What Does a Security Guard Cost Per Month in California?

A security guard's hourly rate is only half the budgeting question. What actually lands on an invoice each month depends on how many hours of coverage you're buying, and that number moves more than the hourly rate does. This page walks through the monthly math for the schedules we're asked about most: nights and weekends, a long single shift seven days a week, and full 24/7 coverage, plus when mobile patrol replaces a stationary post entirely. Every total below is ShieldWise's hourly or per-visit rate multiplied by the hours or visits in an average month, not a rounded estimate pulled from a rate card. For the full rate table by service type and region, see the California security guard cost guide.

The short answer (show the math)

Start with the hourly rate and multiply it by the hours you need in a month. ShieldWise calculates a month as 4.33 weeks (52 weeks divided by 12 months), the same convention used for salaried scheduling, not a rounded 4-week estimate. For a standard weekday post, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, that's 173 hours a month. At ShieldWise's statewide unarmed rate of $23–$36/hr, the monthly total works out to $3,987–$6,240/mo. Put an armed officer on the same schedule instead and the same 173 hours at $36–$85/hr comes to $6,240–$14,733/mo. Every other example on this page uses the identical formula, hourly rate times monthly hours, just with a different schedule plugged in. Region and guard type move the rate; the schedule moves the hours; multiplying the two is the entire calculation.

Example: nights and weekends

Nights-and-weekends coverage is common for retail after closing, HOA common areas, and apartment communities that only need a visible presence outside business hours. A typical version of this schedule runs 8 hours a night, Friday through Sunday, 3 nights a week, which comes to 104 hours a month. At the Southern California metro unarmed rate of $23–$35/hr, that's $2,392–$3,640/mo. Because these hours fall in the overnight window, expect a real quote to land toward the upper end of that range rather than the middle. It's a fraction of a full weekday schedule's cost, which makes sense, it's roughly 60% of the hours. Add a night and the total moves up by that night's rate; the math scales the same way no matter how many nights you land on.

Example: 12 hours a day, 7 days a week

Some properties need a single long shift covering most of the day, every day, a construction site during active work plus after-hours risk, or a facility running an extended schedule. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, comes to 364 hours a month. On an armed post at the Southern California metro rate of $36–$70/hr (see our armed cost breakdown for what drives that rate), the total is $13,104–$25,480/mo. That's a wide dollar range for one line item, and the width is real: at this hour volume, the gap between the low and high end of the armed band adds up to thousands of dollars a month, which is exactly why industry, risk level, and contract length matter more at this scale than they do for a single 4-hour shift. A single officer can physically work a 12-hour shift, but not seven days straight without relief; most contracts at this schedule rotate two officers across the week instead of running one person into overtime daily.

Example: 24/7 (and why it takes more than one guard)

Round-the-clock coverage means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no gaps. That's 728 hours of coverage every month, and at the statewide unarmed rate of $23–$36/hr, the total comes to $16,744–$26,208/mo. That figure reflects total coverage hours, not one person's paycheck, and the distinction matters. Compare it to the 173-hour standard weekday post from the first example: 728 divided by 173 works out to roughly 5 officers rotating shifts to keep the post continuously staffed, once you account for the fact that no one works every single day of the month without time off. A 24/7 quote is priced and staffed as a team, not a single guard's hourly rate stretched across the clock. Armed 24/7 coverage, common for cannabis dispensaries and cash-handling operations, follows the identical math at the armed rate and needs the same multi-officer rotation to fill it.

Example: mobile patrol instead

Not every property needs someone physically present the whole time. If periodic checks are enough, mobile patrol prices out very differently because it's billed per visit, not per hour. Two visits a night, seven nights a week, comes to 61 visits a month. At the statewide patrol rate of $30–$65/visit, that's $1,820–$3,943/mo, well under half of the nights-and-weekends stationary example above for a comparable overnight window. That gap is the entire case for patrol: you're paying for documented, timestamped checks instead of dedicated hour-by-hour presence. It's the wrong fit if your property needs someone there continuously, a lobby, an active gate, but for common areas, parking, and perimeter checks on HOAs, industrial sites, and multi-building properties, it's usually the cheaper way to cover the same window. Our mobile patrol cost guide covers how visit counts and routes actually get scheduled.

The same schedule, metro vs. outlying

Region changes the total even when the schedule doesn't. Take the standard weekday post from the first example, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 173 hours a month, and price it in both ShieldWise bands. In Southern California metro, at $23–$35/hr, that schedule runs $3,987–$6,067/mo. In the Bay Area, San Francisco, or a more remote market like Palm Springs or Lancaster, the same 173 hours at the outlying rate of $27–$36/hr runs $4,680–$6,240/mo. Nothing about the coverage changed, same hours, same guard type, only the region did, and that alone moved the monthly total. Any schedule above can be re-priced the same way just by swapping which band's hourly rate goes into the calculation.

What the monthly figure includes and what it doesn't

A ShieldWise monthly total is built from the hourly or per-visit rate plus the licensing, insurance, and supervision costs already folded into that rate, the same way they're folded into every hourly quote on this site. It assumes the schedule you plug in stays consistent for the full month. What it doesn't automatically include: holiday coverage, which carries the same premium as overnight shifts; last-minute schedule changes or single-night add-ons, which price at a higher effective rate than a standing monthly schedule; specialized equipment or vehicle costs beyond a standard patrol route; and any armed premium if you upgrade part-way through a contract. Multi-month commitments move the other direction: 10–20% volume discounts, which lowers the effective monthly number below the raw hourly-times-hours calculation shown here. Treat every total on this page as a starting point for a quote, not a final invoice, the free site walk-through is where those add-ons and discounts actually get priced in.

Frequently asked questions