The 2025 Cybersecurity Staff Compensation Benchmark Report, released by IANS Research and Artico Search, offers insight into hiring trends, cyber professional compensation, and job satisfaction.

According to the report, only one-third of cybersecurity professionals would recommend their employer, indicating that job satisfaction remains low. This low satisfaction correlates with limited career growth opportunities, as less than 40% of respondents indicated satisfaction with available advancement opportunities and more than 45% indicated dissatisfaction with slow career progression. The report found that compensation is an important factor in retention; however, it is outranked by the ability to advance and develop new skills.

When it comes to securing roles, more than 70% of security engineers say their IT background was essential. More than 50% of security architects and security analysts indicate the same. 

As for salaries, security engineers and security architects continue to earn higher-level wages. Security engineers report an average cash compensation of $191,000 while security architects report an average of $206,000 annually. Among surveyed regions in the United States and Canada, the Western U.S. provides the highest cybersecurity salaries. This region is followed by the Northeast. Finally, the Southeast and Central U.S. report lower compensation, whereas Canada reports lower than all U.S regions.