Washington D.C, US has been named the best city for cybersecurity jobs thanks to its many job opportunities and high average salary, while London only ranks in 8th.

That’s according to research conducted by Techshielde, which analysed several metrics including average salary, job availability and cost of living to find the best place to live for cybersecurity experts as well as the most in-demand skills to learn in 2021

Other key findings include:-

• Singapore has the highest job availability for cybersecurity professional

• Cybersecurity experts in Luxembourg earn the highest salaries

• Networking, threats intelligence and compliance have all been named as the most in-demand skills

You can view the full graphic here.

The ten best cities for a cybersecurity job

It may not come as a surprise that Washington D.C sits at the top of the ranking — the capital is the headquarters of government agencies that employ many cybersecurity professionals.

Scoring a total score of 17.58, the city ranks second for job availability for those looking to work in the cybersecurity sector, balanced with the high average salary of £84,628 this city is a great contender for those looking to work in the industry.

Singapore comes in second place. The southeastern Asia city has the highest job availability out of all the cities examined. However, the average salary of £55,577 and the high cost of living of £3,267 brings it down.

London only ranks 8th, losing points because of its lower salary compared to other cities and the high cost of living, the city fails to make the top 5.

Singapore has the most cybersecurity jobs available

Recent graduates and any job seekers looking for a new role can increase their chances of getting hired by looking for cities with the largest number of job openings.

Techshielder analysed the amount of cybersecurity-related jobs available on Indeed and Glassdoor to reveal the cities with the most cybersecurity jobs.

Singapore comes in first place with a job availability of 10, this is followed by Washington D.C and London rounds of the top three (7.17 and 5.30 job availability scores respectively).

At the other end of the scale, we have Islamabad in Pakistan, where the research found there is very limited opportunity for those in the field. Scoring a job availability score of just 1.01 this city has the fewest number of jobs available for cybersecurity professionals.

Cybersecurity experts in Luxembourg earn the highest salaries

Cybersecurity is a booming field with the potential to grow immensely. Although there are many positions to choose from within the industry, most if not all are well paid due to their importance in our society.

If you are interested in joining the field, you may want to narrow your choices by top-paying jobs.

To get the most bang for your buck, it is also important to consider the cost of living. Any salary increase can be swiftly consumed by the differences in the cost of living.

Knowing the true value of a salary in different locations is just as crucial as knowing the pay.

As the table shows, the city of Luxembourg has the highest average salary. While you can make a six-figure wage when working in this city, the high cost of living means that your money may not go as far as other cities.

At the end of the scale, sits Abuja in Nigeria. With a salary of just £1,758.30, this city has the lowest income for cybersecurity specialists.

The most in-demand skills to learn in 2021

Whilst there is a high demand for jobs, you can’t start a career within the cybersecurity sector without the right expertise. There are certain skills you’ll need to thrive in the field.

Finding a proficient applicant to fill one of the many available jobs during a skill shortage is one of the hardest challenges for HR personnel.

1. Network: One of the most in-demand skills and maybe one of the most important one for anyone in cybersecurity is networking. Understanding how networks work allows you to get a better comprehension of how many things work behind the scene.

2. Threats: Threat intelligence ranks as the second most in-demand skill in 2021. Being able to evaluate threats and prevent or mitigate cyberattacks is a highly sorted after skill.

3. Compliance: From the European Union’s GDPR to the California Consumer Privacy Act, companies need employees who can assess the risk and understand the paperwork and the security protocols are needed to keep personal data safe.

4. Cloud: More companies are moving to cloud infrastructure and therefore the need for cloud-savvy professional are on the rise. These experts need to be able to arrange, organise and monitor a virtualised environment such as SaaS, PaaS or IaaS so that they can protect data from being deleted, leaked or even stolen.