A certification costs real money and real evenings, so the only question worth answering is which ones sit next to the best paid work. Every number below names its source and its date. Where no credible source publishes a figure, this post carries no figure rather than an invented one, and says so.
Start With the Official Wage Data
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is the only source here collected from employers rather than from a voluntary survey, so it is the right place to anchor expectations.
| Occupation | Median annual wage, May 2024 | Projected growth, 2024 to 2034 |
|---|---|---|
| Software developers | $133,080 | 15% |
| Information security analysts | $124,910 | 29% |
| All computer and IT occupations | $105,990 | Much faster than average |
| All US occupations, for comparison | $49,500 | Not stated |
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, page last modified August 28, 2025. Detail pages for software developers and information security analysts. BLS publishes no growth percentage for IT occupations as a group, only the descriptor, so none is shown here.
BLS also projects about 317,700 openings a year across computer and IT occupations over the decade, counting both growth and people leaving the field. (US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024 to 2034)
The Top-Paying Certifications
For certification-specific pay, the most widely cited source is Skillsoft, which acquired Global Knowledge and now publishes the IT Skills and Salary survey. Read it as a signal rather than a promise: these are self-reported US salaries from a voluntary survey, and a certification needs at least 40 responses to qualify for the list.
| # | Certification | Average US salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AWS Certified Security - Specialty | $203,597 |
| 2 | Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect | $190,204 |
| 3 | Nutanix Certified Professional Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI) v6.5 | $175,409 |
| 4 | CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) | $171,524 |
| 5 | CCNP Security | $168,159 |
| 6 | CISSP | $168,060 |
| 7 | CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure | $166,524 |
| 8 | CRISC | $165,890 |
Source: Skillsoft, "20+ Top-Paying IT Certifications", published October 24, 2024, drawing on the 2024 IT Skills and Salary Report. United States figures, self-reported. This is the freshest edition Skillsoft has published, so treat the figures as roughly two years old.
Security and cloud architecture take seven of the eight places. Worth noting for anyone who has read an older version of this article: AWS Solutions Architect Professional does not appear on Skillsoft's list at all. The Associate does, at $155,597, in fourteenth place. (Skillsoft, October 2024)
How Much More Does a Certification Actually Pay?
This section used to say 25 to 40 percent. That number is gone, because we could not trace it to a certifying body, an analyst firm or a government source. No source we would stand behind publishes a like-for-like premium comparing certified and non-certified people in the same role, at the same experience level, in the same region, and the surveys that appear to are comparing people who chose to certify against people who did not, which measures ambition alongside the credential.
A different question does have a real answer: what happened to people after they certified. Pearson VUE surveyed 23,714 candidates across 150 countries who sat exams between March 2023 and March 2024, and found that 32 percent received a salary increase after earning their certification. Most of those raises fell between 6 and 20 percent, and 31 percent of the people who got one got more than 20 percent. Of those who got a raise, 56 percent had it within three months. (Pearson VUE 2025 Value of IT Certification Candidate Report)
Read that carefully, because the honest reading is narrower than the headline: roughly two in three candidates did not get a raise in that window. Certification is a strong move with a real hit rate, not a guaranteed one.
Interactive Tool
See what the certifications you are considering report for the roles they lead to, cited to each certification's own source:
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Why Cloud and Security Sit at the Top
- The demand is measured, not assumed. BLS projects information security analyst employment to grow 29 percent between 2024 and 2034, with about 16,000 openings a year. (US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024 to 2034)
- Security hiring outruns security supply. CyberSeek counted 514,359 online cybersecurity job openings nationally over May 2024 to April 2025, against a workforce of 1,337,400, a supply-to-demand ratio of 74 percent. (CyberSeek, funded by NIST and NICE, data for May 2024 to April 2025)
- Almost no estate is a single cloud. Flexera puts 73 percent of organizations on hybrid estates, with 33 percent running multiple public and multiple private clouds. Architects get hired to work across platforms, not inside one. (Flexera 2026 State of the Cloud Report, March 2026)
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The certification at the top of the list is rarely the right first one. AWS Certified Security - Specialty leads Skillsoft's table precisely because the people holding it already have years of security work behind them. That number describes them, not the exam.
Early in your career, an associate-level cloud certification is the usual first rung. Mid-career, a professional-level certification or CISSP is what opens the senior security and architecture ladders. Already senior, a specialty is the differentiator.
You will notice we publish no study-hour estimates. How long an exam takes you depends on what you already know, and no source publishes an honest average, so we would only be making one up.
Keep Reading
- Is IT Certification Worth It in 2026? How to run the ROI on your own numbers
- AWS vs Azure vs GCP: Which Cloud Certification? An honest platform comparison
- Try the Salary Calculator: reported pay for the roles each certification leads to, with the source behind every figure
- Browse All Certifications: exam details and official vendor links
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Computer and Information Technology Occupations. Wages May 2024, projections 2024 to 2034. Page last modified August 28, 2025.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts. 2024 to 2034.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers. 2024 to 2034.
- Skillsoft, 20+ Top-Paying IT Certifications, published October 24, 2024, from the 2024 IT Skills and Salary Report. United States, self-reported.
- Pearson VUE 2025 Value of IT Certification Candidate Report. 23,714 candidates in 150 countries who tested between March 2023 and March 2024.
- CyberSeek, funded by NIST and NICE with data from Lightcast and CompTIA. National figures for May 2024 to April 2025.
- Flexera 2026 State of the Cloud Report, March 2026.
Every figure on this page is attributed above. Where no source publishes a defensible number, this post carries no number rather than an estimate.
Hero photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
