---
title: "Digital Forensics Analyst"
description: "Conduct investigations on computer-based crimes establishing documentary or physical evidence, such as digital media and logs associated with cyber…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/digital-forensics-analyst"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Digital Forensics Analyst

**Category:** Computer and Mathematical · **SOC code:** 15-1299 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 15-1299.06

Conduct investigations on computer-based crimes establishing documentary or physical evidence, such as digital media and logs associated with cyber intrusion incidents. Analyze digital evidence and investigate computer security incidents to derive information in support of system and network vulnerability mitigation. Preserve and present computer-related evidence in support of criminal, fraud, counterintelligence, or law enforcement investigations.

Also advertised as: Computer Forensics Analyst; Digital Forensic Examiner; Digital Forensics Examiner; Digital Forensics Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $116,580 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $56.05/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $55,940 to $188,470, with the middle half between $79,370 and $157,500
- **Total US employment:** 435,370
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 27,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 17/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 435,370 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $55,940 |
| 25th | $79,370 |
| 50th (median) | $116,580 |
| 75th | $157,500 |
| 90th | $188,470 |
| Mean (average) | $122,230 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $156,590 | $142,483 | 17,200 |
| MD | $144,680 | $137,844 | 19,060 |
| CO | $139,580 | $135,446 | 11,800 |
| VA | $139,030 | $137,512 | 17,000 |
| DE | $137,470 | $137,734 | 860 |
| CA | $134,440 | $121,423 | 80,150 |
| WA | $128,940 | $120,490 | 14,360 |
| CT | $127,720 | $123,270 | 3,100 |
| NM | $127,090 | $137,824 | 1,650 |
| HI | $120,100 | $109,230 | 2,080 |
| NY | $116,990 | $108,403 | 11,460 |
| SC | $112,260 | $119,745 | 4,300 |
| TX | $111,530 | $114,912 | 57,020 |
| VT | $111,530 | $113,855 | 1,320 |
| OH | $109,780 | $118,331 | 6,150 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/digital-forensics-analyst/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/digital-forensics-analyst.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 471,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 495,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 24,200 jobs, or +5.1%. Faster than average: 5.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 27,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Duplicate digital evidence to use for data recovery and analysis procedures.
- Preserve and maintain digital forensic evidence for analysis.
- Adhere to legal policies and procedures related to handling digital media.
- Write reports, sign affidavits, or give depositions for legal proceedings.
- Perform forensic investigations of operating or file systems.
- Maintain knowledge of laws, regulations, policies or other issuances pertaining to digital forensics or information privacy.
- Perform file signature analysis to verify files on storage media or discover potential hidden files.
- Recover data or decrypt seized data.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Investigative (I), Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 6.11 |
| C — Conventional | 6.03 |
| R — Realistic | 3.20 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.71 |
| A — Artistic | 1.69 |
| S — Social | 1.65 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 86.2 |
| INTJ | 81.0 |
| ISTP | 70.7 |
| ESTJ | 68.7 |
| ISFJ | 64.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Information Security Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/information-security-analyst) — median $129,180
- [Information Security Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/information-security-engineer) — median $116,580
- [Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/intelligence-analyst) — median $93,790
- [Penetration Tester](https://nuecareer.com/careers/penetration-tester) — median $116,580
- [Security Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-management-specialist) — median $83,050
- [Security Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-manager) — median $106,660
- [Computer Systems Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-systems-analyst) — median $105,850
- [Forensic Science Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/forensic-science-technician) — median $72,060
- [Business Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/business-intelligence-analyst) — median $120,230
- [Document Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/document-management-specialist) — median $116,580

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/digital-forensics-analyst