Why America Is Spending More Than Ever to Feel Safe

A $50 Billion Industry Built on Fear — and Something More

Violent crime in the U.S. has plummeted over recent decades, yet a series of high-profile incidents involving businesses, politicians, and community groups has helped catalyze an explosion of spending on protection services. The result is one of the most quietly staggering economic stories in America today: private security has become a $50 billion industry, reshaping how companies, neighborhoods, and ordinary people think about keeping themselves safe.

Revenue in the private security sector climbed 17% over the past decade to above $50 billion in 2025, according to Robert H. Perry & Associates. Outsourced services in the U.S. accounted for just over $35 billion, including electronic security systems and manned guarding. And the workforce behind that spending is massive: nearly 1.3 million Americans worked as security guards in May 2025, almost double the number of people employed as police and sheriff's patrol officers, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

One Company at the Center of It All

At the heart of the personal protection boom is Allied Universal, a privately held company with operations in more than 100 countries and annual revenue of about $23 billion. Guards donning Allied Universal's uniforms oversee lines, operate metal detectors, and inspect bags at sporting events, music festivals, and office buildings. Allied Universal bills itself as the seventh-largest private employer in the world, with roughly 800,000 employees — a workforce nearly double the size of Target's and more than three times the size of Disney's.

In a given week, Allied said it receives approximately 65,000 applications, interviews around 40,000 candidates, and hires about 3,500 people for its North America operations alone. Allied lists more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies among its clients and has supported globally important events such as this summer's World Cup. CEO Steve Jones has publicly shared his ambitions to take the company public.

From Corporate Boardrooms to School Board Meetings

About 40% of S&P 500-listed firms provided security services to at least some of their executives in 2025, up from just under 19% in 2019, according to an analysis of corporate disclosures by Equilar. The median cost ballooned by 178% over that period. Walmart and other major companies have added executive security for the first time in recent years.

The demand isn't confined to corner offices. The Hillcrest Business Association in San Diego began paying a third-party service around $400,000 annually for eight hours of unarmed security guard patrol each day in 2024, and the association plans to add about $150,000 to the budget for a second shift. Some see it as a sign of the times: as political and cultural tensions hit a boiling point in the U.S., even pockets of American life once considered mundane feel at risk. "Who would have thought 10 years ago that you would need to hire private security at a school board meeting or at a town meeting," said Steve Amitay, executive director of the National Association of Security Companies.

The Paradox of Protection

Industry leaders emphasize that modern security blends the visible with the invisible. "It's very important to have that physical guard there," said Justin Kelley, a vice president at Allied who previously spent more than two decades in the Connecticut State Police. "At the same time, it's extremely important to have the backstop of the covert security."

More dollars are being routed to guards, dogs, and monitoring rooms — from corporate suites to city budgets. That affects where companies spend, how wages evolve, and which firms win contracts. The deeper question may be cultural: in a country where crime statistics are improving but anxiety is not, private security has found its most powerful sales pitch in perception. As long as Americans feel unsafe, the industry will keep growing — and the numbers suggest that feeling isn't going away anytime soon.