Why Your Clearance Is Worth Money
Obtaining a new security clearance costs the government $30,000 to $150,000+ depending on the level, takes 6 to 24 months, and is increasingly difficult to obtain. The fact that you already hold an active clearance makes you immediately valuable to contractors and agencies that need cleared personnel - which is most of the defense and intelligence community.
The 24-month "brief" window after separation is critical. During this period your clearance remains in a status that allows contractors to bring you on without a new investigation. After 24 months, reinvestigation may be required. This is one of the strongest reasons to begin your cleared job search before separation, not after.
Salary Premium by Clearance Level
These premiums represent additional annual compensation compared to an uncleared worker in the same role and location. Technical fields (cyber, engineering, signals intelligence) typically land at the high end of each range. Operations and logistics roles land at the lower end.
Confidential
$5,000–$10,000 annual premium
Limited access. Rarely standalone value for cleared contracting. Still useful for some DoD civilian roles.
Investigation Type
Basic background investigation
Background check, employment history, criminal check
Secret
$10,000–$20,000 annual premium
The most common clearance level. Required for many defense contractor and government IT roles. Significant value across logistics, IT, operations, and security fields.
Investigation Type
Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) lite
Credit check, employment history, references, criminal, foreign contacts
Top Secret (TS)
$20,000–$35,000 annual premium
Major salary premium. Opens doors to senior defense contractor, intelligence community, and DoD civilian positions. Required for most sensitive government IT and program management roles.
Investigation Type
Full SSBI - 12-18 month process, $30,000-$60,000 government cost
All Secret checks plus deep financial history, expanded foreign contacts, in-person interviews
Top Secret / SCI
$35,000–$60,000+ annual premium
The most valuable clearance in the civilian market. Opens intelligence community, NSA, CIA, and senior contractor positions. In technical fields (cyber, SIGINT), the premium can exceed $80,000 over uncleared equivalents.
Investigation Type
Full SSBI + polygraph in most cases, $80,000-$150,000 government cost
All TS checks plus compartmented program access, polygraph examination, psychological evaluation
TS/SCI + Full Scope Poly (FSP)
$50,000–$100,000+ annual premium
The highest-value clearance combination. Required for NSA, CIA, and most signals intelligence and counterintelligence contractor roles. Extremely rare - fewer than 1% of cleared workforce holds this. Premium in technical roles can be extraordinary.
Investigation Type
Most rigorous investigation process, multiple polygraphs, extensive psychological evaluation
Lifestyle polygraph covering all aspects of personal life and history
Salary Premium by Industry
Defense Contracting
Highest overall premium. Companies like Booz Allen, SAIC, and Leidos price cleared talent at a significant markup. TS/SCI + technical skills can reach $180,000-$220,000 at senior levels.
Financial Services
Banks and hedge funds increasingly hire cleared veterans for cybersecurity, fraud analysis, and risk management. TS/SCI adds $25,000-$45,000 over uncleared equivalents in these roles.
Federal Government (GS)
GS pay is fixed by grade - clearance does not directly increase base pay. However, clearance opens access to higher-grade positions and special pay programs in the intelligence community.
Technology Companies
Tech companies with government contracts (Amazon AWS GovCloud, Microsoft Azure Government, Google Public Sector) pay significant premiums for cleared technical talent.
How to Use Your Clearance in Salary Negotiations
Most veterans do not explicitly mention or negotiate around their clearance value. This is a significant mistake. When receiving a job offer in the cleared space, you can and should reference the market rate for cleared personnel in your role and location as the basis for your counter-offer.
Resources to research cleared salary data: ClearanceJobs.com salary survey, Glassdoor filtered by clearance level, LinkedIn Salary filtered by security clearance requirement, and AFCEA's annual compensation survey.
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