Got Clearance? Got More Money

IT professionals holding an active federal security clearance maintained a compensatory advantage over their not-cleared counterparts. Some security-cleared IT professionals earn as much as 12 percent more in salary, according to a survey by ClearanceJobs.com.

The 2010 compensation survey found that overall, professionals holding an active security clearance had average earnings of $92,368. California-based security-cleared professionals top the list as the highest-earners, receoving an average of more than $98,968 a year. Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based professionals with security clearances came in a close second, with average earnings of $98,542.

"The government plans to take on more than 270,000 new employees over the next few years -- about 40,000 of those in D.C.," the survey states. "That surging demand will definitely impact security-cleared professionals locally and nationally as both agencies and contractors fight for talent."

The highest premiums for security-cleared IT professions were desktop support specialists, which earned 12 percent more, and IT managers (CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, etc.), which garnered a 10 percent higher salary over their non-cleared counterparts. Ten of the 12 IT professions studied showed salary premiums attributable to holding a security clearance, including project managers (5 percent), programmers (5 percent), systems administrators (4 percent), business analysts (3 percent), and software engineers (3 percent).

Cleared IT professionals in Washington, D.C. and San Diego earn at least 20 percent more than their non-cleared counterparts, ClearanceJobs.com found. For metropolitan areas that are dominated by other industries, such as finance in New York and broader technology in Silicon Valley, salary differences were indistinguishable for cleared and non-cleared technology professionals, the survey found.

The survey also found that 62 percent of security-cleared professionals are satisfied with their jobs, with the highest satisfaction coming from employees and contractors working at intelligence communities like the CIA and FBI, and the lowest satisfaction coming from employees at the Homeland Security Department.

Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.