Anyone pricing a bodyguard annually is usually weighing continuous coverage against booking hours as needed. The annual figure is worth calculating, but it tends to answer a question most people should not be asking.
Annual cost at list rates
These figures assume 2,080 hours, meaning forty hours a week for fifty-two weeks, at published rates before any volume pricing.
Those are list numbers. Any engagement above forty hours a month is quoted as a retainer with volume pricing rather than at these rates, so a genuine annual program costs meaningfully less than the table suggests.
Why 24/7 is a different number entirely
Forty hours a week is not continuous coverage. It is one person working ordinary hours, which leaves 128 hours a week uncovered.
Genuine round-the-clock protection requires a rotating team, because no one works 168 hours a week. A single post covered continuously consumes roughly 8,736 hours a year. At base rates that exceeds a million dollars for one post, and a post is not a detail.
This is the calculation that stops most annual programs before they start, and it is the reason the question people ask about yearly cost usually has a different answer than the one they expect.
What people actually buy instead
Almost nobody purchases continuous coverage. Principals who use protection regularly book it around specific exposure, which is both cheaper and, in most cases, more effective.
Travel days. Coverage for the days you are moving through unfamiliar environments, typically the airport-to-hotel-to-venue sequence.
Public appearances. Announced events where your schedule is known in advance and approach is predictable.
Litigation and dispute windows. Periods where a specific conflict has escalated, covering the weeks it stays hot rather than indefinitely.
Post-incident periods. Following a credible threat or an actual incident, usually for a defined number of weeks while the situation is assessed.
Someone using coverage this way might book eight to fifteen days a year. At $129 an hour for eight-hour days with the online and advance discounts applied, fifteen days costs roughly $11,800 rather than $268,000.
Worked annual examples
Occasional, one four-hour block a month. $516 at list, roughly $439 booked online two weeks ahead. Annually about $5,300.
Monthly travel, two days a month with a vehicle. $199 an hour for eight hours is $1,592, less ten percent for duration and fifteen percent for online and advance, so about $1,218 a day. Two days a month is roughly $29,200 a year.
Weekly coverage, one eight-hour day a week. $129 an hour comes to about $790 a day after discounts. Fifty-two days is roughly $41,100 a year.
Heavy schedule, three days a week with executive transport. $299 an hour for eight hours is $2,392, roughly $1,830 after discounts. About 156 days a year comes to $285,000, at which point a retainer with volume pricing is the correct structure rather than list booking.
When a retainer makes sense
The crossover generally arrives around forty hours a month. Below that, booking as needed is cheaper and carries no commitment. Above it, a retainer gets you volume pricing, priority availability, and continuity of assigned personnel, which has real operational value because a protector who knows your patterns works better than one who does not.
Our comparison of daily rates and retainers covers the structures in detail.
What drives an annual quote up
City. New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco carry a twenty percent multiplier. Miami, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, and Las Vegas carry ten percent.
Armed coverage. Quoted per engagement because of additional licensing verification and a separate liability endorsement.
Travel away from home market. Multi-day engagements outside a protector's home market include hotel and per diem.
Team size. Additional protectors are $99 an hour, additional vehicles $79 an hour with a driver. On an annual program these compound quickly.
Before you price a year
The useful question is not what a year costs but how many days you genuinely need. Most people who ask about annual cost discover, after listing their actual exposure, that they need somewhere between ten and forty days rather than 365.
Our threat threshold guide covers that assessment, and the full cost breakdown has hourly and daily figures. For a program above forty hours a month, talk to our team and we will quote a retainer rather than list rates.
FAQ
How much does a bodyguard cost per year? Full-time coverage at forty hours a week runs about $268,000 a year for one protector, $414,000 with a vehicle, $622,000 for executive transport, and $1.25 million for a full detail at list rates. Engagements above forty hours a month are quoted as retainers with volume pricing, which brings these figures down.
How much does 24/7 protection cost per year? Continuous coverage of a single post consumes roughly 8,736 hours a year and requires a rotating team rather than one person, so it exceeds a million dollars annually at base rates for one post. Genuine 24/7 programs are always quoted individually.
Is it cheaper to hire a bodyguard full time or by the hour? By the hour, for almost everyone. Most principals need coverage on ten to forty days a year rather than continuously, which costs a small fraction of an annual program. Hourly booking only becomes more expensive above roughly forty hours a month, at which point a retainer is the right structure.
Do bodyguard companies offer annual contracts? Yes. Above forty hours a month, engagements move to a retainer offering volume pricing, priority availability, and continuity of assigned personnel rather than list hourly rates.
How much is a bodyguard per month? A single eight-hour day a month is roughly $790 after discounts. One day a week is about $3,400 a month. Full-time coverage at forty hours a week is roughly $22,000 a month at list rates before retainer pricing.