Compliance Officer Salary: Median Pay, Percentiles and Top-Paying States

A compliance officer typically earns about $80,730 a year, based on the May 2025 federal wage survey. That works out to $38.81 an hour. Half of all compliance officers earn between $61,280 and $109,010, and the state you work in can move the figure by tens of thousands of dollars.

What Is the Median Salary for a Compliance Officer?

The median is $80,730 a year. Half of compliance officers earn less and half earn more. The mean is $88,400, about $7,670 higher, because a smaller group of very high salaries pulls the average up.

For judging an offer, use the median. The hourly figures are $38.81 for the median and $42.50 for the mean, which helps if you’re paid by the hour or you’re weighing a contract role against a salaried one.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted 417,070 compliance officers in the May 2025 wage survey. That’s a large sample, so the national numbers are steady, even if your own offer lands above or below them.

How Wide Is the Pay Range?

The percentile ladder shows how much room there is between the bottom and the top.

• 10th percentile: $48,220
• 25th percentile: $61,280
• Median: $80,730
• 75th percentile: $109,010
• 90th percentile: $133,720

The climb from the median to the 75th percentile is $28,280. The climb from the 25th to the median is $19,450. In other words, pay accelerates in the upper half, which is where senior and program-owner roles sit.

The wage survey doesn’t say how long it takes to move up the ladder, and it doesn’t break pay out by experience. What it does show is that the top tenth earn nearly three times what the bottom tenth earn. When you read a salary number online, ask where in this ladder the person sits.

Which States Pay Compliance Officers the Most?

Pay varies by state more than most job-title changes would move it. These are state medians from the May 2025 survey.

• District of Columbia: $111,030
• Massachusetts: $102,060
• New Jersey: $100,000
• California: $96,980
• Connecticut: $91,810
• Delaware: $91,050
• Vermont: $90,420
• New York: $90,080
• Washington: $88,790
• Rhode Island: $87,620

Some of those places have small numbers of compliance officers. Vermont counts 1,960 and Rhode Island 970, so a few employers can shift the figure. California, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts are large markets, with 49,880, 13,310, 23,500 and 13,190 compliance officers.

Which States Pay the Least?

The lowest state medians are Oklahoma at $63,000, Tennessee at $63,960, West Virginia at $64,270, Arkansas at $64,680, Montana at $66,660 and Missouri at $67,270.

The distance between the District of Columbia and Oklahoma is $48,030. That’s close to the difference between the median compliance officer and the median information security analyst nationwide, so where you live matters as much as which job you hold.

Cost of living isn’t in these figures. A lower salary in a state with cheaper housing can go further than a higher one in an expensive city, so compare against your own expenses before you rule a state out.

How Do the Biggest Job Markets Compare?

Pay and openings don’t always line up, so it helps to see both. California has 49,880 compliance officers and a median of $96,980. Texas has 42,900 and a median of $75,370. Florida has 29,680 and a median of $74,920. Pennsylvania has 19,810 and a median of $85,580.

The low end differs too. In Texas the 10th percentile is $45,170, in Florida it’s $44,130, and in California it’s $57,530. California’s floor sits above Texas’s by $12,360.

If you’re early in your career, the 10th percentile is the number that tells you what a first job might look like. If you’re experienced, the 90th shows what the best-paid people in your state earn: $158,280 in California, $126,920 in Texas and $127,420 in Florida.

What Moves Compliance Officer Pay?

The survey can’t tell you the cause of any one salary, but the data and the BLS duties point to a few things that matter.

Scope is one. BLS lists duties from advising on regulations to auditing, training and investigating. People who own more of that list, especially measuring whether a program works, tend to sit higher on the ladder.

Location is another, as the state tables show. Employer size is a third, though the survey doesn’t report it.

Credentials and degree level matter in a more limited way. We cover both next.

What Does Hourly Pay Look Like by State?

Hourly figures help if you’re paid by the hour or comparing a contract offer. The national median is $38.81 an hour. The District of Columbia has the highest state median at $53.38, followed by Massachusetts at $49.07 and New Jersey at $48.08.

At the other end, Oklahoma’s median is $30.29 an hour. That’s a gap of $23.09 an hour between the top and bottom state medians, which adds up fast over a year of full-time work.

Contractors cover their own benefits, time off and gaps between jobs, so a higher hourly rate doesn’t always mean higher take-home pay. Use the hourly numbers as a check, then compare the full package before you decide.

What Should You Read Into the Mean Versus the Median?

In most states the mean runs above the median, because high salaries pull averages up. Massachusetts has a mean of $108,310 against a median of $102,060. California’s mean is $102,490 against a median of $96,980.

The gap grows where a few employers pay far above the rest. Missouri’s mean is $74,910 against a median of $67,270. Arkansas shows the same pattern, with a mean of $75,510 and a median of $64,680.

When you see a state average in a news story, check which statistic it is. The median is closer to what a typical new hire will be offered, and the mean describes a group that includes a few very high earners.

Do Certifications Change Compliance Pay?

The wage survey doesn’t link certifications to pay, so we can’t give you a dollar figure. What we can describe is what each credential asks of you, because that tells you where it fits in a career.

ISACA’s CISM requires five or more years of professional work experience across at least three of its four domains, gained within the 10 years before you apply. The ISC2 CISSP requires five years of cumulative, full-time experience in two or more of its eight domains. A bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field can satisfy up to one year.

Because both ask for years of work first, they tend to arrive mid-career. CompTIA Security+ is the entry point. CompTIA recommends Network+ and two years of experience in a security or systems administrator role, with no required prerequisite. Our CISM certification page explains the full rules.

Does Degree Level Matter?

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education for compliance officers and says graduate school isn’t required. It doesn’t report pay by degree, so we won’t claim a master’s adds a set amount.

What a degree does is get you through the first screen and give you something concrete to talk about in an interview. A cybersecurity degree with governance and compliance courses is a strong fit when the employer handles sensitive systems.

Cost is the other side of the equation. Champlain College’s online M.S. in cybersecurity management lists total tuition of $18,240, and Murray State’s M.S. in cybersecurity management lists $18,180. Compared with a median year of pay of $80,730, those prices are a fraction of it. That isn’t a promise of a return, but it frames the cost.

Our online cybersecurity policy and law degrees and online cybersecurity management degrees lists show prices side by side.

How Does Compliance Pay Compare With Information Security Analysts?

Information security analysts have a national median of $129,180, compared with $80,730 for compliance officers. The gap is $48,450, or about 60 percent more at the median.

The two ranges overlap, though. The analyst 10th percentile is $75,090, which sits just below the compliance median. The analyst median of $129,180 is only $4,540 under the compliance 90th percentile of $133,720.

Put simply, a top-tier compliance officer earns about what a typical analyst does. The state picture differs as well. Washington’s analyst median is $154,940, against $88,790 for compliance officers there. In Oklahoma, analysts have a median of $94,000 against $63,000.

The jobs aren’t interchangeable. Analysts monitor and respond, and compliance officers audit and document. Our cybersecurity analyst salary page covers the analyst side in detail.

How Fast Will the Job Grow?

BLS projects 4 percent growth for compliance officers from 2025 to 2035, which it calls as fast as the average. It expects employment to rise by about 16,700 from 436,400 jobs in 2025, with about 32,700 openings each year.

That’s slower than the 21 percent BLS projects for information security analysts. It doesn’t mean pay will stay flat, but it does mean the occupation grows steadily rather than rapidly.

Large occupations also produce many openings through turnover, which helps if you’re changing careers. You aren’t betting on a small niche.

Is the Pay Worth the Training Time?

It helps to put the pay next to what it takes to qualify. BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education, so the main cost is a degree. Online master’s programs in this field list total tuition in the high teens of thousands of dollars at the lower end, as the two examples above show.

Set against a 25th percentile of $61,280 and a median of $80,730, the price is meaningful but not out of reach. A cheaper program that covers governance, risk and compliance can serve you as well as an expensive one, so compare course lists before you compare brand names.

Our cheapest online cybersecurity degrees list sorts programs by price, and the policy and management lists above show which ones put compliance coursework in the plan.

How Do You Negotiate a Compliance Offer?

You need three numbers and a reason. Know the state median from the table on this page. Know where the offer falls on the national ladder. And know what you bring that a typical hire doesn’t, such as a security background, a certification or a capstone project.

Then ask about the parts of pay that the survey doesn’t show. Training budgets, certification fees and tuition help can be worth thousands of dollars, and many employers have more room there than in base pay.

If an offer sits below the 25th percentile of $61,280 and the state median is higher, ask what the role includes. Some titles cover clerical work under a compliance name. That can still be a good start, but it should change how you weigh the offer.

Where Do You Go From Here?

If the numbers appeal, read our compliance officer career guide for the full list of duties and the degree paths that fit. If you’re comparing options, our cybersecurity salary page shows the range across security jobs.

Pick the number that matters most to you, whether it’s the median in your state or the 90th percentile you hope to reach, and work backward. That tells you what degree, credential and experience to build next.