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How much does private security cost per month in San Francisco?
In San Francisco, private security costs about $6,260 to $8,700 a month for one unarmed officer on a 40-hour week, and about $26,310 to $36,540 a month for a post that never goes unstaffed. Both figures use 2026 market rates of $36 to $50 per guard-hour. Below, five common plans are priced out, along with the details that move a total and the way to a firm number.
Hours come first, the rate comes second
A monthly security bill is built from time. Count the officers on duty at once, multiply by the hours a day and the days a week the post runs, and carry that across the roughly 4.35 weeks in an average month. That gives you guard-hours, and guard-hours times the hourly rate gives you the month.
The rate side is the narrower of the two. Published 2026 contract and market data put an unarmed officer in San Francisco at $36 to $50 per guard-hour, and most posts in the city land between $41 and $48. The hours side is where budgets really swing: a post that runs nights as well as days roughly doubles the bill, while a nightly patrol route costs a fraction of either.
Patrol follows its own math. Instead of guard-hours, you pay for the minutes an officer spends on your property, at $2 to $3 a minute, and every stop counts as at least five minutes.
Five San Francisco coverage plans, priced by the month
Each row uses the full $36 to $50 band for a guard post, or $2 to $3 a minute for patrol, rounded to the nearest $10.
| Plan | Schedule | Time each month | Monthly range (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daytime officer, full-time week | 1 officer, 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday | About 174 guard-hours | $6,260-$8,700 |
| Business-hours lobby post | 1 officer, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday | About 239 guard-hours | $8,610-$11,960 |
| Overnight officer, every night | 1 officer, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., 7 nights | About 244 guard-hours | $8,770-$12,180 |
| 24/7 staffed post | 1 officer on duty at all times, every day | About 731 guard-hours | $26,310-$36,540 |
| Weeknight patrol route | 2 stops a night, 15 minutes each, Monday to Friday | About 653 patrol minutes | $1,310-$1,960 |
Read the table as a menu rather than a set of rival choices. Pairing a daytime post at the front door with a weeknight patrol route keeps a person in the lobby during business hours and still puts eyes on the doors, garage and loading area overnight. A 24/7 post keeps officers rotating through three shifts a day, which is why it sits so far above the others.
What moves your monthly total
Two properties on the same schedule can still land at different points in the band. These details decide where yours sits:
- Overnight, weekend and holiday hours. Shifts that run while the rest of the city sleeps or celebrates can carry a premium, set in the written quote once your real schedule is known.
- What the officer does on post. Visitor sign-in, courier and package checks, garage rounds and dock control all add to the job, so detailed post orders tend to sit higher in the band than a quiet desk.
- Posts staffed side by side. A lobby and a garage entrance staffed together double the guard-hours for those shifts.
- A vehicle. Sites too spread out to cover on foot add $7 to $12 per guard-hour. On the overnight plan above, that comes to about $1,710 to $2,920 more each month.
- Patrol minutes per stop. A gate and door check sits near the five-minute minimum, while a pass through a parking structure and a fence line takes longer.
- Armed coverage. Armed officers are priced separately in the quote, after a walkthrough shows what the post has to handle.
Getting more coverage out of the same budget
The strongest plans match the hours to the risk. Look back over incident reports, tenant complaints and camera footage, mark the hours when trouble tends to show up, and staff those hours with a person. Quieter stretches can go to mobile patrol stops, which cost a fraction of a posted officer and leave a timestamped log for every visit.
Our security coverage hours planner sorts a week into business hours, after hours and around-the-clock coverage by property type, so you can see which windows need a post and which can be handled more lightly.
Pricing your own plan and getting a written quote
To test your own numbers, open the San Francisco security guard cost calculator, enter your officers, hours, days, vehicle needs and patrol stops, and it returns a monthly range in seconds.
The firm monthly rate comes after a free walkthrough of the property, where we look at the entrances, garages and quiet hours behind your plan and agree the duties for each post. You then receive a written quote that runs month to month, so hours can grow before a busy season and come back down once things settle. Our unarmed security guards hold BSIS guard cards and are background-checked, supervisors carry out quality inspections on every post, and we are insured, bonded and carry workers’ compensation, with a certificate of insurance provided to every client. The security guard services page covers post orders and lobby hours in more detail.
A few useful answers
Common questions
How much does a full-time security guard cost per month in San Francisco?
One unarmed officer working 40 hours a week runs about $6,260 to $8,700 a month on 2026 rates of $36 to $50 an hour. Longer days, a second post or overnight hours raise the total.
Is a mobile patrol cheaper than an on-site guard each month?
By a wide margin. Two 15-minute stops on each weeknight come to about $1,310 to $1,960 a month, against several thousand dollars for even a part-time post, because you pay only for the minutes an officer spends on your property.
Why does 24/7 security cost so much more than a day shift?
A round-the-clock post covers about 731 guard-hours a month, more than four times a 40-hour week. It takes a rotation of officers to keep the post filled every hour, so the monthly total rises with the hours.
Do overnight and weekend shifts change the monthly price?
They can. Any premium for overnight, weekend or holiday hours is set in your written quote, once we have seen the property and the schedule you need.
Can we change our coverage from one month to the next?
Yes. Contracts run month to month, so you can add hours ahead of a busy stretch or a renovation and scale back once the shift reports quiet down.