Side-by-side distribution
Application Security
$179,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 50.5%
- Live roles
- 497
Security Engineer
$170,391
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 3,819
Highest-paying jobs
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Security Engineer, Application Security
Security Engineer, Application Security
Security Engineer, Application Security
Principal Software Engineer II - Product Security
Senior Software Engineer, Application Security
Principal Security Software Engineer, Application Security
Security Engineer, Product
Security Engineer, Application Security
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning)
Staff Security Engineer
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Staff Security Reliability Engineer
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Staff + Software Security Engineer, Secure Frameworks
Staff + Software Security Engineer, Labs
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Staff+ Software Security Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
SpaceX
|
$175,000 | 8 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,450 | 7 |
Anduril Industries
|
$204,500 | 6 |
DigitalOcean
|
$170,450 | 6 |
Samsara
|
$230,100 | 5 |
| ME Medtronic | $165,000 | 5 |
| BO Boeing | $151,000 | 5 |
Compass
|
$222,050 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 62 |
|
SpaceX
|
$147,500 | 47 |
CACI
|
$153,625 | 42 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 30 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 30 |
| SE Sezzle | $87,000 | 27 |
Mozilla
|
$85,799 | 19 |
|
Samsara
|
$198,088 | 18 |
Application Security salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $235,000 | 42 |
| New York | $232,500 | 36 |
| Chicago | $199,600 | 11 |
| Seattle | $198,750 | 18 |
| Los Angeles | $197,500 | 7 |
| Boston | $196,043 | 12 |
| Atlanta | $184,775 | 8 |
| Austin | $179,000 | 11 |
| Toronto | $161,250 | 9 |
| Denver | $158,400 | 7 |
Security Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $230,100 | 247 |
| New York | $204,500 | 230 |
| Seattle | $203,125 | 110 |
| Boston | $185,250 | 56 |
| London | $180,000 | 23 |
| Los Angeles | $180,000 | 42 |
| Atlanta | $180,000 | 29 |
| Austin | $179,000 | 47 |
| Denver | $177,000 | 53 |
| Singapore | $158,850 | 4 |
Application Security vs Security Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Application Security is $179,000 per year (typically $142,425–$225,000), versus $170,391 for Security Engineer ($136,497–$210,175). That puts Application Security about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Application Security and Security Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.