The honest answer: it swings from near-zero to six figures, because almost everyone is commission-only. Here's what a deal actually pays, what the top reps clear, and what the 1099 tax reality does to your take-home.
A door-to-door alarm sales rep typically earns a few hundred to over $1,000 in commission per install, and realistic full-time income ranges from about $40,000 to $80,000 a year — with strong reps clearing six figures and top summer-program closers making $150,000+ in a single season. Because the door-to-door channel is overwhelmingly 1099 commission-only, there is no salary floor: your pay is a direct function of how many systems you sell, how big those systems are, and how many customers stay long enough to avoid a chargeback. Below is the full breakdown — per-deal math, RMR multiples, income ranges, and what actually lands in your bank account after self-employment tax.
Alarm pay isn't a flat "$X per sale." It's built from two pieces:
That's why two reps knocking the same street can earn wildly different amounts. A rep who upsells a higher monitoring tier, adds cameras and door sensors, and installs the system themselves might clear $1,200–$1,700 on one deal. A rep who sells the cheapest basic package on the lowest monitoring rate might see $150–$400. The multiple is the lever, and the equipment is the multiplier.
Averages in this industry are misleading because they blend the reps who quit in week two with the ones who close all summer. Here's a more honest picture:
For outside context, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks door-to-door and related sales workers, and the reported occupational wage data lands well below those top numbers — precisely because it averages in the many part-timers and short-timers. Commission-only work has a wide mouth: enormous upside, and a floor of zero.
Your gross commission isn't your income. If a customer cancels inside the clawback window (often the first several months to a year), some or all of that commission gets charged back — deducted from your next check. Reps who sell hard but sell the wrong customers can post big gross numbers and take home far less. This is why serious reps track every deal from sale through install and through the chargeback window, not just their knock count. SecurityQS builds commission and chargeback tracking directly into the app, so your real net — after clawbacks — is always in front of you instead of buried in a spreadsheet.
Almost every door-to-door alarm rep is a 1099 independent contractor, not a W-2 employee. That means:
The upside is that legitimate business expenses are deductible on Schedule C, which lowers your taxable income. The single biggest one for a door-to-door rep is mileage: at the IRS standard mileage rate, a rep driving thousands of territory miles a year can deduct thousands of dollars. Most reps leave that money on the table because they never logged the miles. We break the full picture down in our guide to 1099 taxes for door-to-door sales reps. SecurityQS logs your mileage automatically at the IRS rate so the deduction is already documented at tax time.
Income in this job isn't luck — it's a stack of controllable inputs:
The reps who make the top numbers aren't just charismatic — they run their day like a business, because as a 1099 contractor, that's exactly what it is.
Gross numbers lie. These three habits are what separate a rep's paycheck from their real income.
Log commission per install and watch it live as you build the quote — then follow it through the chargeback window.
Automatic mileage at the IRS rate turns thousands of territory miles into a documented Schedule C deduction.
See income after chargebacks and expenses so you're setting aside the right amount for self-employment tax.
Commission per deal typically runs from a few hundred dollars to well over $1,000, depending on the equipment sold, the monitoring rate, and how your pay is structured. Alarm commissions are usually tied to a "multiple" of the monthly monitoring rate (RMR) plus margin on hardware, so a bigger system on a higher monthly rate pays more. A common self-install or high-margin deal can clear $1,000–$1,700 in commission, while a small basic package might pay $150–$400. Your real take-home also depends on chargebacks if the customer cancels early.
It varies enormously because most reps are 1099 commission-only, so there is no salary floor. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics groups these roles under door-to-door and related sales workers, whose median pay lands in the low-to-mid five figures, but that blends in part-timers and slow sellers. In practice, a rep who works a full summer season and closes consistently often earns $40,000–$80,000, strong full-time reps clear six figures, and the top summer-program closers can make $150,000+ in a few months. A large share of reps who quit early make very little.
Most door-to-door alarm reps are 1099 independent contractors paid on straight commission with no base salary, no benefits, and no taxes withheld. Some W-2 in-house roles offer a small base or a draw against commission, but the door-to-door channel is overwhelmingly commission-only. That is why tracking your own numbers — commission per deal, chargebacks, mileage, and expenses — matters so much: nobody else is doing it for you.
RMR — recurring monthly revenue, the customer's monthly monitoring fee — is the engine of alarm commission. Most pay plans multiply the RMR by a set number (the "multiple") to calculate your payout, so a $50/mo account at a 20x multiple pays $1,000 before hardware margin, while a $30/mo account at the same multiple pays $600. Reps who upsell higher monitoring rates and add-ons earn more per door because the whole commission scales off that monthly number.
As a 1099 contractor you owe self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare, about 15.3%) on top of income tax, and nothing is withheld — you pay it yourself, usually via quarterly estimates. You also cover your own gas, phone, vehicle wear, and any tools. The upside is that legitimate business expenses — mileage at the IRS standard rate, phone, supplies — are deductible on Schedule C and lower your taxable income. Reps who track mileage and expenses carefully often save thousands at tax time.
See your commission per deal, track chargebacks, and log mileage automatically for your 1099 taxes. Start a 30-day free trial — no credit card.
