How much do risk managers make in 2026?
This page maps risk manager to the BLS financial risk specialists series, where OEWS May 2025 reports a national median of $117,330 a year ($56.41 an hour), a 10th percentile near $64,820 and a 90th percentile of $196,110. The match is close for financial risk work and looser for everything else, which is worth saying plainly: SOC 13-2054 counts 63,850 people concentrated in banking, insurance and financial services, where risk management is a quantitative discipline covering credit, market, liquidity and model risk under regulatory frameworks. Operational, enterprise and insurable risk management in other sectors — manufacturing, healthcare, retail, energy — is a related but distinct job, typically covering business continuity, insurance programme management, safety and property exposure, vendor and supply risk and enterprise risk registers, and it generally pays below the financial-sector figures here. Within either variant, pay tracks sector, quantitative depth and regulatory exposure: risk managers who build and defend models, or who own a regulated framework a supervisor will examine, sit well above those who maintain registers. Employment is projected to grow 6.5% through 2034 with roughly 4,800 openings a year. → Full risk manager career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $117,330 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Risk Managers earn a national median $117,330/yr ($56.41/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 13-2054); the P10 to P90 range is $64,820 to $196,110.
- The $117,330 median is from the BLS financial risk specialists series, a 63,850-person row concentrated in banking, insurance and financial services — a close match for financial risk work and a loose one for operational or enterprise risk elsewhere.
- Operational, insurable and enterprise risk management in non-financial sectors is a related but distinct discipline and generally pays below these figures.
- Quantitative depth and regulatory exposure are the pay levers: building and defending models, or owning a framework a supervisor will examine, pays well above maintaining a risk register.
US Risk Manager Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do risk 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 13-2054; 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 13-2054, 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 risk manager earn at each career stage?
Risk pay follows discipline, quantitative depth and regulatory exposure. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 13-2054, a financial-sector series.
By State
Which states pay risk 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. For risk roles the sector effect dominates geography: a financial-sector risk manager will out-earn an enterprise risk manager in general industry in the same city, and the financial centres pay above the national picture for the same reason they concentrate the work.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($134,930), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay risk managers the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations. Financial centres genuinely pay above the national figure for risk roles, because that is where regulated institutions and the associated supervisory scrutiny are concentrated.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a risk 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 risk manager pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Risk 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 risk manager wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a risk 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
Risk Manager Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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