and the metro had 27,840 protective-service jobs in 2025 with average pay of $29.63 per hour in May 2025. But Ohio-wide occupation signals softened in September, with protective-services employment down 1.2% year-over-year and active postings down 1.8% year-over-year, even while Columbus police and fire remained below authorized staffing. That means real opportunity exists, but it is concentrated in agencies and employers that still screen hard and hire slowly.

Best positioned: Candidates who already meet public-agency screening requirements or can show access control, incident response, surveillance, and reporting skills for on-site security roles have the best odds.

Main caution: The biggest trap is assuming "short staffed" means "easy hire"—background checks are commonly required, and 37% of surveyed public-safety agencies said slow hiring processes are a recruiting challenge.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 37 openings in this market. 4 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. AUS: 15 open roles
2. AAAG-Ohio LLC: 2 open roles
3. Access 2 Interpreters: 2 open roles
4. Built for the Badge: 2 open roles
5. Columbus: 1 open role
6. Defense Logistics Agency: 1 open role
7. Diakon Logistics: 1 open role
8. Franklin County, Ohio: 1 open role
9. J.Boren & Sons Warehousing: 1 open role
10. Logan Inc: 1 open role

Where the openings are

• Columbus: 19
• Whitehall: 4
• Groveport: 2
• Reynoldsburg: 2
• Obetz: 2
• West Jefferson: 2
• Johnstown: 2
• Grove City: 1

Work arrangement

on-site 34 (94%), hybrid 1 (3%), remote 1 (3%)

Where the demand is

The clearest higher-upside openings are in public-agency tracks—especially sworn police and fire—because Columbus police had 1,859 officers against 2,066 authorized positions and fire had 1,655 firefighters against 1,776 authorized positions as of late summer 2026. The city's 2026 operating budget also included recruit additions of up to 120 police officers and 45 firefighters, which supports continued staffing pressure even if individual hiring cycles are episodic. Day-to-day volume is more dispersed in private security and loss-prevention style work. In the local posting sample, opportunities were spread across more than 20 companies, with the most-active industries being software development at about 35%, retail at about 30%, security & safety at about 10%, and government administration at about 5%. The skill mix in those postings centers on access control, emergency response, incident response, surveillance, customer service, loss prevention, and reporting. A smaller specialty layer sits around UAS-enabled public safety work. Local training activity highlighted indoor and low-light drone operations, search-and-rescue use, counter-UAS operations, and crime- or fire-scene mapping, which makes drone familiarity a useful niche differentiator rather than a mainstream requirement.

• Sworn police and fire recruit/lateral tracks (high): City staffing gaps remain visible, with police and fire both below authorized strength, and the city budget planned up to 120 police and 45 firefighter additions.
• Private security, access control, and loss prevention (moderate): This is the broadest private-side opportunity set, concentrated in software development, retail, and security employers, with heavy demand for access control, emergency response, surveillance, and reporting.
• Drone-enabled and specialty response work (limited): UAS and counter-UAS operations drew local professional attention in September, signaling a niche but growing differentiator for patrol, investigations, and search-focused applicants.

Where to focus: If you can clear government screening, prioritize sworn public-agency recruit cycles; otherwise target large on-site security and retail loss-prevention employers while building a specialty in reporting, incident handling, or UAS-assisted response.

Roles worth searching next

• Facilities access coordinator: Local postings heavily emphasize access control, surveillance, and reporting, which transfers well into badge, visitor, and site-access administration roles.
• Investigations or compliance specialist: Loss prevention, reporting, and surveillance demands in retail and software-adjacent employers create overlap with internal investigations and compliance work.
• Trust and safety operations specialist: About 35% of the local posting sample sits in software development, and the same postings stress incident response, reporting, and escalation skills.
• Emergency management coordinator: Emergency response, incident response, and multi-scene documentation are recurring needs in the category and transfer into preparedness and response planning roles.

What postings ask for

• Access control (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most frequently requested hard skill in the local posting sample, appearing in about 35% of postings. Who: Entry-level security applicants and career switchers.
• Emergency response and incident response (table_stakes | immediate): Emergency response and incident response each show up in about 30% of local postings, making them core proof-of-readiness skills. Who: Anyone targeting guards, patrol, campus security, or public-agency recruit roles.
• Report writing and incident documentation (differentiator | immediate): Reporting appears in about 15% of local postings, and national law-enforcement guidance still calls incident report writing a core skill. Who: Candidates coming from retail, hospitality, military, or facilities work who need to prove professionalism fast.
• Customer service and de-escalation (differentiator | immediate): Customer service shows up in about 20% of local postings, and crisis de-escalation and tactical communication remain national core skills for law-enforcement roles. Who: Career switchers and applicants targeting retail, campus, hospital-adjacent, or public-facing sites.
• Valid driver's license and clean motor vehicle record (table_stakes | immediate): A valid driver's license and motor vehicle record check each appear among the most common explicit local requirements. Who: Applicants targeting patrol, mobile security, site rounds, or any role that may require driving between locations.
• Background-check readiness (table_stakes | immediate): Background checks appear among the most common explicit local requirements, and they can become a silent reason candidates stall out. Who: Public-agency applicants first, but also anyone applying to higher-trust private security roles.

Questions about this market

What do Protective Services & Public Safety roles pay in Columbus, OH?

Government wage data says the Columbus protective-services family paid $54,370 at the median and $61,630 at the mean in 2025, with a $35,900 25th percentile and a $103,210 90th percentile. Broader metro protective service occupations averaged $29.63 per hour in May 2025. Sworn police pay sits above that family midpoint: police and sheriff's patrol officers had a local median of $86,630 in May 2023. Directional current offer data is lower: Ohio new openings in this occupation averaged about $52,788 in September 2026 (n=217), and hourly postings in the local sample centered on about $16 to $20 / hour. This is a market with a wide spread. Public-agency and upper-skill roles can pay well, but much of the visible day-to-day hiring sits in lower-paid security and loss-prevention work.

Where is demand for Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Columbus, OH concentrated?

The clearest higher-upside openings are in public-agency tracks—especially sworn police and fire—because Columbus police had 1,859 officers against 2,066 authorized positions and fire had 1,655 firefighters against 1,776 authorized positions as of late summer 2026. The city's 2026 operating budget also included recruit additions of up to 120 police officers and 45 firefighters, which supports continued staffing pressure even if individual hiring cycles are episodic. Day-to-day volume is more dispersed in private security and loss-prevention style work. In the local posting sample, opportunities were spread across more than 20 companies, with the most-active industries being software development at about 35%, retail at about 30%, security & safety at about 10%, and government administration at about 5%. The skill mix in those postings centers on access control, emergency response, incident response, surveillance, customer service, loss prevention, and reporting. A smaller specialty layer sits around UAS-enabled public safety work. Local training activity highlighted indoor and low-light drone operations, search-and-rescue use, counter-UAS operations, and crime- or fire-scene mapping, which makes drone familiarity a useful niche differentiator rather than a mainstream requirement.

Which employers are hiring the most Protective Services & Public Safety talent in Columbus, OH?

Recent postings show the most activity from AUS (None postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

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.

Browse Ohio openings by job title

• General Manager: 431 open roles statewide

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