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Protective Service Occupations

Job family · SOC major group

Protective Service Occupations is one of the 23 SOC major groups — the top level of the U.S. Standard Occupational Classification, the official scheme every detailed occupation rolls up to. It contains 28 occupations employing about 4,626,600 people, with a median wage of $59,070 across its occupations. BLS projects employment in this family to change +1.1% between 2024 and 2034 , with roughly 515,900 openings a year.

Occupation groups in this family

This family divides into 4 SOC minor groups — tighter clusters of related occupations. Ranked by U.S. employment.

Occupations in this family

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay AI task-overlap (horizontal) versus median pay (vertical), each as a percentile across all scored occupations, for 27 occupations in Protective Service Occupations. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Firefighters Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists Transit and Railroad Police Security Guards First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives Protective Service Workers, All Other Fish and Game Wardens Parking Enforcement Workers Animal Control Workers Transportation Security Screeners School Bus Monitors Private Detectives and Investigators Intelligence Analysts AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
Each occupation in this family with both an AI task-overlap score and a wage, plotted by task-overlap percentile (horizontal) and median-pay percentile (vertical). Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Ranked by U.S. employment (BLS OEWS May 2024). Projected change is BLS 2024–34; AI exposure is the OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" human beta rating (share of an occupation's tasks where an LLM with tools could cut the time to do them by at least half).

Occupation Median pay Employment 2024–34 AI exposure
Security Guards $38,370 1,241,770 +0.4% 25%
Customs and Border Protection Officers $76,290 666,990 +3.1% 26%
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers $76,290 666,990 +3.1% 26%
Correctional Officers and Jailers $57,970 365,380 -7.8% 24%
Firefighters $59,530 332,240 +3.4% 9%
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives $105,980 153,130 +2.9% 36%
Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers $33,720 143,590 +5.8% 16%
Detectives and Criminal Investigators $93,580 110,790 -0.7% 40%
Intelligence Analysts $93,580 110,790 -0.7% 40%
Police Identification and Records Officers $93,580 110,790 -0.7% 40%
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers $92,430 93,680 +3.4% 41%
Crossing Guards and Flaggers $37,700 90,180 +3.6% 26%
Protective Service Workers, All Other $41,600 83,110 +2.5% 34%
Retail Loss Prevention Specialists $41,600 83,110 +2.5% 34%
School Bus Monitors $34,980 72,140 -2.7% 19%
First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers $58,610 70,310 +2.7% 26%
First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers $76,310 53,390 -2.8% 28%
Transportation Security Screeners $63,360 46,340 -6.0% 23%
Private Detectives and Investigators $52,370 38,700 +6.0% 39%
First-Line Supervisors of Protective Service Workers, All Other $74,960 20,460 +1.6% —
Bailiffs $57,050 16,910 -2.2% 16%
Fire Inspectors and Investigators $78,060 14,050 +3.8% 38%
Animal Control Workers $45,830 11,790 +3.9% 13%
Gambling Surveillance Officers and Gambling Investigators $43,900 10,000 +0.3% 31%
Parking Enforcement Workers $47,150 7,770 -1.5% 32%
Fish and Game Wardens $68,180 6,420 -6.0% 16%
Transit and Railroad Police $82,320 3,000 +3.0% 44%
Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists $52,380 2,780 +14.6% 38%

AI exposure across this family

Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks an LLM (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across this family it is 29% — 43rd percentile of the 23 families. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages -0.31 here.

Exposure measures where AI could assist tasks — it is not a prediction that these jobs will be automated. High exposure often means augmentation (faster work), and many high-exposure occupations are also projected to grow.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Protective Service Occupations." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/job-families/protective-service-occupations

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Protective Service Occupations. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/job-families/protective-service-occupations

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-protective-service-occupations,
  title  = {Protective Service Occupations},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/job-families/protective-service-occupations}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.