2027 Salary Guide · Legal & Compliance
A compliance officer at the national midpoint earned $80,730 in May 2025, which works out to about $86,000 for 2027. Read that number as a blend: the BLS occupation also includes government licensing examiners, environmental compliance inspectors, equal opportunity officers and customs brokers, alongside corporate compliance staff.
Inside the BLS number
O*NET splits the BLS occupation into detailed titles. Their pay is not published separately, so the national median mixes all of them.
Compliance analysts and officers at banks, insurers, health systems and other companies who maintain policies, train staff, monitor activity and investigate problems.
Staff who prepare product submissions and keep products in line with regulators such as the FDA. See the regulatory affairs specialist page for that title.
Licensing examiners, government property inspectors and investigators, and environmental compliance inspectors. O*NET's sample titles for the core occupation include driver license examiner and licensing analyst.
Staff who investigate discrimination complaints and monitor equal employment programs.
Both are classified in this occupation too, one more reason to read the median as a blend rather than a corporate compliance figure.
Pay distribution
Half of compliance officers earned between $61,280 and $109,010. The top tenth earned more than $133,720. People who run a compliance program are usually classified as compliance managers, a separate and higher-paid BLS group, so they are not in this chart.
Typical for the Compliance Officer title: $61,280 to $109,010 (25th to 75th percentile of Compliance Officers)
| Percentile | BLS, May 2025 | 2027 planning estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $48,220 | $51,500 |
| 25th percentile | $61,280 | $65,000 |
| Median | $80,730 | $86,000 |
| 75th percentile | $109,010 | $116,000 |
| 90th percentile | $133,720 | $142,000 |
Local pay
Five metros have medians above $100,000: the San Francisco Bay Area ($118,890), Boston ($103,940), San Diego, New York City and Washington, DC. New York is the largest market, with about 23,380 compliance officers. Nashville ($62,210) and Pittsburgh ($70,560) are at the bottom of the list.
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Bay Area | $118,890 +47% | $64,850 – $179,150 | 7,500 |
| Boston | $103,940 +29% | $65,040 – $162,390 | 10,920 |
| San Diego | $101,230 +25% | $57,050 – $148,470 | 6,120 |
| New York City | $101,050 +25% | $58,990 – $160,670 | 23,380 |
| Washington, DC | $100,200 +24% | $60,710 – $148,700 | 13,820 |
| Seattle | $95,850 +19% | $63,510 – $149,050 | 6,440 |
| Los Angeles | $94,810 +17% | $55,740 – $146,350 | 17,700 |
| Hartford | $93,890 +16% | $59,120 – $135,190 | 1,390 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | $91,150 +13% | $57,710 – $134,930 | 4,610 |
| Providence | $87,620 +9% | $56,070 – $133,490 | 1,480 |
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | $86,720 +7% | $48,490 – $141,780 | 3,240 |
| Portland | $86,600 +7% | $55,500 – $132,700 | 3,090 |
| Denver | $83,580 +4% | $60,990 – $136,870 | 4,830 |
| Philadelphia | $83,000 +3% | $51,680 – $134,500 | 8,370 |
| Buffalo | $82,450 +2% | $48,290 – $120,470 | 2,180 |
| Chicago | $82,020 +2% | $52,720 – $133,490 | 8,320 |
| Detroit | $81,250 +1% | $49,090 – $122,830 | 5,180 |
| Albany | $81,190 +1% | $56,530 – $125,560 | 1,710 |
| Baltimore | $80,520 +-0% | $55,710 – $128,610 | 5,030 |
| Miami | $79,770 -1% | $45,880 – $127,940 | 10,530 |
| Raleigh | $79,570 -1% | $48,770 – $132,180 | 2,200 |
| Houston | $78,860 -2% | $45,170 – $132,850 | 8,450 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | $77,760 -4% | $47,320 – $132,830 | 12,530 |
| Tampa | $75,920 -6% | $46,090 – $125,430 | 4,110 |
| Phoenix | $74,240 -8% | $47,920 – $129,570 | 7,980 |
| Atlanta | $72,810 -10% | $45,760 – $141,150 | 9,170 |
| Austin | $70,720 -12% | $47,610 – $119,530 | 3,670 |
| Pittsburgh | $70,560 -13% | $47,600 – $119,100 | 2,730 |
| Nashville | $62,210 -23% | $44,730 – $117,610 | 3,200 |
BLS metro estimates, May 2025. Percent compares the metro median with the national median. "Jobs" is BLS estimated employment in the metro; blank where BLS does not publish it.
Career path
BLS does not publish pay by level. The first three steps use the Compliance Officers percentiles; the last uses Managers, All Other, where O*NET places compliance managers.
About $48,000 to $61,000 (10th to 25th percentile)
Testing, monitoring, policy updates and training logistics. Common routes in are audit, operations or a front-line job in a regulated business.
About $61,000 to $109,000 (25th to 75th percentile)
Owns a program area such as anti-money laundering, health care billing or trade compliance, and handles regulator questions on it.
About $109,000 to $134,000 (75th to 90th percentile)
Leads investigations, regulatory exams or the compliance program for a business line.
Median $141,900 (Managers, All Other)
Runs the compliance function or a large part of it. Because O*NET classifies compliance managers in a different group, their pay is not part of the compliance officer figures.
Compare
Compliance officers earn about the same as auditors at the median ($83,680) and less than risk analysts ($117,330). The step to compliance manager, counted under Managers, All Other, carries a median of $141,900; that group appears in the table as the privacy officer benchmark.
| Role | BLS median | 2027 estimate | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance Officer | $80,730 | $86,000 | Average |
| Regulatory Affairs Specialist | $80,730 | $86,000 | Average |
| Privacy Officer | $141,900 | $151,000 | Faster than average |
| Auditor | $83,680 | $89,000 | Faster than average |
| Risk Analyst | $117,330 | $124,500 | Much faster than average |
Before you hire
Anti-money laundering, health care, securities, privacy and trade compliance draw on different candidates. The title alone does not tell a candidate which one you mean.
Certifications such as CAMS for anti-money laundering or CCEP for corporate compliance and ethics are common asks. Requiring one narrows the pool; listing it as preferred does not.
If the role runs a program and supervises staff, it is probably a compliance manager role, and the officer percentiles will understate the market.
The median ranges from $62,210 in Nashville to $118,890 in the Bay Area. Price against the local figure, not the national one.
Outlook
BLS projects average growth of 3% to 4% and about 32,700 openings a year for an occupation of about 436,400 people, one of the largest in this guide's legal and compliance group.
BLS Employment Projections via O*NET OnLine. Projections cover Compliance Officers as a whole.
FAQ
BLS reports a median of $80,730 a year, or $38.81 an hour, for compliance officers in May 2025. The middle half earned $61,280 to $109,010. Applying two years of wage growth at 3.1% a year gives a 2027 planning median of about $86,000.
Nationally, the 10th percentile was $48,220 and the 25th percentile $61,280 in May 2025. Entry roles are often titled compliance analyst or associate. The floor is higher in the big compliance markets: the 10th percentile was $58,990 in New York City and $65,040 in Boston.
No federal data ties compliance pay to certifications. Credentials such as CAMS (anti-money laundering) and CCEP (corporate compliance and ethics) are commonly listed in postings for specialized roles and can help a candidate qualify for the upper half of the range, but there is no official figure for their effect on pay.
Chief compliance officers have no BLS figure of their own. O*NET classifies compliance managers under Managers, All Other, which had a median of $141,900 and a 90th percentile of $238,270 in May 2025. A chief compliance officer at a large company is an executive role, and pay depends heavily on company size and industry.
BLS projects average growth of 3% to 4% through 2035 and about 32,700 openings a year. The occupation is large, about 436,400 jobs, and the move from officer to manager carries a big pay step, from an $80,730 median to $141,900.
Careerscape recruiters who specialize in legal and compliance hiring can send a pre-screened shortlist for direct hire, contract or executive search roles.
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