56 2026 | Tennessee Career Guide Cybersecurity is an ever-growing and high- demand field with a wide range of oppor- tunities and high salary potential. For ex- ample, current projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for information security analysts show a 29% growth rate in demand through 2034, accompanied by a median annual income of $124,910. There were more than 650 unique job postings in cy- bersecurity from mid-2021 to mid-2022. In 2025, cyberseek.org reported nearly 3,669 cybersecurity job openings in Middle Ten- nessee alone, including areas like Ruther- ford, Davidson, and Williamson counties. Careers can include cybersecurity analyst, data security specialist, digital forensics in- vestigator, ethical hacker/systems tester, network support administrator, risk man- agement specialist, vulnerability assess- ment analyst, and more. “The demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals will continue to rise,” said Dr. Nita Brooks, associate dean for undergraduate pro- grams and accreditation at Middle Ten- nessee State University’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business. According to cy- berseek.org, more than 1.3 million people across the United States were estimated to be employed in cybersecurity-related jobs from September 2024 through Oc- tober 2025. During that same period, the website reported more than 514,000 on- line job listings for cybersecurity-related positions and said only 74 cybersecurity workers were available for every 100 cy- bersecurity jobs in demand. “Cybersecu- rity is going to remain a dynamic field that continues to deal with evolving issues driven by technological advancements and increasingly sophisticated cyberat- tacks,” said Brooks, who is also a professor in the Information Systems and Analytics Department at MTSU. Photography by Shutterstock® Profession Overview Work Sector: Business Current number of positions (TN): 22,819 Current number of positions (US): 1,851,759 Median starting salary cyber specialist (TN): $98,153 Median starting salary cyber specialist (US): $107,043 Median salary cybersecurity manager (TN): $152,388 Median salary cybersecurity manager (US): $166,190 Information On This Career Provided By: Jones College of Business Middle Tennessee State University 615-904-8176 cyber.mtsu.edu [email protected] Data sources: cyberseek.org | salary.com Securing the World’s Technology Cybersecurity
