The highest paying cybersecurity certifications
Each certification is ranked by the salary ranges written into the open postings that ask for it. That figure says which roles want the certificate and what they pay; the postings that ask for no certificate at all are listed beside them for comparison.
Ranking
Certifications by the middle salary of their postings
Typical means the span from the 25th percentile of range midpoints to the 90th percentile of range tops, every figure taken as a full-time year (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours). Ranked when at least 10 open postings name the certification.
| # | Certification | Middle | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CCSP | $203k/yr | 119 |
| 2 | AWS certifications | $198k/yr | 89 |
| 3 | OffSec advanced | $195k/yr | 94 |
| 4 | CKS | $193k/yr | 30 |
| 5 | Cisco CCNA or CCNP | $191k/yr | 43 |
| 6 | Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer | $191k/yr | 14 |
| 7 | CIPP | $187k/yr | 23 |
| 8 | CISSP | $183k/yr | 541 |
| 9 | CompTIA SecurityX | $179k/yr | 12 |
| 10 | CISM | $178k/yr | 237 |
| 11 | CEH | $178k/yr | 95 |
| 12 | GIAC certifications | $175k/yr | 319 |
| 13 | OSCP | $175k/yr | 192 |
| 14 | ISO 27001 Lead Auditor or Lead Implementer | $170k/yr | 58 |
| 15 | CISA | $169k/yr | 171 |
| 16 | CRISC | $169k/yr | 89 |
| 17 | PCI QSA or ISA | $164k/yr | 11 |
| 18 | Microsoft security certifications | $155k/yr | 60 |
| 19 | CRTO | $155k/yr | 21 |
| 20 | CCSK | $147k/yr | 10 |
| 21 | CompTIA Security+ | $144k/yr | 138 |
| 22 | SSCP | $143k/yr | 14 |
| 23 | CompTIA CySA+ | $110k/yr | 36 |
| No certification named | $210k/yr |
Every certification by how often employers name it, with the specialties that ask for each: certifications employers ask for. Two side by side: CISSP against CISM.
Questions
Certifications and pay, from the postings
Which cybersecurity certification pays the most?
CCSP: the 119 open postings that name it state a typical $169k–$325k/yr, middle $203k/yr. Next comes AWS certifications at $198k/yr.
Which certification open to newcomers pays the most?
AWS certifications, from Amazon Web Services, which a newcomer can sit: its 89 postings state a middle of $198k/yr. Next is Cisco CCNA or CCNP at $191k/yr.
Does holding a certification raise your salary?
Not by itself, on these figures. The postings that name no certification state a middle of $210k/yr, and every one of the 23 certifications ranked here sits below that. A certification shows up in certain roles (senior governance seats ask for the CISSP, offensive teams for the OSCP), so its pay is mostly the pay of those roles.
The jobs themselves ranked by pay: security jobs ranked by salary.
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