Free Tool
Cybersecurity Salary Reality Checker
Cybersecurity salary guides love one number: the headline median. The trouble is that the median covers senior engineers and architects, not someone in their first job — and the entry-level band is far below it. This checker shows both, side by side, with the source and the date of every figure, because a salary is a range with a vintage, not a promise.
Ranges, not promises — and dated, sourced figures only. Every number here carries its source and its date, and every answer is a range. A salary figure without a source, a date and a location is not information; it is bait. Last checked: 14 November 2026.
What this tool does
The most quoted cybersecurity salary figure is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics median for information security analysts. It is a real, respected number — and it is also widely misread. The median is the middle of the whole occupation, from a graduate in their first analyst job to a senior architect with twenty years of experience, and it is far above what a beginner earns. Guides that present the median as what you will earn in your first job are either mistaken or selling you a course, and the gap between the median and the entry band is the most important fact in this whole topic.
This checker shows the two numbers together, with the source and the date on each. The median, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with its May-year vintage, because the figure changes every year and the vintages are not interchangeable. And the entry-level band for a Tier-1 SOC analyst, as a range, because entry pay varies by city, by employer and by shift — and because no honest source gives a single number for it. The checker also shows the growth outlook, again with its vintage, and it explains why the US figures do not translate directly to other countries.
The checker is deliberately narrow. It covers the two roles with published, sourced figures — the information security analyst median, and the SOC Tier-1 entry band — and for other roles it says plainly that no reliable published entry band exists, rather than inventing one. That restraint is the point: a salary tool that invents numbers is worse than no tool at all, and the careers guide linked below gives the full picture, including the honest timelines and the non-US picture.
Try it
Pick a role to see the sourced ranges. Every figure carries its source and date. All figures are US dollars, for the United States.
Waiting. Pick a role and press Show the reality check.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov). Last checked: 14 November 2026.
How it works
The checker works from two figures, both from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and both dated. The median annual wage for information security analysts was $129,180 in May 2025, and $124,910 in May 2024. Those are two different vintages of the same statistic, not a disagreement: the figure is re-measured every year, and the 2025 number is higher because wages rose. The growth outlook is the same story: the Bureau projected 29% growth for 2024–2034 in one vintage, and 21% for 2025–2035 in the next. Always cite a figure with its vintage, because a median without a date is meaningless.
The entry-level band is a different kind of number. For a Tier-1 SOC analyst — the most common first job in cybersecurity — published ranges cluster around $50,000 to $85,000 a year in the US, with the most common bands at $50,000–$70,000, $55,000–$85,000 and $60,000–$80,000 depending on the source, the city and the shift. The checker shows that whole range, not a single number, because no single number is honest: night shifts pay more, large cities pay more, and a first job at a small company pays less than one at a large one. The gap between the $129,180 median and the $50,000–$85,000 entry band is the reality check — the median is what the occupation earns, not what a beginner earns.
For other roles — penetration tester, governance analyst, threat-intelligence analyst — the checker refuses to invent an entry band. Reliable, published entry-level figures do not exist for those roles in the same way, and a tool that made one up would be lying to its users. Instead it explains why the band is missing, and points to the careers guide for the honest position: penetration testing is a destination role, not an entry role, and its pay reflects that.
Limitations
These figures are US figures, for the United States, in US dollars, and they do not translate directly to other countries — salaries in Pakistan, the UK, the EU or elsewhere follow different labour markets, different currencies and different costs of living. The figures are also ranges and medians, not promises: your pay depends on your city, your employer, your shift, your skills and the year you apply. A tool that gave you a single number and a date would be selling you certainty it does not have.
- Figures are dated: the median is May 2025 ($129,180) and May 2024 ($124,910); growth is 21% for 2025–2035 and 29% for 2024–2034. Vintages differ because the Bureau re-measures every year — always check the latest on bls.gov.
- The entry band is a range across sources, cities and shifts ($50,000–$85,000). It is the honest shape of entry pay, not a quotation.
- Nothing here is financial advice, and no salary is promised. Treat every figure as a starting point for your own research on the Bureau's site and in your own job market.
Examples
Example 1 — the median, read properly. The median for information security analysts is $129,180 (May 2025). That is the middle of the whole occupation. A beginner reading it as a first-job salary will be disappointed — and a guide that presents it that way is misleading. Read it as the occupation's centre, and ask the separate question: what does a first job pay?
Example 2 — the entry band. A Tier-1 SOC analyst in the US earns roughly $50,000–$85,000, depending on the city, the employer and the shift. A night-shift role in a large city pays more; a day role at a small company pays less. The range is the answer, and anyone who gives you a single number for entry pay is hiding the variation.
Example 3 — the vintage trap. Two guides quote different medians — $124,910 and $129,180 — and both are right, because they are different years. The same is true of growth: 29% for 2024–2034 and 21% for 2025–2035. A figure without its vintage is not a fact; it is a number without a date, and the checker dates every figure it shows.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for a cybersecurity analyst?
In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics median for information security analysts was $129,180 in May 2025, and $124,910 in May 2024. The two figures are different vintages of the same statistic — always cite the year. The median covers the whole occupation, not first jobs.
What does an entry-level SOC analyst earn?
Roughly $50,000–$85,000 a year in the US, as a range across sources, cities and shifts. Night shifts and large cities pay more; small companies pay less. It is far below the $129,180 median, because the median covers senior engineers and architects as well as beginners.
Can I earn $124,000 in my first cybersecurity job?
Almost certainly not. That figure is the median for the whole occupation, and entry-level pay is roughly $50,000–$85,000. Guides that imply a first job pays the median are misleading — sometimes deliberately, to sell a course.
How fast is cybersecurity employment growing?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected 21% growth for 2025–2035, and 29% for 2024–2034 in the previous vintage. The occupation is growing much faster than average — but growth is not a pay promise, and it does not say what a first job pays.
Do these US figures apply in other countries?
No. Salaries follow local labour markets, currencies and costs of living. Use the US figures as a reference for the shape of the market — median above entry pay, wide ranges — and research your own country's figures separately.