Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Salary in 2025

CEH v12 Certification

$105K
Average Salary
92,000+
Open Positions
+25% year-over-year
Job Growth
Very High
Market Demand

Salary Ranges by Experience Level

Entry Level

$85K - $105K

0-2 years experience

Mid-Level

$105K - $125K

2-5 years experience

Senior Level

$125K - $155K

5+ years experience

💰 Median Salary: $103K/year

Offensive security demand exploding

Salary by Location - Top 5 Cities

1
Washington, DC
$130,000 - $155,000
2
San Francisco, CA
$135,000 - $160,000
3
New York, NY
$125,000 - $150,000
4
Boston, MA
$115,000 - $140,000
5
Austin, TX
$110,000 - $135,000

Key Factors Affecting Salary

Security Clearance

+30-45%

Top Secret clearance adds $35K-$50K premium

OSCP + CEH

+25-35%

OSCP certification significantly boosts CEH value

Bug Bounty Success

+20-30%

Proven vulnerability findings, HackerOne reputation

Industry Sector

+15-25%

Finance, defense pay premium for pentest skills

Skills That Increase Your Salary

Penetration Testing

+$15,000 - $25,000

Web app, network, mobile pentesting

Exploit Development

+$18,000 - $28,000

Buffer overflows, reverse engineering

Cloud Security Testing

+$12,000 - $20,000

AWS, Azure security assessments

Programming (Python/C)

+$10,000 - $18,000

Tool development, automation

Career Progression & Salary Growth

Entry Level

Junior Security Analyst / Pentester

0-2 years

$85,000 - $105,000
Mid Level

Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker

2-5 years

$105,000 - $125,000
Senior Level

Senior Pentester / Security Consultant

5-8 years

$125,000 - $145,000
Lead Level

Lead Security Researcher / Red Team Lead

8+ years

$145,000 - $180,000+

Salary Comparison with Similar Roles

RoleAverage SalaryDifference
Security Analyst (no CEH)$85,000-19%
Security+ Only$75,000-29%
OSCP Certified$125,000+19%
CISSP Certified$135,000+29%

Top Paying Industries

Cybersecurity Consulting

Demand: Very High

$120,000

Financial Services

Demand: Very High

$118,000

Government / Defense

Demand: Very High

$125,000

Technology

Demand: High

$115,000

Healthcare

Demand: High

$108,000

Salary by Company Size

Startup (1-50 employees)$92,000
Small (51-200 employees)$100,000
Medium (201-1000 employees)$108,000
Large (1001-5000 employees)$115,000
Enterprise (5000+ employees)$122,000

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