Digital forensics salary: $174K median
The median advertised Digital forensics salary is $174K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $142K to $222K: counted from 63 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $84 an hour or $14,542 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $295K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Digital forensics jobs
$174Kmedian advertised salary
$142K – $222Kmiddle half of roles
$189Kaverage advertised salary
63roles counted
Digital forensics salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $205K, 12% more than senior roles ($184K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $184K | $156K–$198K | 24 |
| Lead and above | $205K | $155K–$300K | 15 |
| No level in the title | $164K | $113K–$209K | 23 |
Digital forensics salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $222K | 19 |
| 🇺🇸California | $199K | 24 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $176K | 62 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $163K | 20 |
Skills that pay more for Digital forensics roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLP | $219K | +$44K | 6 |
| SOAR | $210K | +$36K | 9 |
| Kubernetes | $209K | +$34K | 9 |
| Terraform | $198K | +$24K | 8 |
| SQL | $198K | +$24K | 10 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Samsara | $198K | 3 |
| Rocket Lab | $165K | 3 |
| Charles River Associates | $141K | 9 |
Highest-paying open Digital forensics roles
All Digital forensics jobs- Senior Global Security InvestigatorOpenAI · 🇺🇸US - Remote$230K - $500KRemoteSeniorSecurity clearanceThreat intelligenceSIEM
- Security Lead, Product and Infrastructure (InfoSec)River AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KLead and aboveDeep learningIncident responseIAM
- Senior Security Engineer - Detection & ResponseLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$266K - $395KHybridSeniorRustGoPython
- Director of Detection and ResponseHarvey · 🇺🇸San Francisco$280K - $385KHybridLead and aboveIncident responseThreat intelligenceDigital forensics
- Director of Detection and ResponseHarvey · 🇺🇸New York$280K - $385KHybridLead and aboveIncident responseThreat intelligenceDigital forensics
- Head of Corporate InvestigationsOKX · 🇺🇸New York, United States$240K - $361KLead and aboveDigital forensicsLitigationBar admission
- Security Engineer - Incident ResponseReplit · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$230K - $360KHybridGoPythonGCP
- Senior Security Engineer, Detection & ResponseBlock · 🇺🇸Bay Area, CA, United States of America$185K - $327KSeniorPythonSQLIncident response
- Senior Manager, Security Incident ResponseAffirm · 🇺🇸Remote US$265K - $325KRemoteSeniorIncident responseThreat intelligenceSIEM
- Security Engineer, Detection and ResponseFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $300KRustGoPython
- Sr. Software Engineer — SecuritySnorkel AI · 🇺🇸New York City, NY (Hybrid); San Francisco, CA (Hybrid)$220K - $300KHybridSeniorGoPythonTerraform
- Policy Design Manager, Integrity and AuthenticityAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Washington, DC$245K - $285KLLMGenerative AIVulnerability management
- Security Engineer, Detection and ResponseNotion · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California$185K - $280KHybridPythonSQLGCP
- Staff Corporate Security EngineerAirwallex · 🇺🇸US - San Francisco$175K - $270KHybridLead and abovePythonGCPBash
- Detection and Response EngineerModal · 🇺🇸New York$150K - $270KSQLLLMLinux
- Director, Security, Investigations, and IntelligenceSpaceX · 🇺🇸Washington, DC$225K - $265KLead and aboveSAPSecurity clearanceApplication security
- Staff Detection & Response EngineerTypeface · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$210K - $240KLead and abovePythonGCPAzure
- Senior Security Engineer - Threat DetectionSamsara · 🇺🇸Remote - Dallas$158K - $238KRemoteSeniorGoPythonSQL
- Senior Security Engineer - Threat DetectionSamsara · 🇺🇸Remote - CA$158K - $238KRemoteSeniorGoPythonSQL
- Director, Threat Detection & ResponseNAB NorthAB · 🇺🇸US - Remote$175K - $235KRemoteLead and aboveGCPAzureLinux
Questions about Digital forensics pay
- What is the average Digital forensics salary?
- $189K a year on average and $174K at the median, across 63 open Digital forensics postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $142K to $222K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Digital forensics pay?
- Samsara ($198K), Rocket Lab ($165K), Charles River Associates ($141K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a digital forensics a high-paying job?
- The median Digital forensics posting advertises $174K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 0% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a digital forensics?
- A tenth of the postings offer $295K a year or more; the highest open Digital forensics role advertises up to $500K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Digital forensics salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $174K a year is about $84 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $14,542 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $69 to $107 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Digital forensics roles?
- Postings that ask for DLP (+$44K, 6 postings), SOAR (+$36K, 9 postings), Kubernetes (+$34K, 9 postings) advertise more than the $174K median of all Digital forensics postings with pay.
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Digital forensics roles at companies is $174K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $142K to $222K. Counted from 63 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/digital-forensics/
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