California·Protective Service Occupations·SOC 33-1091

Best First-Line Supervisors of Security Worker programs in California, ranked by enrollment

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of security workers and security.

9 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 252 people a year. The job pays a median of $53,960 in California across about 10,850 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledShift SupervisorSecurity DirectorSecurity SupervisorSecurity Shift SupervisorGuard ChiefGuard CaptainSecurity ChiefSite Supervisor
Graduates / yr
252
in California
Median pay · California
$53,960
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
10,850
people employed
Schools
9
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
66%
across those schools
Median net price
$28,465
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in California that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in California that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1252
100.0%
9$37,408$24,069

Top 9 schools in California

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 9 of the 9 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1UEI College - Fresno
Fresno, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
58Security and Loss Prevention Services$23,84961%$30,005
2UEI College - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
40Security and Loss Prevention Services$23,84968%$29,687
3UEI College - Ontario
Ontario, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
33Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66366%$27,167
4UEI College - Huntington Park
Huntington Park, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
26Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66370%$29,313
5UEI College - Chula Vista
Chula Vista, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
22Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66371%$28,465
6UEI College - Oceanside
Oceanside, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
21Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66369%$26,941
7UEI College - Garden Grove
Garden Grove, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
18Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66363%$26,221
8UEI College - Gardena
Gardena, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
18Security and Loss Prevention Services$23,02660%$28,919
9UEI College - West Covina
West Covina, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
16Security and Loss Prevention Services$29,66367%$27,767

All 9 schools in California

Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in California that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
UEI College - FresnoFresnoPrivate for-profit581
UEI College - BakersfieldBakersfieldPrivate for-profit401
UEI College - OntarioOntarioPrivate for-profit331
UEI College - Huntington ParkHuntington ParkPrivate for-profit261
UEI College - Chula VistaChula VistaPrivate for-profit221
UEI College - OceansideOceansidePrivate for-profit211
UEI College - Garden GroveGarden GrovePrivate for-profit181
UEI College - GardenaGardenaPrivate for-profit181
UEI College - West CovinaWest CovinaPrivate for-profit161

What first-line supervisors of security workers earn in California

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in California
$53,960
Mean annual
$59,930
Jobs in state
10,850
What the range looks like
10th pct$38,490Median$53,96090th pct$89,800
Versus the national median
-3.5%

U.S. median $55,940. California pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.14×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in California

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
$60,590median
1,320 jobs
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
$57,910median
580 jobs
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
$60,860median
60 jobs
Vallejo, CA
$63,190median
50 jobs
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA
$58,490median
110 jobs
Fresno, CA
$61,790median
150 jobs
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
$55,310median
80 jobs
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
$49,900median
4,240 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+2.7%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
7,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,900
71,900 → 73,800
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers page.

How to become a First-Line Supervisors of Security Worker

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingReading ComprehensionMonitoringWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in California

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 43.0109Security and Loss Prevention Services
  • 43.0112Securities Services Administration/Management
  • 43.0399Homeland Security, Other
  • 43.0401Security Science and Technology, General
  • 43.0499Security Science and Technology, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing first-line supervisors of security workers programs in California.

What degree do you need to become a First-Line Supervisors of Security Worker?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Security and Loss Prevention Services, which awarded 252 degrees in California in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a First-Line Supervisors of Security Worker?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Criminal Justice and Corrections. Together they graduate about 252 people a year in California.

How much do first-line supervisors of security workers earn in California?+

The median is $53,960 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.5% below the U.S. median of $55,940. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for first-line supervisors of security workers growing?+

BLS projects a +2.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 7,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+

9 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do first-line supervisors of security workers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Shift Supervisor, Security Director, Security Supervisor, Security Shift Supervisor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 33-1091.

First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers in other statesFloridaWest VirginiaNew YorkTexasWisconsinVirginiaMassachusettsNorth Carolina

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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