Side-by-side distribution
CISO
$267,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.6%
- Live roles
- 147
Cybersecurity
$124,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.4%
- Live roles
- 1,312
Highest-paying jobs
Head of National Security Sales (DoW/IC)
Chief Information Security Officer
Vice President of Cybersecurity & Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Information Security Officer
Member of Technical Staff, Head of Security
Advisory CISO
Head of Security
VP, Global Head of Product Security and Risk
Head of Security
Head of Security & Trust
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning)
Staff+ Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Full Stack Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Staff Security GRC Analyst
Security Risk Analyst, Risk Engineering
Pre-Sales Engineer, Cybersecurity
Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Starshield)
Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Starshield)
Cybersecurity Mid Market Sales Engineer
Principal Security GRC Analyst
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mimecast
|
$196,000 | 2 |
|
Anthropic
|
$625,000 | 1 |
| DP DLA Piper | $600,000 | 1 |
| CI Circle | $341,250 | 1 |
|
Profound
|
$337,500 | 1 |
|
Harvey
|
$323,000 | 1 |
|
AeroVironment
|
$319,250 | 1 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$317,000 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 50 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$117,700 | 42 |
CACI
|
$143,125 | 20 |
Leidos
|
$122,275 | 19 |
GDIT
|
$137,328 | 16 |
|
SpaceX
|
$162,500 | 11 |
Workday
|
$154,500 | 11 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$45,760 | 11 |
CISO salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $341,250 | 3 |
| Boston | $311,250 | 4 |
| New York | $284,375 | 18 |
| San Francisco | $277,500 | 8 |
Cybersecurity salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $271,450 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 10 |
| Seattle | $158,523 | 14 |
| Denver | $156,600 | 6 |
| Boston | $146,000 | 11 |
| New York | $140,000 | 21 |
| Austin | $133,694 | 9 |
| Atlanta | $131,250 | 9 |
| Chicago | $116,961 | 13 |
| Dublin | $93,980 | 3 |
CISO vs Cybersecurity: which pays more?
The median for CISO is $267,500 per year (typically $207,500–$295,000), versus $124,500 for Cybersecurity ($97,614–$152,500). That puts CISO about 115% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so CISO and Cybersecurity 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.