What's My Clearance Worth?
Your security clearance is one of the most valuable assets you take with you after service. This calculator estimates what it adds to your civilian salary based on level, experience, industry, and location.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the levels of security clearance?
There are three main levels, set by how much damage unauthorized disclosure could cause: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. Above Top Secret sits SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) — TS/SCI is not a fourth level but an access category layered on a Top Secret clearance, and some IC roles add a polygraph on top of that. This calculator lets you pick your level because each one carries a different civilian market value.
What can disqualify me from a security clearance?
Adjudicators weigh your whole background against 13 Adjudicative Guidelines — including financial considerations, foreign influence, foreign preference, personal conduct, criminal conduct, drug involvement, alcohol consumption, and the handling of protected information. No single issue is an automatic bar. It is the "whole-person concept": a problem you disclosed, explained, and mitigated is treated very differently from one you hid.
Does debt affect my clearance?
It can. Financial considerations is one of the 13 guidelines, and it is one of the most common reasons clearances get flagged — the concern is that money problems make a person vulnerable to pressure. But debt alone rarely sinks a clearance. What adjudicators watch for is unexplained affluence, ignored obligations, or a pattern of irresponsibility. A payment plan, a documented hardship, or debt you are actively resolving is mitigating, not disqualifying.
How long does a clearance investigation take?
It depends on the level. Higher access means a deeper investigation and a longer wait — a Confidential or Secret case clears far faster than a Top Secret or TS/SCI case. Run the calculator and it shows the typical investigation timeline for the level you select. If you already hold a clearance from service, this is the wait you skip — which is exactly what makes you valuable to a cleared employer.
What is continuous vetting?
Continuous vetting is the modern replacement for the old periodic reinvestigation. Under Trusted Workforce 2.0, run by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), cleared personnel are enrolled in automated record checks that flag issues — arrests, financial events, foreign contacts — as they happen, rather than every five or ten years. In practice: your eligibility is monitored on an ongoing basis, so keep your record clean and self-report changes as your security office directs.