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Median pay
$124,910
Median annual pay for Cybersecurity Analyst.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2024
Very strong long-term demand coexists with hiring freezes and budget pressure; AI appears to increase specialized skill needs rather than simply remove cyber roles.
Very strong long-term demand coexists with hiring freezes and budget pressure; AI appears to increase specialized skill needs rather than simply remove cyber roles.
The measurable baseline is $124,910 median pay, 28.5% projected employment change from 2024 to 2034, and about 16,000 annual openings. Those figures establish the national baseline; the occupation-specific evidence on this page is what makes the decision more useful than a generic profile.
The national median-pay figure in the current ChooseField dataset is $124,910. The 2024 self-employed share is 0.6%, which matters because self-employment can make outcomes less uniform across workers. A national median is a benchmark, not a personal forecast: experience, geography, employer type, specialty, credentials, and hours can move actual compensation materially.
BLS data in the ChooseField corpus put 2024 employment at 182,800 and projected 2034 employment at 234,900. That corresponds to 28.5% projected growth over the decade. BLS projects about 16,000 openings per year, including growth and replacement demand. This distinction matters when people ask whether a field is oversaturated: growth measures whether the occupation itself is getting larger, while annual openings also reflect people retiring, changing occupations, or leaving roles that must be refilled.
BLS lists the typical entry education as Bachelor's degree. Related work experience is listed as Less than 5 years. Treat this entry path like an investment: compare the time and cost required to enter with the pay, annual openings, and alternatives available at a similar training level.
Budget pressure is real. The headline figure is 36%. Respondents reporting cybersecurity budget cuts in 2025. Source: ISC2 Workforce Study (2025).
Hiring freezes remain common. The headline figure is 39%. Hiring freezes remained broadly flat in ISC2's 2025 workforce study. Source: ISC2 (2025).
AI is creating new skill demand. The headline figure is 73%. Respondents who said AI will create more specialized cybersecurity skills. Source: ISC2 (2025).
The evidence is more nuanced than a yes/no replacement prediction. ISC2 reports that Hiring freezes remained broadly flat in ISC2's 2025 workforce study. ISC2 reports that Respondents who said AI will create more specialized cybersecurity skills. ChooseField therefore treats AI as a force changing tasks and hiring patterns, not as a single probability that the occupation disappears.
Cybersecurity combines an excellent long-run projection with a less uniformly strong current hiring picture. ISC2's budget-cut and hiring-freeze findings are useful because they show why a shortage narrative does not mean every applicant faces an easy market. Specialization still matters.
This field is a stronger fit if you are willing to keep skills current as tools change and you are comfortable separating long-run demand from the difficulty of landing the first role.
Before choosing Cybersecurity Analyst, compare it with Software Developer, Data Scientist, Computer Hardware Engineer. The purpose is not to find a universal winner; it is to see how pay, training time, annual openings, work setting, and field-specific risks change when you move to an adjacent option.
Very strong long-term demand coexists with hiring freezes and budget pressure; AI appears to increase specialized skill needs rather than simply remove cyber roles. The measurable baseline is $124,910 median pay, 28.5% projected 2024–34 employment change, about 16,000 annual openings, and a typical entry path of Bachelor's degree.
BLS projects 28.5% employment change from 2024 to 2034 and about 16,000 openings per year. Growth and openings are different signals, so the field-specific evidence on this page should also be considered.
The evidence is more nuanced than a yes/no replacement prediction. ISC2 reports that Hiring freezes remained broadly flat in ISC2's 2025 workforce study. ISC2 reports that Respondents who said AI will create more specialized cybersecurity skills. ChooseField therefore treats AI as a force changing tasks and hiring patterns, not as a single probability that the occupation disappears.
The national median in the current ChooseField dataset is $124,910. Treat that as a benchmark rather than an expected starting salary; actual compensation varies by experience, location, employer, specialty, credentials, and hours.
National pay and employment projections come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other sources are linked on their cards.