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

Security guard work in Kansas is licensed at state level, by the Kansas 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 Kansas, 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: Kansas requires its own application, background check and training hours, with an armed endorsement needing firearms qualification in Kansas. 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 Kansas already.

What people get wrong

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

Who hires security guards in Kansas

Security guards in Kansas are hired by security contractors, hospitals, event venues, data centres and corporate security. The metros with the most of that work are Wichita, Overland Park, Kansas City and Topeka. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Kansas openings page.

For the money side: the median security guard in Kansas earned $36,090 a year ($17 an hour) in May 2024 across 6,790 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Kansas has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5.58%. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Kansas also has programs that pay people to move in: Choose Topeka (up to $15,000, for people who take a job in Shawnee County or move there as remote workers; the employer matches part of it) and Rural Opportunity Zones (student loan repayment up to $15,000 over five years, plus an income tax waiver in some counties, for graduates moving to one of the designated rural counties). Each has a residence condition and a funding round.

Everything about Kansas, on one page

The Kansas 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 Kansas employers hiring from out of state.