Side-by-side distribution
Security Engineer
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.8%
- Live roles
- 3,840
SOC Analyst
$117,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 27%
- Live roles
- 174
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning)
Staff Security Engineer
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Staff+ Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Staff+ Software Security Engineer
Staff + Software Security Engineer, Secure Frameworks
Staff + Software Security Engineer, Labs
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Highest-paying jobs
Cybersecurity SOC Analyst II
Cybersecurity Operations Center Analyst, Senior
Senior Security Operations Analyst
Security Operations Analyst
Security Operations Analyst
Security Operations Analyst
Security Operations Analyst
SOC Analyst
Cybersecurity Operations Analyst (CSOC Analyst)
Threat Intelligence Analyst, Associate - Security Operations
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,450 | 66 |
SpaceX
|
$147,500 | 47 |
CACI
|
$153,625 | 44 |
|
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 29 |
| SE Sezzle | $87,000 | 27 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$212,000 | 24 |
Mozilla
|
$85,799 | 19 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$101,450 | 5 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$171,500 | 4 |
| KS Knox Systems | $117,500 | 3 |
|
Leidos
|
$97,638 | 3 |
Palantir
|
$97,500 | 2 |
Esri
|
$92,352 | 2 |
Logicalis
|
$81,280 | 2 |
|
CHAOS Industries
|
$208,000 | 1 |
Security Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $230,400 | 245 |
| Seattle | $210,750 | 118 |
| New York | $203,500 | 235 |
| London | $180,000 | 23 |
| Los Angeles | $180,000 | 42 |
| Austin | $179,000 | 57 |
| Boston | $177,500 | 59 |
| Denver | $177,000 | 60 |
| Atlanta | $164,500 | 32 |
| Chicago | $158,575 | 58 |
Security Engineer vs SOC Analyst: which pays more?
The median for Security Engineer is $170,000 per year (typically $135,000–$211,500), versus $117,500 for SOC Analyst ($96,395–$140,075). That puts Security Engineer about 45% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Security Engineer and SOC Analyst 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.