Security‑engineer pay ranges
A recruiter‑published salary guide lists U.S. security‑engineer compensation between $105,000 and $215,000, with pay varying by specialisation, experience and metro area. The guide notes that certification and cert‑backed specialties materially affect compensation levels. (kore1.com)
A 2026 recruiter guide puts U.S. cybersecurity-engineer pay far above a single national median, with real offers clustering by specialty, city and certification. (kore1.com) KORE1’s March 17, 2026 guide says broad market pay spans from about $105,000 to $215,000 for security engineers, while its wider cybersecurity ladder runs from roughly $70,000 for entry-level Security Operations Center work to $700,000 or more for chief information security officers at public companies. (kore1.com) The firm anchors its guide to a federal benchmark that is lower and broader: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says information security analysts earned a median $124,910 in May 2024, with 182,800 jobs in 2024. (bls.gov) Security engineer is a catch-all label, and the work under it varies sharply. KORE1 says governance, risk and compliance work can land near $90,000, while malware reverse engineering can reach about $180,000, which helps explain why one title can hide very different pay. (kore1.com) Certifications still act like pay filters in this market. KORE1 says candidates with Certified Information Systems Security Professional credentials often clear offers above $145,000, and the guide singles out cloud security, identity and access management, detection engineering and incident response as specialties that move compensation higher. (kore1.com) Employers are paying into that spread because demand is still strong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects information security analyst employment will grow 29% from 2024 to 2034, adding 52,100 jobs, with about 16,000 openings a year on average. (bls.gov) The hiring pressure is not evenly distributed across the map. CyberSeek’s labor-market tool says cybersecurity demand can be viewed at the state and metro level, and KORE1 says city-based adjustments materially change engineer pay, with higher-cost hubs still setting the top end of many ranges. (cyberseek.org, kore1.com) The workforce backdrop is still tight. ISC2’s 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study says the field is being reshaped by economic pressure and artificial intelligence, while KORE1 says budgets that worked in 2023 now often miss candidates in 2026. (isc2.org, kore1.com) For job seekers, the gap is less about the word “security” than the exact problem being solved. For employers, the guide’s basic warning is that a $120,000 budget for a generic “cybersecurity engineer” may not buy a candidate with the certifications and specialty work the role actually requires. (kore1.com)
