Cybersecurity Salary in Finance vs Healthcare vs Government (US): What Each Industry Actually Pays in 2026

You just got two offers. One is a bank, one is a hospital, one is a government contract, and none of the numbers match. Welcome to the mess that is cybersecurity salary in finance vs healthcare vs government (US), where the same job title can pay $60,000 or $250,000 depending on which door you walk through.

Here is the part that stings. Most people take the first offer without knowing what the other two industries were paying for the exact same work. You could be leaving $30,000 or more on the table simply because nobody showed you the real numbers side by side.

That ends here. I pulled current 2026 data from Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, PayScale, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the same kind of research we run across every IT salary guide on What Is The Salary, to show exactly what financial services, healthcare, and government employers pay, at every level, so you can walk into your next offer already knowing what you are worth.

The Nationwide Baseline First

Glassdoor’s April 2026 data puts the average information security analyst salary at $129,271 nationally, with a typical range of $100,839 to $167,452 and top earners near $209,990. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median of $124,910 and projects 33 percent employment growth through 2034, roughly ten times faster than the average occupation.

That national number hides a lot once you sort cybersecurity salary by industry. Pharmaceutical and biotech, financial services, and aerospace and defense consistently sit at the top, per Coursera’s citation of April 2026 Glassdoor figures. Here is how the four sectors most people ask me about actually compare.

Industry	Entry Level	Mid Level	Senior / Lead	Notable Pay Driver
Financial Services	$60K – $84K	$100K – $150K	$150K – $200K+	10-20% bank premium, PCI DSS scope
Healthcare	$65K – $90K	$95K – $130K	$130K – $172K	HIPAA scope, medical device security
Federal Government	$53K – $80K	$90K – $130K	$130K – $187K	GS scale plus locality pay, slower but steady
Defense Contracting	$70K – $95K	$110K – $160K	$170K – $250K+	Security clearance premium, TS/SCI adds most

Ranges reflect base salary by industry and seniority, compiled from Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, PayScale, and CyberSecJobs 2026 data. Metro-area premiums, bonuses, and clearance pay can push the top end higher.

Financial Services Cybersecurity Salary: The Highest Baseline Pay

If pure salary is your priority, financial services usually wins. Banks pay 10 to 20 percent above general market rates for the same title, largely because a breach at a bank averages $6.08 million and regulators are not forgiving. PCI DSS compliance is not optional for anyone touching card data, and the 2025 deadline for PCI DSS 4.0 pushed hiring and pay increases well into 2026.

Entry-level SOC analysts at a bank typically start at $60,000 to $84,000, versus $50,000 to $70,000 in a non-regulated industry.

See cybersecurity analyst salary by experience level for a full tenure breakdown. Senior analysts at major institutions land in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, and CISO total compensation at large banks has been reported as high as $744,000 to $844,000.

Glassdoor lists PwC, EY, and JPMorganChase among the top payers for analysts in financial services. Most people enter this world through the SOC analyst salary in the US track, so that is the natural starting point.

Healthcare Cybersecurity Salary: Steady Demand, Moderate Pay

Healthcare cybersecurity salary numbers land lower than finance but higher than most people expect. ZipRecruiter’s 2026 data shows a national average around $132,962, typically ranging $111,000 to $150,000, with top earners near $172,500. In New York specifically, healthcare cybersecurity workers average $145,465.

What drives pay here is not glamour, it is HIPAA compliance and the weight of protecting patient data. Analysts who can speak fluently about protected health information, electronic health records, and connected medical device risk get paid more than someone with a generic cybersecurity title.

A SOC analyst who has actually worked a HIPAA-sensitive incident brings more immediate value, and hiring managers pay for that.

If healthcare is your entry point, the entry-level cybersecurity salary in US page has realistic first-job numbers, which in healthcare typically start around $65,000 to $90,000 depending on the size of the health system.

Federal Government Cybersecurity Pay and Defense Contractor Compensation

This is where the picture gets genuinely interesting, because federal and contractor pay work almost like two different markets sharing a name.

Federal Government Cybersecurity Pay

Federal cyber roles sit mostly in the GS-2210 series. As of 2026, GS-9 step 1 starts around $52,727 and GS-13 step 10 tops out near $118,204, before locality pay. In the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington locality, GS-13 actually runs $122,000 to $158,000, and GS-14 runs $144,000 to $187,000. CISA and the NSA hire most cyber civilians through this same GS structure.

Base pay alone looks lower than the private sector, and it is. But federal benefits are worth roughly 30 to 40 percent of base salary once you count the FERS pension, TSP matching, and health coverage that continues into retirement. Over a full career, that gap narrows more than the headline number suggests.

Defense Contractor Compensation and the Security Clearance Premium

Defense contractors typically pay 15 to 40 percent more in base salary than the equivalent GS role, and this is where the security clearance premium shows up. Confidential adds roughly $5,000 to $10,000. Secret adds $10,000 to $20,000. Top Secret adds $15,000 to $30,000. TS/SCI with a full scope polygraph can add $20,000 to $40,000 or more over an uncleared equivalent doing the same work.

Zero Trust and cloud security architects holding TS/SCI with polygraph are currently the highest-paid individual contributors in the cleared market, earning $200,000 to $250,000 or more. CISOs at defense contractors can exceed $350,000.

If leadership is the long-term goal, our CISO salary guide breaks down that trajectory across industries. And if consulting between government and industry interests you, the cybersecurity consultant salary in US page is a good next stop.

Base Salary vs Total Compensation

Comparing base salary alone is only half the exercise. Total compensation is where these four sectors actually separate themselves.

If two offers look close on paper, ask for the full compensation breakdown before you decide. A $115,000 federal offer with a pension can beat a $130,000 private offer with no retirement match once you run the math over ten years.

What Actually Moves Your Salary Between These Industries

Certifications matter more in regulated industries than in general tech. Security+ adds roughly $5,000 to $10,000 to entry-level offers, and CISSP, CEH, or CISM can add 10 to 35 percent, per multiple 2026 salary surveys. In defense contracting specifically, DoD 8140 compliance requires specific credentials before you can touch certain systems, regardless of how strong your resume looks.

Your job title matters too. If you are deciding between staying an analyst, moving into engineering, or aiming for architecture, read cybersecurity analyst vs engineer vs architect before picking a lane, since the pay ceiling differs sharply.

For the realistic route from first job to senior roles, our cybersecurity career path guide covers all four industries above, and cybersecurity bootcamp vs degree plus cybersecurity analyst without a degree walk through what employers actually require.

Specialization pays too. Penetration testers often out-earn generalist analysts at the same experience level because the skill set is narrower. Our penetration tester salary in US page has current numbers if offensive security interests you more than defense.

Location Still Changes Everything

Everything above is a national average, but where you sit changes the math, especially for federal and defense roles where locality pay is baked into the GS scale. Washington DC, Northern Virginia, and San Antonio carry heavy weight for federal and defense pay.

For financial services, New York and Charlotte lead. Compare cybersecurity salary by city and cybersecurity salary by state before you assume a national number applies to your offer.

Common Myths About Industry Pay

Frequently Asked Questions

A Final Word

None of these paths is objectively better. Financial services pays the most on paper. Government offers stability most private employers cannot match. Healthcare gives you mission-driven work with steady demand. Defense contracting rewards clearance and specialization more than almost any other corner of tech.

If you have taken an offer in any of these sectors recently, or turned one down, I would genuinely like to hear how the numbers compared to what you expected.