{"h1":"Best cities for security jobs","faq":[{"a":"San Francisco has the most openings in this job family in the United States: 317 openings.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for security jobs?"},{"a":"20 cities have at least 50 openings, so the list has 20 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"A city is ranked on the number of its open professional roles in this job family, as classed from the posting title and text. Median pay uses only listings that post a salary, shown where at least 8 do. Only roles verified on the employer's own career site in the last week are counted. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"San Francisco has the most openings in this job family in the United States: 317 openings.","minN":50,"rows":[{"n":317,"key":"CA|san francisco","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-francisco","name":"San Francisco","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"3%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$250k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"11,776"}],"value":317,"change":null,"employers":["OpenAI","Anthropic","University Of California San Francisco Foundation"],"valueLabel":"317 openings"},{"n":284,"key":"NY|new york","sub":"NY","href":"/places/new-york/city/new-york","name":"New York","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"1%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$223k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"20,409"}],"value":284,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Publicis Groupe","Morgan Stanley"],"valueLabel":"284 openings"},{"n":202,"key":"DC|washington","sub":"DC","href":"/places/district-of-columbia/city/washington","name":"Washington","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"5%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$166k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"4,428"}],"value":202,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","Shield AI","CACI International"],"valueLabel":"202 openings"},{"n":178,"key":"WA|seattle","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/seattle","name":"Seattle","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"3%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$201k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"5,346"}],"value":178,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Blue Origin","Shield AI"],"valueLabel":"178 openings"},{"n":117,"key":"TX|austin","sub":"TX","href":"/places/texas/city/austin","name":"Austin","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"2%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$186k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"5,890"}],"value":117,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Advanced Micro Devices","Cloudflare"],"valueLabel":"117 openings"},{"n":115,"key":"IL|chicago","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/chicago","name":"Chicago","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"2%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$140k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"7,616"}],"value":115,"change":null,"employers":["Publicis Groupe","Northern Trust","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"115 openings"},{"n":112,"key":"GA|atlanta","sub":"GA","href":"/places/georgia/city/atlanta","name":"Atlanta","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"2%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$153k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"5,501"}],"value":112,"change":null,"employers":["Emory University","Oxford College of Emory University","Capgemini Invent"],"valueLabel":"112 openings"},{"n":108,"key":"VA|arlington","sub":"VA","href":"/places/virginia/city/arlington","name":"Arlington","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"5%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$140k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"1,978"}],"value":108,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","AWS","Bloomberg Industry Group"],"valueLabel":"108 openings"},{"n":84,"key":"VA|herndon","sub":"VA","href":"/places/virginia/city/herndon","name":"Herndon","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"10%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$179k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"820"}],"value":84,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","AWS","Peraton"],"valueLabel":"84 openings"},{"n":80,"key":"NC|charlotte","sub":"NC","href":"/places/north-carolina/city/charlotte","name":"Charlotte","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"3%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$171k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"3,199"}],"value":80,"change":null,"employers":["Truist Financial","Scout Motors","SMBC Americas"],"valueLabel":"80 openings"},{"n":76,"key":"VA|mclean","sub":"VA","href":"/places/virginia/city/mclean","name":"McLean","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"7%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"Not enough pay data"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"1,167"}],"value":76,"change":null,"employers":["Capital One","The MITRE","Steampunk"],"valueLabel":"76 openings"},{"n":64,"key":"MA|boston","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/boston","name":"Boston","rank":12,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"1%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$183k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"5,086"}],"value":64,"change":null,"employers":["Vertex Pharmaceuticals","State Street","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"64 openings"},{"n":64,"key":"CA|los angeles","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/los-angeles","name":"Los Angeles","rank":13,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"1%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$180k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"5,100"}],"value":64,"change":null,"employers":["K2 Space","Cedars-sinai Medical Center","Apex Space"],"valueLabel":"64 openings"},{"n":61,"key":"TX|dallas","sub":"TX","href":"/places/texas/city/dallas","name":"Dallas","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"1%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$187k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"4,379"}],"value":61,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Shield AI","Texas Instruments"],"valueLabel":"61 openings"},{"n":59,"key":"CO|denver","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/denver","name":"Denver","rank":15,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"2%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$177k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"2,885"}],"value":59,"change":null,"employers":["True Anomaly","Blue Origin","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"59 openings"},{"n":58,"key":"OH|columbus","sub":"OH","href":"/places/ohio/city/columbus","name":"Columbus","rank":16,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"3%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$121k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"1,941"}],"value":58,"change":null,"employers":["Nationwide Children's Hospital","State of Ohio","Nationwide"],"valueLabel":"58 openings"},{"n":53,"key":"VA|chantilly","sub":"VA","href":"/places/virginia/city/chantilly","name":"Chantilly","rank":17,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"10%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"Not enough pay data"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"554"}],"value":53,"change":null,"employers":["CACI International","Trinzic","Peraton"],"valueLabel":"53 openings"},{"n":51,"key":"CA|san jose","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-jose","name":"San Jose","rank":18,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"2%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$242k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"2,383"}],"value":51,"change":null,"employers":["Super Micro Computer","Advanced Micro Devices","Cisco Systems"],"valueLabel":"51 openings"},{"n":51,"key":"CA|sunnyvale","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/sunnyvale","name":"Sunnyvale","rank":19,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"3%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$203k"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"1,555"}],"value":51,"change":null,"employers":["Applied Intuition","Wayve","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"51 openings"},{"n":50,"key":"CO|colorado springs","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/colorado-springs","name":"Colorado Springs","rank":20,"stats":[{"label":"Share of the city's openings","value":"7%"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"Not enough pay data"},{"label":"All openings in the city","value":"691"}],"value":50,"change":null,"employers":["Northrop Grumman","Trinzic","Odyssey Systems Consulting"],"valueLabel":"50 openings"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-security-jobs","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"us","kind":"national","name":"United States"},"title":"Best cities for security jobs","family":"Job families","method":["A city is ranked on the number of its open professional roles in this job family, as classed from the posting title and text. Median pay uses only listings that post a salary, shown where at least 8 do.","Only roles verified on the employer's own career site in the last week are counted.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-02T22:06:17.622Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"fnopen","sources":["NextChapter job data: open professional roles on employer career sites, verified in the last week"],"baseline":null,"keyFacts":["#1 San Francisco, CA: 317 openings","#2 New York, NY: 284 openings","#3 Washington, DC: 202 openings","20 cities ranked in the United States","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The lead is wide: San Francisco (317 openings) is well clear of Charlotte at #10 (80 openings).","San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 317 openings behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 50 openings are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-security-jobs"}