Salaries

AI Threat Modeler Salary.

Across 81 U.S. cities.

$125,000

estimated national base salary

$87,000 to $165,000. Last updated September 2026.

Orbyt prices 14 titles at this same figure, including AI Security & Red Teaming Specialist, AI Red Teamer, and AI Threat Modeler. Orbyt does not hold title-level wage data that would separate them.

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Government benchmark for this occupation

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $129,180 for Information Security Analysts (SOC 15-1212) across the United States, based on 190,650 employed workers (May 2025 release).

10th percentile

$75,090

25th percentile

$97,810

Median

$129,180

75th percentile

$163,500

90th percentile

$199,850

Workers surveyed

190,650

What BLS published in each release

May 2024 release

$124,910

May 2025 release

$129,180

These are two separate published estimates, not a time series. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not encourage the use of OEWS data for time-series analysis. Differences between releases reflect changes in occupational classification, survey methodology, and the three-year pooled sample as well as any change in pay, so the two figures should not be read as a rate of wage growth.

BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Information Security Analysts (SOC 15-1212) rather than AI Threat Modeler specifically. The national range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.

View the BLS source for SOC 15-1212

Highest Paying

$176,000

San Jose, CA

Best Purchasing Power

$130,000

Manchester, NH

Lowest Paying

$99,000

Charleston, WV

The salary figures on this page are computed estimates, not observed wages. Each one is a national role baseline scaled by a Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity cost-of-living multiplier (2025 index) and rounded to the nearest $1,000. No published wage percentile is consulted and no wage survey response enters the calculation, so an Orbyt estimate must not be cited as a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure or as measured pay. The published wage data Orbyt holds is Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and Department of Labor H-1B Labor Condition Application filings, which record a filed minimum visa base wage rather than market pay. Where BLS publishes a wage for the occupation a role maps to, it is shown on that role's page as a separate benchmark, labelled with its occupation code, metro area and the number of employed workers it covers. Last updated September 2026. This role maps to BLS occupation code 15-1212. Full methodology.

Orbyt estimates the average AI Threat Modeler salary in the United States at $125,000 in 2026, within a range of $87,000 to $165,000. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page. This figure is not specific to this title: Orbyt prices 14 titles at the same estimate. San Jose is the highest of the 81 cities at $176,000, while Manchester offers the best purchasing power after cost-of-living adjustments. Compensation is driven by expertise in identifying attack surfaces unique to AI systems and ability to design comprehensive threat models spanning data, models, and infrastructure.

AI Threat Modeler salary by city.

Salary comparison across 81 cities
CityMedianRangeCOLAdjustedRank
San Jose, CA$176,000$122,000 to $232,0001.38x$128,000#2522 of 3445
New York, NY$165,000$115,000 to $218,0001.28x$129,000#2427 of 3445
San Francisco, CA$165,000$115,000 to $218,0001.35x$122,000#2662 of 3445
Honolulu, HI$159,000$111,000 to $210,0001.30x$122,000#2660 of 3445
Boston, MA$156,000$108,000 to $205,0001.22x$128,000#2499 of 3445
Washington DC, DC$156,000$109,000 to $206,0001.25x$125,000#2633 of 3445
Seattle, WA$155,000$108,000 to $205,0001.24x$125,000#2636 of 3445
Arlington, VA$154,000$107,000 to $203,0001.22x$126,000#2613 of 3445
Newark, NJ$152,000$106,000 to $201,0001.18x$129,000#2434 of 3445
Jersey City, NJ$149,000$103,000 to $196,0001.20x$124,000#2637 of 3445
Los Angeles, CA$146,000$102,000 to $193,0001.18x$124,000#2656 of 3445
Anchorage, AK$145,000$101,000 to $192,0001.13x$128,000#2479 of 3445
Boulder, CO$142,000$99,000 to $188,0001.15x$123,000#2645 of 3445
San Diego, CA$140,000$98,000 to $185,0001.17x$120,000#2698 of 3445
Denver, CO$139,000$97,000 to $184,0001.08x$129,000#2424 of 3445
Princeton, NJ$139,000$97,000 to $184,0001.15x$121,000#2668 of 3445
Sacramento, CA$139,000$97,000 to $183,0001.10x$126,000#2600 of 3445
Manchester, NH$138,000$96,000 to $182,0001.06x$130,000#2299 of 3445
Portland, ME$135,000$94,000 to $178,0001.05x$129,000#2411 of 3445
Chicago, IL$134,000$93,000 to $177,0001.07x$125,000#2630 of 3445
Miami, FL$134,000$94,000 to $177,0001.12x$120,000#2689 of 3445
Philadelphia, PA$132,000$92,000 to $174,0001.09x$121,000#2671 of 3445
Portland, OR$132,000$92,000 to $174,0001.10x$120,000#2690 of 3445
Hartford, CT$131,000$91,000 to $173,0001.08x$121,000#2672 of 3445
Baltimore, MD$131,000$91,000 to $173,0001.08x$121,000#2680 of 3445
Austin, TX$130,000$91,000 to $172,0001.03x$126,000#2616 of 3445
Wilmington, DE$130,000$91,000 to $172,0001.02x$127,000#2509 of 3445
Ann Arbor, MI$130,000$91,000 to $172,0001.02x$127,000#2521 of 3445
Dallas, TX$129,000$90,000 to $170,0001.01x$128,000#2500 of 3445
Providence, RI$129,000$90,000 to $170,0001.04x$124,000#2644 of 3445
Atlanta, GA$128,000$89,000 to $168,0001.02x$125,000#2627 of 3445
Minneapolis, MN$127,000$89,000 to $168,0001.05x$121,000#2687 of 3445
Charleston, SC$127,000$89,000 to $168,0000.98x$130,000#2389 of 3445
Burlington, VT$127,000$89,000 to $168,0001.06x$120,000#2693 of 3445
Virginia Beach, VA$126,000$88,000 to $167,0000.98x$129,000#2405 of 3445
Nashville, TN$124,000$86,000 to $163,0001.00x$124,000#2641 of 3445
Raleigh, NC$124,000$86,000 to $163,0000.99x$125,000#2627 of 3445
Charlotte, NC$122,000$85,000 to $162,0000.97x$126,000#2608 of 3445
Tampa, FL$122,000$85,000 to $162,0000.96x$127,000#2588 of 3445
Houston, TX$121,000$84,000 to $160,0000.97x$125,000#2637 of 3445
Richmond, VA$121,000$84,000 to $160,0001.01x$120,000#2679 of 3445
Boise, ID$120,000$83,000 to $158,0000.95x$126,000#2590 of 3445
Phoenix, AZ$119,000$83,000 to $157,0000.96x$124,000#2638 of 3445
Albany, NY$119,000$83,000 to $157,0000.96x$124,000#2643 of 3445
Madison, WI$119,000$83,000 to $157,0000.95x$125,000#2627 of 3445
Salt Lake City, UT$118,000$82,000 to $155,0000.98x$120,000#2688 of 3445
Pittsburgh, PA$118,000$82,000 to $156,0000.92x$128,000#2482 of 3445
New Orleans, LA$118,000$82,000 to $156,0000.92x$128,000#2486 of 3445
Reno, NV$118,000$82,000 to $155,0000.96x$123,000#2654 of 3445
Milwaukee, WI$117,000$82,000 to $155,0000.91x$129,000#2397 of 3445
San Antonio, TX$117,000$82,000 to $155,0000.91x$129,000#2406 of 3445
Columbus, OH$116,000$81,000 to $153,0000.93x$125,000#2620 of 3445
Las Vegas, NV$115,000$80,000 to $152,0000.96x$120,000#2688 of 3445
Cincinnati, OH$115,000$80,000 to $151,0000.90x$128,000#2497 of 3445
North Charleston, SC$115,000$80,000 to $152,0000.94x$122,000#2667 of 3445
Columbus, OH$114,000$79,000 to $150,0000.93x$123,000#2658 of 3445
Indianapolis, IN$114,000$79,000 to $150,0000.91x$125,000#2626 of 3445
Orlando, FL$114,000$79,000 to $150,0000.95x$120,000#2688 of 3445
Spokane, WA$114,000$79,000 to $150,0000.92x$124,000#2640 of 3445
Detroit, MI$113,000$78,000 to $149,0000.90x$126,000#2627 of 3445
Kansas City, MO$112,000$78,000 to $147,0000.93x$120,000#2685 of 3445
St. Louis, MO$111,000$78,000 to $147,0000.90x$123,000#2647 of 3445
Louisville, KY$111,000$77,000 to $147,0000.88x$126,000#2605 of 3445
Knoxville, TN$110,000$77,000 to $145,0000.89x$124,000#2656 of 3445
Lexington, KY$109,000$76,000 to $143,0000.86x$127,000#2599 of 3445
Des Moines, IA$109,000$76,000 to $143,0000.86x$127,000#2601 of 3445
Des Moines, IA$108,000$75,000 to $142,0000.86x$126,000#2614 of 3445
Omaha, NE$108,000$75,000 to $142,0000.88x$123,000#2655 of 3445
Baton Rouge, LA$108,000$75,000 to $142,0000.88x$123,000#2665 of 3445
Columbia, SC$108,000$75,000 to $143,0000.90x$120,000#2691 of 3445
Sioux Falls, SD$107,000$75,000 to $142,0000.85x$126,000#2621 of 3445
Albuquerque, NM$106,000$73,000 to $139,0000.88x$120,000#2686 of 3445
Fargo, ND$104,000$72,000 to $137,0000.85x$122,000#2661 of 3445
Oklahoma City, OK$104,000$72,000 to $137,0000.84x$124,000#2640 of 3445
Cheyenne, WY$104,000$73,000 to $138,0000.87x$120,000#2682 of 3445
Birmingham, AL$102,000$71,000 to $134,0000.84x$121,000#2675 of 3445
Jackson, MS$101,000$70,000 to $133,0000.79x$128,000#2490 of 3445
Tulsa, OK$101,000$70,000 to $133,0000.83x$122,000#2667 of 3445
Little Rock, AR$100,000$70,000 to $133,0000.82x$122,000#2678 of 3445
Wichita, KS$99,000$69,000 to $131,0000.82x$121,000#2684 of 3445
Charleston, WV$99,000$69,000 to $131,0000.78x$127,000#2601 of 3445

Skills that increase AI Threat Modeler pay.

The premiums below are Orbyt's modelled scenarios for AI Threat Modelers, not effects measured from job postings: each is a fixed percentage applied to the estimated base. At the top premium that works out to $17,500 a year.

LLM Fine-Tuning+14%

≈ +$17,500 per year

Reinforcement Learning+13%

≈ +$16,250 per year

CUDA+12%

≈ +$15,000 per year

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)+11%

≈ +$13,750 per year

Transformers+10%

≈ +$12,500 per year

Rust+10%

≈ +$12,500 per year

Vector Databases+10%

≈ +$12,500 per year

PyTorch+9%

≈ +$11,250 per year

What you should know.

Compensation is driven by expertise in identifying attack surfaces unique to AI systems and ability to design comprehensive threat models spanning data, models, and infrastructure. Threat modelers covering the full AI supply chain from training data to inference endpoints earn top compensation. Experience with STRIDE, MITRE ATLAS, and custom AI threat frameworks is highly valued.

Junior AI security analysts start at $115,000 to $135,000 conducting structured threat assessments. Mid-level threat modelers leading system-level analysis earn $155,000 to $180,000. Senior modelers architecting enterprise AI security strategy reach $210,000 to $235,000, with chief AI security architects at $265,000 to $310,000.

Bonuses of 15 to 22% are standard, with additional compensation for threat intelligence contributions and security framework development. Equity at AI security startups can be substantial, representing 20 to 40% of total compensation.

Total compensation breakdown.

Base Salary
$125,000
Equity / Year
$63,000
Annual Bonus
15%
$19,000
Signing Bonus
$18,000
Total Comp
$207,000

Salary by company size

Startup
< 50 employees
$113,000
Growth
50-500 employees
$119,000
Scale-up
500-5K employees
$125,000
Public
5K+ employees
$150,000

Remote salary adjustment

Remote AI Threat Modelers typically earn $116,000 (7% less than on-site). This reflects location-adjusted pay policies at companies using geographic salary bands. Some companies pay flat national rates regardless of location.

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Related.

Common questions about AI Threat Modeler pay.

Orbyt estimates the national median AI Threat Modeler salary at $125,000 in 2026, within a range of $87,000 to $165,000. This is a computed estimate, not a measured wage. Where you land depends on your experience, skills, the company's size, and your location.

Entry level AI Threat Modelers (0 to 2 years) typically earn $81,000 to $100,000. Mid level (3 to 5 years) run $106,000 to $131,000. Senior (6 to 9 years) reach $138,000 to $163,000, and lead level (10 plus years) $156,000 to $194,000.

Entry level AI Threat Modeler roles start around $81,000 to $100,000. Candidates with strong internships, certifications, or portfolio work often negotiate toward the national median of $125,000.

With a national median of $125,000 and senior pay reaching $163,000 to $194,000, AI Threat Modeler is a well compensated field. Pay varies by city, so compare cost of living adjusted numbers before judging any single offer.

Bonuses of 15 to 22% are standard, with additional compensation for threat intelligence contributions and security framework development. Equity at AI security startups can be substantial, representing 20 to 40% of total compensation.

Junior AI security analysts start at $115,000 to $135,000 conducting structured threat assessments. Mid-level threat modelers leading system-level analysis earn $155,000 to $180,000. Senior modelers architecting enterprise AI security strategy reach $210,000 to $235,000, with chief AI security architects at $265,000 to $310,000.

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