Career Atlas
Computer & Math

Penetration Testers

SOC 15-1212

Hack into systems with permission to find vulnerabilities before attackers do.

Median pay
$129k
$98k to $164k typical range
Outlook
Growing fast
16k openings / yr
Education
Bachelor's
AI exposure
87%
modeled estimate · 74th pct in Microsoft's data
Future-proof
72/100

Key skills

Where this ranks

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Pay and outlook from BLS (OEWS 2025, Employment Projections 2024-2034). Skills and work activities from O*NET 30.3. AI exposure and future-proof scores are modeled estimates. How we model AI exposure.