Security Guard Bonds: Which States Actually Require One
Here is the thing most pages on this topic get wrong: in the biggest states, there is no security guard bond. California, Florida, Arizona, Washington, and Virginia require liability insurance, not a surety bond. Only a few states — New York, Georgia, and Michigan — make a security agency post a true license bond. Texas requires both.
And in every state, the bond is the agency's obligation — never the individual guard's. Tell us where you operate and we confirm whether you need a bond, insurance, or both before quoting anything. Start with the table below, or request a quote.
- We confirm bond vs. insurance before quoting
- Statute-verified amounts for nine states
- Armed, unarmed, alarm, and patrol agencies
Which Do You Actually Need — Bond, Insurance, or Both?
Searching "security guard bond" lands four different people on this page: an agency owner in a bonding state, an owner in an insurance-only state who needs something else entirely, a Texas owner who needs both, and a guard who needs neither. Find your path first.
You need a surety bond
A handful of states make the agency file a true surety bond as a license condition. New York requires a $10,000 bond for a Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency; Georgia and Michigan each require $25,000. This is the instrument this page quotes — a license bond owed to the state, with your clients and the public as beneficiaries.
You need liability insurance instead
Most of the high-population states — California, Florida, Arizona, Washington, and Virginia — require commercial general liability insurance and do not require a surety bond at all. California sets the bar at $1,000,000 per occurrence. If your state is here, a bond producer cannot solve your licensing requirement — an insurance agent can. We will tell you that on the call rather than sell you a bond you cannot use.
You need both (Texas)
Texas is the outlier: a Private Security Company license holder must carry both a surety bond filed with the Department of Public Safety and commercial liability insurance ($100,000 per occurrence; $200,000 aggregate under Tex. Occ. Code §1702.124). The two instruments do different jobs and neither substitutes for the other.
You are an individual guard — you probably need neither
If you work for an agency as a guard, the bond (or insurance) obligation sits with your employer’s license, not with you. Individual guards register or certify with the state — a BSIS card in California, an Article 7-A registration in New York, a DPS registration in Texas — but they do not personally post a surety bond.
This bond-versus-insurance split is exactly why a generic answer fails. It is also why the broader surety bond vs. insurance distinction matters here more than on almost any other license type — the two instruments protect different parties, and your state has already chosen which one it wants.
The Agency Posts the Bond — Individual Guards Register Instead
The single biggest source of confusion in this market is who the bond belongs to. A "security guard bond" is almost never a personal bond carried by a guard. It is the licensed entity's bond — the watch, guard, or patrol agency in New York; the Private Patrol Operator in California; the Private Security Company in Texas. The obligation rides on the company license, not on the people standing the posts.
Individual guards have their own track, and it is a registration or certification — not a bond. California issues a BSIS security guard registration card; New York registers guards under Article 7-A of the General Business Law; Texas registers commissioned and non-commissioned officers through DPS; Virginia registers them through DCJS. Background checks, training hours, and (for armed work) a firearms permit are the individual's requirements. A surety bond is not among them.
So if you are reading this because an employer told you to "get bonded," pause before buying anything. In most cases the employer means its own agency license bond or insurance is in place and you simply need to complete your state registration. If you are the owner standing up a new agency, the bond — where required — is yours to file. Our overview of what it means to be licensed and bonded untangles the two ideas, and how a surety bond works covers the three-party structure behind the agency bond.
Bond or Insurance by State — Verified Requirements
Every entry below was checked against the governing statute or regulation. Notice the pattern: the surety-bond states are the exception, and the bond amounts are small. The large-population states have moved to liability insurance instead.
Security Guard Agency: Bond vs. Insurance by State
Statute-verified requirements as of June 2026
| State | Requirement | Amount | Key Detail | Governing Law |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Surety Bond | $10,000 | No bond alternative; also requires $100k/$300k liability insurance | N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §74 (NY DOS) |
| Georgia | Surety Bond | $25,000 | Insurance or a net-worth affidavit may substitute for the bond | OCGA §43-38-6 (GA Secretary of State) |
| Michigan | Bond or Insurance | $25,000 bond | Insurance alternative of $25k / $100k / $200k is allowed in lieu of the bond | MCL 338.1075 (MI LARA) |
| Texas | Bond + Insurance | Bond amount varies; insurance $100k/$200k | Both are mandatory — bond figure is set in administrative rules, confirm with DPS | Tex. Occ. Code §§1702.123–1702.125 (TX DPS PSB) |
| California | Insurance Only | $1,000,000 per occurrence | No surety bond exists for a Private Patrol Operator (PPO) | Bus. & Prof. Code §§7583.39–7583.40 (CA BSIS) |
| Florida | Insurance Only | $300,000 combined single limit | No bond; Class B agency carries CGL, Department listed as additional insured | Fla. Stat. §493.6110 (FL Div. of Licensing) |
| Arizona | Insurance Only | $100k per occ. / $300k aggregate | No agency bond (note: Arizona PI agencies do post a $2,500 bond — different license) | A.R.S. §32-2613 (AZ DPS) |
| Virginia | Insurance Only | $1,000,000 aggregate | Insurance is the operative requirement; DCJS may treat a bond as an alternative | Va. Code §9.1-144; 6VAC20-172 (VA DCJS) |
| Washington | Insurance Only | $25k bodily injury / $25k property | No agency bond (note: Washington PI agencies post a $10,000 bond — different license) | RCW Ch. 18.170 (WA DOL) |
The Texas bond dollar amount is set in administrative rules (37 TAC), not the statute text — confirm the current figure with DPS before filing. Requirements change; verify with the state regulator, or ask us to confirm it for you.
Sources: nysenate.gov; sos.ga.gov; legislature.mi.gov; statutes.capitol.texas.gov; bsis.ca.gov; leg.state.fl.us; azdps.gov; dcjs.virginia.gov; dol.wa.gov
New York sets the lowest verified bond on the list: a $10,000 bond for a Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency under N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §74, filed with the Department of State, with $100,000-per-occurrence liability insurance required on top of it. (The much-cited $500,000 figure in the same chapter applies only to bail-enforcement agents — not security agencies.) It sits among the other statutory filings on our New York surety bonds page.
Georgia requires a $25,000 bond running to the State of Georgia under OCGA §43-38-6, though the statute lets a licensee substitute liability insurance or a net-worth affidavit — see the Georgia roster. Michigan mirrors that amount with its own twist: a $25,000 bond under MCL 338.1075, or an insurance policy naming the state as coinsured ($25k property / $100k / $200k) in lieu of the bond — details on the Michigan bonds hub.
Texas is the only verified dual-requirement state: a Private Security Company holder files both a surety bond and commercial liability insurance with DPS (Tex. Occ. Code §§1702.123–1702.125). State licensure also preempts any local bond or permit a city or county might otherwise demand (§1702.023). The figures live on the Texas surety bonds page.
The insurance-only states are where most volume actually sits. California requires $1,000,000 per occurrence for a Private Patrol Operator and offers no bond path; Florida sets a $300,000 combined single limit for a Class B agency; Arizona and Washington both require liability insurance with no agency bond; and Virginia sets a $1,000,000 aggregate, with a surety bond possible only as a regulator-accepted alternative.
Operating in a state not listed here? Roughly half of states have no agency surety bond requirement at all, and several others tie the requirement to a private-investigator or alarm-contractor license rather than the guard agency itself — tell us where you operate and we confirm the current rule against the regulator before quoting. List your states here.
Not Sure If Your State Needs a Bond?
Send us your state and we will tell you — bond, insurance, or both — before you spend a dollar. No bond sold where one is not required.
Check My State's RequirementLicense Bond, Fidelity Bond, Performance Bond: Three Different Products
"Security guard bond" is a single phrase that points at three different instruments, and buying the wrong one is a common, expensive mistake. The license bond is the one this page is about — the agency files it with the state to get or keep its license, and it protects the state and the public from the agency's wrongful acts. It does not pay your clients for theft.
A fidelity bond is the product that does. When a guard you placed inside a client's building steals merchandise, cash, or data, the fidelity bond — sometimes written as a janitorial/service bond or a broader employee dishonesty bond — reimburses the client. It is underwritten differently and owed to a different party. Agencies that station officers inside occupied premises very often carry both the license bond and a fidelity bond, because the loss the client actually worries about is the one the license bond was never built to pay. Our breakdown of the surety bond vs. fidelity bond difference lays out which protects whom.
A performance bond is a third thing again — the guarantee an agency posts to win and complete a specific security contract, especially on government work. That is a contract bond sized to the contract value, not a license bond sized by statute; our performance bonds for security contractors page covers that scenario. Three products, three purposes — and the only one your state license requires is the license bond, in the handful of states that require any bond at all.
What Triggers a Claim Against a Security Agency Bond
In the bonding states, the statutes describe the claim scenarios themselves — and where the bond stops and a separate product begins.
Guard misconduct on post
The bond forms in bonding states are conditioned on lawful conduct by the agency and its employees. Michigan’s statute is explicit: any person injured by a willful, malicious, or wrongful act of the licensee or its employees may bring an action on the $25,000 bond (MCL 338.1075). Excessive force, an improper detention, or property damage during a shift are the textbook triggers.
Violations of the licensing act
Georgia’s $25,000 bond runs in favor of the State of Georgia and is conditioned on paying damages to any person aggrieved by a violation of the Private Detective and Security Agencies chapter (OCGA §43-38-6). A claim does not require theft of money — it can flow from operating outside the conduct rules the license imposes.
A paid claim erodes the bond — and the license
When a surety pays, the penal sum drops and the agency must reimburse the surety under the indemnity agreement. Most states treat an active, full-amount bond as a continuing license condition, so a partly-exhausted or cancelled bond can put the underlying license at risk until it is restored.
The fidelity gap the bond does not cover
A license bond protects the state and the public — it does not reimburse your client when one of your officers steals from the site they were hired to protect. That exposure belongs to a separate fidelity bond. Many agencies carry both because guard-on-client theft is a real loss the license bond was never designed to pay.
The through-line: the agency bond is a continuing license condition, and a paid claim becomes a debt you owe the surety under indemnity. Our guides to how surety bond claims work and how to avoid bond claims cover the recovery process and the operational habits that keep agencies out of it.
What a Security Guard Bond Costs
You pay an annual premium, not the bond amount. As a market norm, license bonds in this class price at roughly 1%–5% of the penal sum for qualified applicants, with minimum premiums around $100. Owner credit is the largest input, followed by agency financials and claim history. Because the verified bonding amounts are small, the absolute dollars stay low even at the high end of the rate range.
| State & Bond Amount | Strong Credit (~1%) | Challenged Credit (~5%) |
|---|---|---|
| New York — $10,000 | ~$100–$150 | ~$500 |
| Georgia — $25,000 | ~$250 | ~$1,250 |
| Michigan — $25,000 | ~$250 | ~$1,250 |
Estimates reflect typical market rates of roughly 1%–5% of the bond amount with ~$100 minimums; they are not quotes. Insurance-only states (CA, FL, AZ, VA, WA) are priced by property-casualty carriers, not on this scale.
For the wider picture on how surety premiums are set, our surety bond cost guide breaks down the rate factors, and owners with credit problems can compare placement options through our bad credit bond programs. For a firm number in a bonding state, request a security guard bond quote.
How to Get a Security Guard Agency Bond
Confirm your state needs a bond at all
This is the step competitors skip. Before quoting anything, we check whether your state requires a surety bond (NY, GA, MI), insurance instead (CA, FL, AZ, VA, WA), or both (TX). If your state is insurance-only, a bond will not get you licensed — and we will say so.
Match the exact bond form and obligee
New York’s bond is filed with the Department of State and must come from a surety approved by the Superintendent of Financial Services. Georgia’s runs to the Secretary of State’s board. A generic bond on the wrong form is rejected, so the form and named obligee come first.
Underwrite the agency, not the guards
The application is about the licensed entity: agency name, state, armed vs. unarmed work, guard headcount, years in business, and owner credit. Because the bonding amounts are modest ($10k–$25k), most agencies place easily — owner credit and any prior claims matter more than the dollar figure.
File with the license application and track renewals
The bond goes in alongside the license or renewal filing for the obligee state. If you operate across state lines, you carry a separate instrument for each bonding state on its own form — there is no single national security agency bond.
First license bond? The application process guide covers what underwriters ask for and how fast issuance runs. Small-amount bonds in this class often qualify for instant issuance.
From the Producer's Desk: What We See on Security Agency Applications
The most common call we field on this bond is the wrong call entirely. An owner in California, Florida, or Arizona phones to "buy the security guard bond" their licensing checklist mentions — but those states do not have one. The checklist item is a liability insurance certificate, and a surety producer cannot place it. The fastest help we give those callers is to stop them from buying a bond they cannot file and point them to the right product. That single screening question — what state, bond or insurance — saves more wasted applications than any underwriting trick.
When the state genuinely needs a bond, these are some of the easiest license bonds to place. The amounts are small — $10,000 to $25,000 — so the surety's exposure is modest, and a clean owner credit profile usually clears underwriting quickly. Where applications slow down is rarely the bond figure: it is a brand-new entity with no operating history, an owner with an unresolved prior claim from another bond, or a gap between the agency name on the application and the exact legal name the state will print on the license. Underwriters want the bond's named principal to match the licensed entity to the letter, and a mismatch there costs more days than a mediocre credit score does.
The detail that trips up new owners most often is the form itself. New York's bond has to come from a surety the Superintendent of Financial Services has approved and gets filed with the Department of State; Georgia's runs to the Secretary of State's board on its specific form. A bond bought on a generic template, or naming the wrong obligee, gets bounced at filing even when the coverage is otherwise fine. We match the obligee and the state's current form before issuing, which is the unglamorous step that actually keeps the license on schedule. None of this requires credit repair or a long financial package — for most qualified agencies in a bonding state, it is a same-week placement once we have confirmed the state, the form, and the entity name.
All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov) and verified before publication. BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-certified, A-minimum rated surety carriers serving all 50 states.
Security Guard Bond FAQs
Bond vs. insurance, armed vs. unarmed, agency vs. guard, cost, and multi-state operations
Do I need a security guard bond or liability insurance?
Does the individual guard or the agency post the bond?
Does it matter whether my guards are armed or unarmed?
Is a security guard bond the same as a fidelity bond?
How much does a security guard agency bond cost?
I operate in several states — do I need a bond in each one?
Related License & Specialty Bonds
Fidelity Bonds
Protect clients from employee theft — the coverage a license bond does not provide
Security Performance Bonds
Contract guarantees for security work, especially government posts
Collection Agency Bonds
Another state-by-state license bond with no national amount
License Bonds
The full license and permit bond hub
Security Agency Bonding by State
Get the Right Answer for Your State
Tell us where your agency operates and what your guards do. We confirm whether you need a surety bond, liability insurance, or both — and quote only the bond where one is actually required.