Security & Public Safety Jobs in Pittsburgh, PA

Observed Pittsburgh pay for the broad protective-services family sits at a $56,160 annual mean, $44,920 median, $35,300 at the 25th percentile, $74,840 at the 75th percentile, and $97,960 at the 90th percentile in 2025 BLS data. A separate BLS Pittsburgh release puts the broader protective-service group at $27.00 per hour in May 2025, but it does not split police, firefighter, detective, and security wages apart. Estimated offered-pay data is lower: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows new protective-services openings in Pennsylvania averaging about $44,108 in September 2026 (n=264), versus about $61,769 across all Pennsylvania occupations.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 17 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $37,440 at the 25th percentile, $42,120 at the median and $48,214 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of October 16, 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.

Filter by salary, seniority, or schedule in plain language.

Open all in AI Job Search

What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

Pittsburgh looks steady rather than booming for Protective Services & Public Safety. The metro unemployment rate was 3.9% in August 2026, the city's preliminary 2027 budget proposes no layoffs, and the Bureau of Police is continuously accepting applications. But the statewide occupation backdrop is softer: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows Pennsylvania protective-services employment down 1.4% year over year and active postings down 4.5% year over year in September 2026. Expect the best odds in credentialed, on-site entry roles and replacement hiring, not in a market where every sub-role is easy to land.

Best positioned: Candidates with current CPR and First Aid, clean background-ready paperwork, and a direct lane such as Act 120, Act 235 with firearms, firefighter training, or strong incident-reporting experience have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not confuse staffing shortages with easy offers; recent police recruit attrition shows that getting into the pipeline is not the same as clearing training and field progression.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 22 openings in this market. 5 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. AUS: 6 open roles
2. C. Harper Auto Group: 2 open roles
3. Highmark Health Company: 2 open roles
4. Prosegur Security USA, Inc: 2 open roles
5. UPMC International: 2 open roles
6. BCTA: 1 open role
7. DHL Group: 1 open role
8. GardaWorld: 1 open role
9. Krise Transportation, Inc.: 1 open role
10. Masonic Villages: 1 open role

Where the openings are

• Pittsburgh: 10
• Belle Vernon: 2
• Washington: 2
• South Huntingdon Township: 1
• Penn Hills: 1
• Coraopolis: 1
• Kennedy Township: 1
• Sewickley: 1

Work arrangement

on-site 22 (100%)

Where the demand is

Protective services is a real part of Pittsburgh's labor market—about 25,190 jobs, or 2.3% of area employment, in 2025 BLS data. But the recent opening mix is not evenly spread across every sub-role; the sample is heavily entry-skewed, almost entirely on-site, and spread across more than 20 companies rather than dominated by one mega-employer. The clearest public-sector lane is municipal police and fire staffing continuity. Pittsburgh says its preliminary 2027 budget proposes no layoffs and preserves staffing for associated services, while the Bureau of Police is continuously accepting police applications. Chief Jason Lando also said the bureau had around 800 officers and planned to hire continuously over the next few years. Outside sworn city jobs, demand clusters around institutions and community settings. The most consistently active employers in the recent sample include UPMC International, Duquesne, Upper St. Clair, PA, Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc., Carnegie Mellon University, and Masonic Villages, which points to hospital, campus, municipal, residential, and care-linked safety work rather than only patrol or fire suppression roles. The local skill mix reinforces that reading: CPR, First Aid, emergency response, AED, conflict resolution, incident reporting, loss prevention, and lifeguarding lead the requested skills.

• Municipal sworn public safety (moderate): Continuous police applications, staffing pressure, and protected city budget lines make this a live path, but it is still a screened, slower-moving process rather than an easy one.
• Institutional safety at hospitals, campuses, schools, and residential settings (high): The named employer mix points strongly to universities, healthcare-adjacent organizations, municipalities, and residential care settings as the deepest pool of practical near-term openings.
• Private security, loss prevention, and lifeguard-style coverage roles (moderate): These roles map closely to the most-requested local skills and are the fastest entry lane for candidates who already have CPR, First Aid, incident reporting, or site-coverage experience.

Where to focus: If you need a job in the next 90 days, focus first on institutional and site-based roles that match your current credentials, while separately pursuing longer-cycle sworn police or fire processes.

Roles worth searching next

• Public safety telecommunicator / 911 dispatcher: It stays in the emergency-response ecosystem but shifts from field response to call-taking, dispatch, and documentation; APCO released the updated PST 1 curriculum on September 30, 2026, which gives entrants a current training path.
• Access-control or physical security systems coordinator: Institutional safety work is increasingly tied to electronic reporting, evidence documentation, and alert investigation, and network monitoring software is flagged as a high-demand security skill.
• Youth residential counselor or safety support staff: Local employer activity from Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc. plus recurring Act 33 and Act 34 requirements suggests overlap between public-safety applicants and youth or residential support work.
• Civilian public safety operations coordinator: Departments nationally are expanding civilian leadership and professional-staff roles, and report-writing and documentation workflows are becoming more tech-assisted.

What postings ask for

• CPR (table_stakes | immediate): CPR shows up in about 10% of local certification requirements and about 45% of requested skills, making it one of the clearest baseline filters in the Pittsburgh sample. Who: Almost everyone entering the field, especially career switchers and entry-level applicants.
• First Aid + AED (table_stakes | immediate): First Aid appears in about 10% of certification requirements and about 35% of skill requests, while AED shows up in about 25% of skill requests. Who: Institutional security, lifeguard, school, residential, and community-facing candidates.
• Act 120 certification (differentiator | near-term): Act 120 appears among the recurring local credential requirements and is the clearest direct signal for Pennsylvania police-track readiness. Who: Applicants committed to sworn law-enforcement pathways rather than general security work.
• Act 235 with firearms (premium | near-term): Act 235 with firearms appears in the local credential mix and separates armed private-security candidates from the larger unarmed pool. Who: Candidates targeting armed security or higher-responsibility site roles.
• Act 33 and Act 34 clearances (table_stakes | immediate): These clearances show up in the local requirement mix and matter most when applying to youth, residential, school, or care-linked employers. Who: Anyone targeting school, youth-residential, or care-oriented employers.
• Incident reporting and conflict resolution (differentiator | immediate): Incident reporting and conflict resolution each show up repeatedly in local postings, and report-writing is becoming more tech-assisted in policing, which raises the value of clear documentation rather than lowering it. Who: Mid-career applicants and switchers who need to prove judgment, not just presence.

Questions about this market

What do Protective Services & Public Safety roles pay in Pittsburgh, PA?

Observed Pittsburgh pay for the broad protective-services family sits at a $56,160 annual mean, $44,920 median, $35,300 at the 25th percentile, $74,840 at the 75th percentile, and $97,960 at the 90th percentile in 2025 BLS data. A separate BLS Pittsburgh release puts the broader protective-service group at $27.00 per hour in May 2025, but it does not split police, firefighter, detective, and security wages apart. Estimated offered-pay data is lower: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows new protective-services openings in Pennsylvania averaging about $44,108 in September 2026 (n=264), versus about $61,769 across all Pennsylvania occupations. This is a split-pay market. The typical role is not low-wage, but many visible openings appear to sit in security, coverage, or support tracks rather than in the highest-paid sworn or investigative jobs.

Where is demand for Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Pittsburgh, PA concentrated?

Protective services is a real part of Pittsburgh's labor market—about 25,190 jobs, or 2.3% of area employment, in 2025 BLS data. But the recent opening mix is not evenly spread across every sub-role; the sample is heavily entry-skewed, almost entirely on-site, and spread across more than 20 companies rather than dominated by one mega-employer. The clearest public-sector lane is municipal police and fire staffing continuity. Pittsburgh says its preliminary 2027 budget proposes no layoffs and preserves staffing for associated services, while the Bureau of Police is continuously accepting police applications. Chief Jason Lando also said the bureau had around 800 officers and planned to hire continuously over the next few years. Outside sworn city jobs, demand clusters around institutions and community settings. The most consistently active employers in the recent sample include UPMC International, Duquesne, Upper St. Clair, PA, Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc., Carnegie Mellon University, and Masonic Villages, which points to hospital, campus, municipal, residential, and care-linked safety work rather than only patrol or fire suppression roles. The local skill mix reinforces that reading: CPR, First Aid, emergency response, AED, conflict resolution, incident reporting, loss prevention, and lifeguarding lead the requested skills.

Which employers are hiring the most Protective Services & Public Safety talent in Pittsburgh, PA?

Recent postings show the most activity from UPMC International (5 postings), Duquesne (5 postings), Upper St. Clair, PA (5 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 Pennsylvania openings by job title

• General Manager: 209 open roles statewide

Explore related openings

Protective Services & Public Safety jobs in other metros

• Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
• Columbus, OH
• Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
• Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
• Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Other roles in Pittsburgh, PA

• Design, Creative & UX
• Manufacturing, Construction & Field Services
• Personal Care & Fitness
• Marketing, Communications & Content
• Healthcare Support & Healthcare Administration
• Engineering & Scientific
• Legal, Compliance & Risk
• Management, Product & Project

Browse all job openings | Browse jobs by title and state | Browse all job market reports