Cybersecurity salary numbers start with one anchor. The median pay for security analysts reached $129,180 per year in May 2025. That equals $62.11 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and spans all sectors and levels. The spread around it stays wide. A few factors do most of the moving.
The field pays above nearby tech trades. Network and computer systems administrators earn a median of $99,130. Computer user support staff sit at $61,860. Network support staff earn $76,220. The analyst role has outpaced all three, and the gap shapes career plans across the field.
The Anchor Number for Cybersecurity Salary
A median splits the field in half. Half earn more, and half earn less. The Bureau counted 192,900 analysts at work in 2025. The forecast adds 21% growth through 2035. That pace keeps upward pressure on offers. Demand alone does not set pay, though. Sector, role scope and schooling each push the number.
The forecast adds about 40,600 jobs by 2035, for a total of 233,400. About 14,100 openings appear each year. A field that hires at that pace reprices itself often. Any pay figure needs its year attached to mean much.
Replacements drive most of the flow. Analysts leave for other firms, move up, or change careers. Growth gets the headline, but turnover fills the postings. A job search gains from that churn, since backfills hire all year.
Sector by Sector
Sector moves the median more than any other lever. The information sector pays the top analyst median, at $138,650. Computer systems design follows at $132,410, and it employs the largest share, 22%. Finance and insurance pays $130,630 across 17% of jobs. Management of companies pays $128,950. Consulting pays the least of the five, at $125,420.
Cybersecurity salary spreads by sector more than by region. A move between sectors can shift pay more than a raise inside one firm. The five medians above come from May 2025 federal data. The gaps have held for years.
Sector medians also shift with the task mix. Watch desks in finance carry compliance weight. Product firms value build skills. The same title can hide two different jobs.
What Moves an Offer
Schooling sets the entry gate. O*NET reports 53% of firms require a bachelor's degree for new analysts. Another 23% want an advanced certificate. Thirteen percent accept an associate degree. Scope moves pay after that. A tier one alert watcher earns less than an engineer who builds controls.
Firms also weigh less than five years of related work, the norm named by the Bureau. Tool skills listed by O*NET, such as Splunk and cloud platforms, lift offers when they match a posting. On-call load adds premiums in watch shops. Alerts arrive at all hours, and night shifts pay for it.
Geography plays a smaller part than lore claims. Federal medians differ little across regions for this code. Remote listings widen the pool further. The big levers stay fixed: sector first, scope second, schooling third.
Nearby Roles and Their Medians
Side moves reprice a career. Support roles pay $61,860 to $76,220 at the middle. Systems administration pays $99,130, though that field is set to shrink 4% by 2035. Analyst pay clears $129,180. Each rung carries a federal number. A candidate can cite that number in talks with a firm.
The gap has a cause. Analyst work carries a higher bar for schooling and trust. Firms pay for the duty of watching money and data move. Support staff fix tools. Analysts guard the flow through them. The pay spread tracks that weight.
Conclusion: Comparing Offers Like an Auditor
The test is the gap between an offer and the sector median for the same job code. An offer above the sector median signals demand for the exact skill mix. One far below needs a reason in writing, such as paid training. Anchor each number to federal data with its year. A cybersecurity salary claim with no source and no date is marketing.
