Numbers | Security Clearances Worth an Extra $19k per Year?

Security-cleared employees earn an average of 22 percent ($19,138 per year) more than their non-cleared counterparts, according to a salary survey done by a recruiting website for professionals with U.S. security clearances.

The findings are part of the annual salary survey of security clearance and government jobs done by ClearanceJobs.com. (ClearanceJobs is owned by Dice Holdings, also the parent company of tech-oriented career site Dice.com.) The results, released in late March, explore the highest salaries of security-cleared government employees according to criteria that include job category, state, region and clearance level.

The five highest paying job categories employees include:

* IT Management Executive: $116, 935 (cleared); $86, 179 (un-cleared)

* Database Admin-Oracle: $101,905 (cleared); $75,000 (un-cleared)

* IT management project manager: $100,089 (cleared); $75,000 (un-cleared)

* Project/program management: $94,231 (cleared); $57,549 (un-cleared)

* Systems engineer: $93, 202 (cleared); $60,000 (un-cleared)

The biggest winners in this year’s survey? Employees in Massachusetts, where security-cleared employees saw close to a ten percent increase in yearly average salaries since last surveyed. Data from ClearanceJobs.com, the Worcester Business Journal, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development indicate that Massachusetts companies rank eighth highest among states in U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security contract awards, with Waltham-based Raytheon taking top spot.

The five highest average salaries by state:

* Washington, D.C.: $80,380 (2 percent increase over last survey)

* Virginia: $78,043: (2.5 percent increase)

* New Jersey: $76,556: (2 percent increase)

* Colorado: $74,448 (6 percent increase)

* Massachusetts: $73,750: (10 percent increase)