About This Research
The data used in this analysis were provided by SLRI members and Tier 1 Security Leaders™ of the Security Executive Council. All are risk management practitioners comprising a broad cross-section of industries. The organizations represented come from the public and private sectors; they range from small and medium-sized businesses to some of the largest international corporations.
Results, when possible, are broken down into categories so that participants can select specific metrics for comparison purposes. These details are provided when there is sufficient data to compare between categories or groups and when anonymity is assured.
Not all questions were answered by all participants. Data was only included when it was appropriate to do so; every attempt has been made to preserve the quality of the reported results. The SEC’s Security Leadership Research Institute (SLRI) strives to provide meaningful and useful information to its members.
The intent is to regularly update the results as more members join and share their information from all verticals, sectors, and industries. We encourage participants to help refine this initiative and provide suggestions for other benchmarks.
Demographics
The first section of this research captured demographic data on titles, domains managed, reporting levels, functional areas reported into, scope of responsibility, business scope, number of sites and square footage covered. Each of these metrics includes segmentations by organization size, number of employees, and security budget. An example is shown below…
| Title Level Compared to Organization Revenue |
| Average
Revenue | Median
Revenue |
| VP or greater | $23,351,904,762 | $10,500,000,000 |
| Director | $25,849,437,490 | $7,000,000,000 |
| Senior Manager or lower | $18,825,623,329 | $4,179,000,000 |
| Title Level Compared to Employee Count |
| Average
Employee
Count | Median
Employee
Count |
| VP or greater | 53,680 | 35,000 |
| Director | 36,570 | 20,000 |
| Senior Manager or lower | 31,017 | 7,750 |
| Title Level Compared to Security Budget |
| Average
Security
Budget | Median
Security
Budget |
| VP or greater | $28,891,190 | $12,000,000 |
| Director | $16,510,444 | $5,100,000 |
| Senior Manager or lower | $17,331,471 | $1,900,000 |
| Title Level Compared to Security Budget as a Percentage of Revenue |
| Average
Security Budget
/ Revenue | Median
Security Budget
/ Revenue |
| VP or greater | 0.124% | 0.126% |
| Director | 0.064% | 0.111% |
| Senior Manager or lower | 0.092% | 0.054% |
The full report details report-to level by organization revenue, domains managed compared to security budget, report-to function vs. reporting level, as well as additional analyses across key organizational variables.
Security Budget
Every organization is different and approaches its security budget in different ways. The 2026 report provides averages across several different categories to provide risk management professionals with a way to obtain a rough estimate of typical security budget size.
For example:
Average security budget reported: $18,977,016
Median security budget reported: $5,000,000
The full report breaks down budget by square footage, as a percentage of revenue, by sites covered, and other key dimensions.
Staffing
The staffing section of the research includes security roles, uniformed security, outsourcing, and associated costs.
In the full report, data is broken down to compare budget per employee, uniformed security vs organizational employees, personnel cost as a % of budget and other critical metrics.
Security Programs
The report also details security’s responsibility and accountability by program. This year, the data is broken down by revenue, number of employees, budget, and other organizational attributes.
Access the Full Report
The Corporate Security Organizational Structure, Cost of Services and Staffing benchmark provides reliable, meaningful, and useful data that is specific to corporate security – something that cannot be found anywhere else. To access the full report, participate in the benchmark.
Fill out this form to get started.
And please consider letting your peers at other organizations know about this effort. The more participants we have, the more valuable information we can provide. For more information about the SLRI, visit
https://www.securityexecutivecouncil.com/research/security-leadership-research-institute
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