The 2025 Campus Safety Salary and Benefits Benchmark Survey reveals that persistent staffing shortages and lagging pay continue to challenge K-12, higher education, and hospital security departments.
Download the full report.
Based on responses from over 500 campus safety professionals, this year’s findings confirm that these long-standing issues are worsening in some areas, impacting both sworn and nonsworn officers.
Key Findings from the 2025 Campus Safety Salary and Benefits Survey:
- Worsening Staffing Shortages: A significant 81% of departments report a shortage of sworn officers, a four-point increase from 2018. Similarly, 78% lack enough nonsworn officers, up five points. Healthcare and higher education face the most severe shortages.
- Pay Fails to Keep Pace with Inflation: While the median starting salary for sworn campus officers has risen by $10,000 since 2018, this increase has not matched the rate of inflation in most regions. Nonsworn officers have seen a slight increase in real-dollar pay, but their median starting salary of $37,500 remains below the national average for security officers in other sectors.
- Recruitment and Retention Challenges: Inadequate pay is the primary obstacle to hiring and retaining staff. Many campus safety roles are seen as stepping stones to better-paying positions in municipal, state, or federal agencies, which offer significantly higher starting salaries.
- Shift Towards Armed Officers: More campuses are arming their officers, with a notable 15-percentage point increase in officers armed only with lethal weapons since 2018. The number of sworn officers has also jumped dramatically, particularly in higher education and K-12 schools, partly in response to legislative changes and high-profile security incidents.
- Mixed Changes in Benefits: While benefits like education and fitness have improved for some roles, there has been a concerning decrease in the availability of health insurance and retirement benefits for sworn officers compared to 2018.
- Job Satisfaction Varies by Role: Senior leaders, such as police chiefs and security directors, report high job satisfaction (82% “excellent” or “good”). In contrast, junior staff report lower satisfaction, with 29% rating their experience as only “fair” or “poor.”
Overall, the 2025 survey underscores the systemic issues affecting the campus safety sector. To maintain safe and secure environments, schools, universities, and hospitals must address these critical gaps in compensation, benefits, and staffing.
Download the full 2025 Campus Safety Salary and Benefits Benchmark report, charts and participant comments.
Campus Safety thanks the more than 500 school, university and hospital protection executives who participated in this year’s survey. We truly appreciate your insight!
