Penetration Tester salary
What a penetration tester actually earns, from 174 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-09.
Switch the market above to see penetration tester pay in the 2 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A penetration tester earns a blended US median near 129,983 dollars, with the typical middle running from 102,141 dollars to 161,021 dollars. The official OEWS median is 124,910 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 25 percent since 2019. By seniority, posted pay runs from roughly 106,719 dollars to 123,000 dollars. Demand is rated high, and 5% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is security engineer, at 47 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open penetration tester roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
- Ethical Hacker at Code Red RecruitmentSouth Africa · Remote1d agoApply
Public Facing Security Researcher at CertiKUnited States · Remote1d agoApply
Principal Security Researcher at GitLabRemote, Canada; Remote, Israel; Remote, United Kingdom; Remo$203k–$275k4d agoApply
Staff Offensive Security Engineer at SamsaraLondon, England, United Kingdom5d agoApply
Penetration Tester | Upto $2150 Part-time at MercorUnited Kingdom · Remote5d agoApply
Offensive Security Lead at SoFiCA - San Francisco; WA - Seattle; NY - New York City; UT - C6d agoApply
By seniority
Posted-median pay by seniority signal in the title, from our corpus. Noisy at the edges where sample sizes are small.
By country
- United States$102,141$129,983$161,021
- United Kingdom$60,834$87,871$101,728
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- Washington$142,920
- California$140,660
- Maryland$140,480
- New York$131,100
- Colorado$130,570
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a penetration tester profile already covers.
- 55 open developer advocate roles$172,289 median · +$42,306 · 22% readiness
- 600 open solutions architect roles$163,007 median · +$33,024 · 28% readiness
- 571 open security engineer roles$154,030 median · +$24,047 · 47% readiness
- 600 open research scientist roles$151,346 median · +$21,363 · 23% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for a penetration tester.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Security Engineer salary$154,030 median
- Network Engineer salary$127,199 median
- Solutions Architect salary$163,007 median
Quick answers
How much does a penetration tester make?
The blended US median is about 129,983 dollars, with a typical range from 102,141 dollars to 161,021 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 124,910 dollars.
Is penetration tester a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 5% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a penetration tester move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is security engineer, at 47 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 15-1212. Live corpus 174 observations, 2026-09-09. Definitions in the glossary.