How to transfer your Security guard licence to Indiana (2026)

Security guard work in Indiana is licensed at state level, by the Indiana private security licensing agency (often inside the state police or Department of Public Safety). This page says what a security guard licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Indiana, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Most states license security guards (a guard card or registration) and the licence does not transfer: Indiana requires its own application, background check and training hours, with an armed endorsement needing firearms qualification in Indiana. A few states have no state licence and leave it to employers.

How long: two to six weeks. Fee: $25 to $150, more for armed; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Current guard card
• Training certificates
• Firearms qualification if armed

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Indiana already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming the armed endorsement transfers; it is always re-qualified

Who hires security guards in Indiana

Security guards in Indiana are hired by security contractors, hospitals, event venues, data centres and corporate security. The metros with the most of that work are Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville and South Bend. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Indiana openings page.

For the money side: the median security guard in Indiana earned $37,560 a year ($18 an hour) in May 2024 across 17,900 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Indiana has a flat 3% state income tax. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Indiana also has a program that pay people to move in: MakeMyMove town offers (typically $5,000 plus local perks, for remote workers moving to participating Indiana towns (Noblesville, Greensburg and others); each offer is its own program). Each has a residence condition and a funding round.

Everything about Indiana, on one page

The Indiana page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Indiana employers hiring from out of state.