Cyber Security Salary Canada: Entry-Level to C$100K+

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Key Takeaways

• Canadian Cybersecurity Specialist earns about C$49.52/hour, roughly C$103K a year full-time.
• Entry-Level SOC Analysts typically start between C$56K and C$83K, depending on employer and city.
• Typical Cyber Security Analyst salary in Canada averages C$91K, with a C$67K–C$123K range.
• Cybersecurity Engineers average C$100K; Toronto postings average close to C$119K.
• British Columbia and Alberta show higher top-end wages than Ontario in Job Bank data.
• Fortray – Cybersecurity Traineeship is designed to take beginners from IT foundations to a guaranteed first Canadian tech role.

In 2023, Canadian businesses spent about $1.2 billion recovering from cybersecurity incidents, double the roughly $600 million spent in 2021. When recovery costs double in two years, the people who prevent them get paid more. That pressure drives today’s cybersecurity salaries in Canada.

The talent pipeline hasn’t kept up. ISC2 found the Canadian cybersecurity workforce gap grew 53% to 39,000 in its 2023 Workforce Study. In Canada, Fortray helps career changers answer their questions every day, from people with no IT background to IT professionals ready to move into security.

This guide shows what each step of the ladder pays, from your first SOC seat to architect level, using Government of Canada and major job-board data.

Cyber Security Salary in Canada in 2026

The most neutral benchmark is the federal Job Bank, which tracks the occupation under NOC 21220. Cybersecurity specialists in Canada usually earn between $30.00 and $72.12 per hour. The national median is C$49.52 per hour. That range works out to about C$62K–C$150K a year, with a median near C$103K, at 40 hours per week.

That spread is wide because “cybersecurity specialist” covers everything from a junior alert-triage role to a principal engineer. Your job title and responsibilities decide where you sit in it, far more than time served.