Getting certified · Salary
What do information security analysts earn?
Information security analysts in the US earned a median annual wage of $129,180 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in its Occupational Outlook Handbook, checked October 2026. That figure belongs to an occupation, code 15-1212, and BLS does not split pay by certification, so no government source publishes a CySA+ salary.
The BLS pay range
| Measure | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| Lowest 10% | Less than $75,090 |
| Median | $129,180 |
| Highest 10% | More than $199,850 |
Source: BLS OOH, Pay tab, page last modified August 27, 2026.
Median pay by industry
What the number covers and what it leaves out
The median is the midpoint for everyone BLS counts in the occupation: new analysts and twenty-year veterans, every state, every employer size. Half earned more than $129,180 and half earned less. There is no separate entry-level figure. The lowest-10% line ($75,090) is the closest marker, and it describes the bottom of the whole occupation.
BLS also describes how people get there: a bachelor's degree is the typical entry education, and the typical candidate has less than five years of work in a related occupation first. On certification it says only that many employers prefer to hire candidates who hold one.
For the stages before that first analyst title, the guide to becoming a cybersecurity analyst walks through the route.
Where CySA+ sits against those markers
CompTIA writes CS0-004 for someone with several years of SOC or vulnerability work (the CySA+ requirements give the exact wording), and BLS describes a typical analyst as arriving with under five years in a related job. The two markers overlap, so the certification tends to land near the point where people move into the occupation BLS measures. For defense work there is one concrete link: CompTIA states CySA+ is approved for US Department of Defense (DoD) 8140.03 requirements, which some roles and contracts ask for.
Reading the BLS page
- 15-1212
- The occupation code for information security analysts. Job titles such as SOC analyst or vulnerability analyst fall under it when the work matches.
- Median
- The wage in the middle: half of the occupation earned more, half less. Averages are pulled up by the top earners; the median is not.
- 10th and 90th percentile
- The edges of the range. One in ten earned under $75,090, one in ten over $199,850 (May 2025).
- Projected growth
- BLS's estimate of how employment in the occupation changes over the projection decade, here 2025 to 2035.
A “CySA+ salary” is a survey figureTrap
Sites that print a salary for CySA+ holders rely on self-reported surveys or job ads. Those numbers mix job titles, regions and experience levels, carry no BLS method, and cannot show that the certification caused the pay. Treat any claim that CySA+ adds a fixed amount or percentage as unverified.
Demand behind the pay
| Measure | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs | About 192,900 | 2025 |
| Projected growth | 21% | 2025–2035 |
| Openings per year | About 14,100 | Average, 2025–2035 |
Reading the pay data for your own case
Will I earn $129,180 once I pass CySA+?
Not necessarily. $129,180 is the May 2025 median for the whole occupation in BLS data; your offer depends on role, region, employer and experience.
Is there an entry-level CySA+ salary I can expect?
No source we can cite publishes one. BLS gives no entry-level wage for the occupation; the lowest-10% line, under $75,090 in May 2025, is the floor of the whole range.
Can I trust salary threads on forums?
Each post is one person's offer in one city in one year. Threads help you decide what to ask an employer about shift pay, on-call duty and clearance; they are not a sample you can average.
How current is the BLS data I am reading?
The wage figures are for May 2025, and the BLS page was last modified on August 27, 2026 (BLS OOH, checked October 2026).
Which industries should I look at for higher pay?
Among the industries BLS lists, information had the highest median in May 2025 at $138,650, followed by computer systems design at $132,410 (BLS).
Sources
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts · May 2025 wages; 2025–2035 projections; page last modified 2026-08-27 (checked October 9, 2026)
Facts checked. Now practice.
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