Employer demand for cybersecurity professionals across the United State continues to accelerate, according to new data published on CyberSeek, created by CompTIA and Burning Glass Technologies through a grant awarded by NIST.

Demand for cybersecurity professionals on the rise

U.S. employers in the private and public sectors posted an estimated 313,735 job openings for cybersecurity workers between September 2017 and August 2018. That’s in addition to the 715,000-plus cybersecurity workers currently employed around the country.

“Increasingly, governments and businesses are working to build better defense against cyber attacks, but training programs are simply not producing enough cybersecurity talent to keep up with demand and to keep data-driven enterprises safe,” said Matthew Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies.

The new data shows that the cybersecurity job market has tightened. Across all occupations in the U.S. economy there are currently 5.8 employed workers for every job opening. Within the cybersecurity realm, the ratio of existing cybersecurity workers to the number of cybersecurity job openings is 2.3. That means employers have fewer opportunities to “poach” cybersecurity workers from other companies; and must look to other tactics – cyber training for current workers, or attracting new talent, for example – to fill their needs for cybersecurity professionals.

The average salaries for core cybersecurity jobs range from $75,000 for a cybersecurity specialist/technician to $129,000 for a cybersecurity architect.

“Efforts to address the shortage of cybersecurity workers are underway on many fronts, but progress has been frustratingly slow,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA. “The threats are real and growing, with the potential to impact the livelihood of any organization. Our current cybersecurity workforce is doing what it can to keep us protected. It’s critical for private sector companies and public sector agencies to take the actions necessary to bring more people into the cybersecurity workforce, and to equip them with the appropriate education, training and certifications.”

In-demand cybersecurity roles

CyberSeek is aligned with NIST’s NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, providing visibility into the job roles most in demand. The latest update reveals that positions in Operate & Maintain (207,190 openings), Securely Provision (186,864), Protect & Defend (129,716), and Analyze (124,389) are the most sought after by employers.

Among specific core jobs, the top five by employer demand are cybersecurity engineer, cybersecurity analyst, cybersecurity manager/administrator, cybersecurity consultant, and penetration and vulnerability tester.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has the largest number of job openings for cybersecurity professionals (44,058). Rounding out the top five metro areas are New York City (20,243), Dallas (12,062), Chicago (11,201), and Los Angeles (10,589)