Safety Manager Salary Guide: What You'll Earn in 2026 by State, Industry, and Experience

The $50,000 to $160,000 salary range you see posted for safety jobs isn’t noise. It reflects genuine variation based on experience, industry, geography, and credentials. Understanding what drives that spread saves you from taking the wrong job at the wrong pay rate.

What BLS Data Actually Tells You

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks safety roles under two separate codes, and most people conflate them.

SOC 19-5011 covers Occupational Health and Safety Specialists. This is the category that maps to safety managers, EHS managers, safety coordinators, and safety consultants. Per BLS OEWS May 2024, the national median annual wage for this category is $83,910. The 90th percentile sits at $145,680, meaning the top earners in this category clear well above six figures.

SOC 19-5012 covers Occupational Health and Safety Technicians. This maps to safety technicians, safety inspectors at the field level, and industrial hygiene technicians. The median for this category is lower, around $58440 as of May 2024. If you’re comparing your salary to BLS data, make sure you’re pulling from the right code. Many job seekers check the technician median and conclude the field pays less than it does.

The job title you hold won’t always match the BLS category. A “Safety Coordinator” at one company may do specialist-level work while a “Safety Manager” at a smaller firm does technician-level tasks. The pay follows the scope of the role, not the title.

Salary by Experience Level

The ranges below are derived from BLS OEWS May 2024 (SOC 19-5011) and the ASSP Salary Survey 2023. They reflect national figures. Add 10 to 20 percent for high cost-of-living markets like California, New York, and the Pacific Northwest. Subtract 10 to 15 percent for rural markets in the Southeast and Midwest.

A few things to note about this table. The Safety Coordinator range starts low if you’re in a low-hazard industry like retail or food service. In oil and gas or heavy manufacturing, a coordinator with two years of experience can clear $70,000 without credentials. At the Safety Director level, the ceiling goes well above $165,000 at large corporations with complex regulatory exposures.

The overlap between Safety Manager and Senior Safety Manager is intentional. The ranges aren’t strictly sequential because industry selection, company size, and certifications create substantial variation at each level.

Highest-Paying Industries

Industry selection matters more than most early-career safety professionals realize. The difference between working safety in a school district versus an oil refinery can be $40,000 per year at the same experience level.

Per BLS OEWS May 2024, oil and gas extraction is among the top-paying industries for OHS specialists. Median wages for safety roles in that sector consistently run $20,000 to $40,000 above the national median. Pipeline transportation pays similarly. The reasons are straightforward: the hazards are severe, the regulatory scrutiny is high, and the employer can’t afford a serious incident.

Utilities and mining pay above the national median for the same reasons. Electric power generation and transmission, in particular, has become a strong-paying sector as grid investment increases.

Construction pays well at the director level but is more mixed lower in the career ladder. A general contractor’s site safety manager role typically pays in the $75,000 to $95,000 range at mid-career, which is solid but trails oil and gas at the same experience level. The top end in construction, running safety for a major GC or an owner’s rep program on a large capital project, competes with industrial rates.

Healthcare safety is often overlooked. Hospitals and health systems employ large numbers of safety professionals and pay at or above the national median. The work is less physically demanding than industrial settings, and the regulatory environment, including Joint Commission and CMS requirements, keeps demand steady.

Manufacturing at the entry and mid-career level tends to pay in the middle of the pack. Pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing pays better than general assembly or consumer goods. Heavy manufacturing, including steel, paper, and auto, pays better than light assembly.

Government safety roles, including federal agency positions and state OSHA compliance officers, pay below private-sector median at most levels but offer strong benefits and job security. Federal civilian positions under GS classification can reach GS-13 and GS-14 for senior safety specialists, which translates to $100,000 to $135,000 depending on locality pay.

State-by-State Variation

The BLS OEWS May 2024 data shows meaningful geographic variation for OHS specialists. California consistently ranks among the top-paying states, with a median above $120,000 for OHS specialists. The higher pay reflects both cost of living and the state’s regulatory environment. Cal/OSHA is more stringent than federal OSHA in many respects, which creates more demand for experienced safety professionals.

Alaska pays a significant premium. The median for OHS specialists there runs well above the national figure due to the remoteness premium for resource extraction work. You’re often working in conditions that require extended travel and isolation, and the pay reflects that.

New Jersey and Massachusetts pay above the national median due to concentration of pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing. Washington state, particularly the Seattle metro, pays above median due to aerospace and tech-adjacent manufacturing.

Texas and Wyoming pay above the national median in specific sectors. Texas oil and gas safety roles in Houston and the Permian Basin can hit the top salary bands fast. Wyoming’s median runs higher due to its concentration of energy and mining employment, even though the state is small.

Lower-paying states for safety professionals tend to be rural agricultural states and parts of the Southeast where the employer base is weighted toward lower-hazard industries. If you’re in one of those markets, the path to higher pay often runs through industry change or relocation rather than waiting for the local market to move.

The Certification Premium

The ASSP Salary Survey 2023 is the most reliable source on this question, and the numbers are clear. Safety professionals with no certifications report substantially lower median earnings than certified peers at the same experience level.

Professionals with two or more certifications report median earnings near $109,000 to $120,000. Those with no certifications report medians under $85,000. The CSP alone typically adds $15,000 to $25,000 in annual pay compared to non-certified peers with similar experience and industry background.

The CSP credential has the highest individual impact. It signals that you’ve passed a rigorous exam and meet the BCSP’s experience requirements. Employers in higher-hazard industries treat it as a threshold for senior roles. Getting hired without it is possible. Getting to director-level without it is harder.

Two or more certifications compound the premium, but the relationship isn’t linear. Going from zero to one cert has the biggest impact. Going from one to two adds less. Adding a third or fourth cert at the senior level has marginal salary impact compared to what you’d gain from moving to a higher-paying industry or taking on a broader scope of responsibility.

The ASP is valuable as a step toward the CSP, not as a terminal credential. You can read more about the comparison in our ASP vs CSP guide.

What Actually Moves the Needle Beyond Credentials

Industry selection is the single biggest lever most safety professionals underestimate. Switching from a school district to an oil company at the same experience level can add $30,000 to $50,000 overnight. The certification premium is real, but it’s a smaller lever than where you work.

Company size matters. Running safety for a 5,000-person manufacturing company pays more than running it for a 200-person facility, even if your title is the same. Multi-site program management pays more than single-site. The scope of your risk exposure and your budget authority drive compensation more than most job seekers track.

Urban vs rural markets create variation that salary surveys can’t fully capture. A Senior Safety Manager in Houston or the Bay Area earns substantially more than the same role in a rural market, controlling for industry. The BLS OEWS data shows this clearly in the state-level figures. If you’re in a lower-wage geography, relocating to an energy-heavy or manufacturing-heavy metro is often the fastest path to the top salary bands.

The manager vs. individual contributor distinction matters more at senior levels. Safety directors who manage teams and own budget lines earn more than senior individual contributors with the same credentials and industry experience. If you’re aiming at the $130,000-plus range, you need to be on the management track, not the deep specialist track, unless you’re in a narrow specialty like industrial hygiene or process safety management.

The most efficient path to the top salary bands is: get your CSP, move to a higher-hazard industry if you aren’t already there, and target multi-site or corporate-level roles rather than staying at the facility level. That combination puts you in a position to compete for Senior Safety Manager and Safety Director roles where the real money is.