Legal and Compliance Administrator Salary
With high potential for employment and professional growth, becoming a compliance officer can seem like an attractive career opportunity. But how much money does a compliance officer make? Compliance officer salaries vary by industry, work experience, education level and location. Use this guide to learn more about average salaries, the types of compliance officers with the highest salaries, and the highest-paying locations. The average salary of compliance officers can vary significantly from state to state. Larger or generally more metropolitan areas may have a greater need for compliance officers. In return, you can expect a higher average salary in these states. Here are the states where compliance officers have the highest average pay, according to the May 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics – Professional Employment and Salaries for Compliance Officers. Work experience can be an important factor in the salary of compliance officers. As they gain experience and skills, compliance officers can earn higher salaries and advanced positions, often leadership roles.
Salaries for legal and corporate compliance officers typically vary depending on the type and size of their employer. For example, individuals employed in securities, commodity contracts and other financial investments earned an average of $94,200 in 2020.1 According to the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), compliance officers in the healthcare sector received an average salary of $134,624 in 2019. However, this amount may vary depending on the type of organization, size, and location. At the state government level, compliance officers can expect an average salary of $60,900, reports the BLS. At the local level, the average annual salary is $62,240.1 However, due to additional factors such as type of industry and location, it is difficult to define the exact correlation between experience and salary. Often, compliance officers work for the federal government, auditing companies or designing and enforcing updated industry standards and regulations. The federal government is the largest employer of compliance officers, employing 61,690 people with an average annual salary of $86,730 in 2020, according to the latest BLS reports.1 Legal compliance officers typically work in private sector companies, ensuring they meet all legal and regulatory requirements. You can work closely with the organization`s legal counsel and conduct regular inspections, audits and investigations to determine if the company is fully compliant with industry standards. In a very large healthcare organization with annual revenue of $50 million to $100 million, the average salary for chief compliance officers was $115,209, according to HCCA.
In organizations that generated less than $5 million, compliance officers received an average of $90,353. Compliance officers work in a variety of sectors. However, they are regularly used in industries where there is a high level of regulatory oversight. For example, compliance officers may work in health care, the federal government, or private industries such as mining or pharmaceuticals. As with any career, whether becoming a compliance officer is a good career depends on your goals and interests. Compliance officers conduct regular audits and inspections to ensure that laws and regulations are being complied with by their organizations. Their tasks require a comprehensive understanding of the law. They need to be analytical and thorough, and often conduct extensive research. If you enjoy the challenge of understanding and interpreting laws, policies and regulations, a career as a compliance officer may be right for you.
Depending on the location, a compliance officer can have an average salary of as little as $40,160 or $115,220, according to O*NET OnLine. Below you will find more information on the cities and states where compliance officers earn the highest salary, as reported by BLS1. According to the latest BLS data, compliance officers in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors received an average annual salary of $81,990 in 2020.1 According to BLS, the pharmaceutical industry employs more compliance officers than all but three industries. In addition to the cities in the table above, other cities or metropolitan areas where compliance officers are well paid: Compliance officers may also work for local governments. The BLS reports that state and local governments have the second and local governments, respectively. 1 Designed for professionals without a law degree, Fordham Law School`s MSL in Corporate Compliance online program prepares students to take on legal responsibilities in a variety of industries and ensure companies adhere to best practices and regulatory requirements.
