Airport Security Personnel

Before the responsibility for airline security was transferred to the TSA, screeners were paid minimum wage. But to attract and retain qualified and dedicated workers, earnings have been raised considerably. Security screeners who worked for the federal government earned mean annual salaries of $41,720 in May 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Salaries for all security screeners ranged from less than $34,650 to $49,200 or more. The TSA uses an SV grading system with pay ranges that are by letter grade, rather than the standard GS grading system with numbers. Depending on the job title and level of experience, salaries for TSA employees range from pay band A, which starts at $18,278, to pay band M, which has a maximum pay of $166,465.