How much do compliance managers make in 2026?
Compliance managers fall inside SOC 13-1041, the BLS compliance officers series, where OEWS May 2025 gives a national median of $80,730 a year ($38.81 an hour), with a 10th percentile near $48,220 and a 90th percentile of $133,720. The pooling is extensive — 417,070 people across environmental, financial, healthcare, licensing, transportation and government compliance, and across both officer and manager levels — so a compliance manager should read the upper half of that band rather than the midpoint. The distinction from an officer role is programme ownership: designing the compliance framework rather than executing it, setting the monitoring and testing plan, owning the risk assessment that determines where effort goes, managing compliance staff, running the relationship with regulators and auditors, and reporting to executives or a board committee on where the organisation actually stands. Pay tracks the regulatory regime first, then the size and complexity of the organisation, then whether the role carries genuine authority to stop an activity. Managers in financial services, healthcare and life sciences sit at the top of this band; general corporate and licensing compliance managers sit around its middle. Employment is projected to grow 3% through 2034 with roughly 33,300 openings a year. → Full compliance manager career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $80,730 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Compliance Managers earn a national median $80,730/yr ($38.81/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 13-1041); the P10 to P90 range is $48,220 to $133,720.
- SOC 13-1041 pools 417,070 people across every compliance discipline and both officer and manager levels, so compliance managers should read the upper half of the $48,220 to $133,720 band rather than the $80,730 midpoint.
- Programme ownership is the distinction: designing the framework, setting the monitoring plan, owning the risk assessment and managing regulator relationships rather than executing checks.
- Regime first, organisational complexity second, authority third — managers in financial services, healthcare and life sciences sit at the top of the band.
US Compliance Manager Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do compliance managers earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 13-1041; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 13-1041, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a compliance manager earn at each career stage?
Compliance management pay follows regime, organisational complexity and the authority attached to the role. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 13-1041, a very broad series covering both officer and manager tiers.
By State
Which states pay compliance managers the most in 2026?
State figures are modeled estimates — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers salary-calculator state wage index — not BLS state observations, and because they index off a pooled median that includes officer-level roles they run below manager pay. Read them as relative geography; the regulatory regime and the sector remain the dominant variables.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($92,840), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay compliance managers the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations, and they carry the same pooled-median floor. The real metro signal is where regulated institutions concentrate.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a compliance manager’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does compliance manager pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Compliance Managers sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify compliance manager wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a compliance manager actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Compliance Manager Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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