Clearance cost and fee guide
How much does a security clearance cost—and who pays?
There is no legitimate applicant price for buying a U.S. personnel security clearance. An individual cannot order one: the employing organization identifies the need and initiates the process. Government investigation rates, employer business costs, and a job seeker's expenses are different things.
Reviewed July 13, 2026. This educational guide uses current DCSA, Congressional Research Service, and FTC sources; funding arrangements and individual employment terms can vary.
The short answer
DCSA publishes reimbursable investigation and vetting rates for customer agencies and organizations. Those tables are not a consumer menu, and an applicant cannot select a tier, pay DCSA, or start a clearance independently. The Congressional Research Service says the requesting agency typically pays for investigations of federal employees and contractor employees.
See DCSA's current billing rates and customer requirements ↗Three costs people often combine
Government service rate
Employer business cost
Applicant expense
What the DCSA rate table actually means
DCSA's live page lists case types, standard or priority service where available, fiscal-year rates, funding documents, financial codes, and agency identifiers. It says customer agencies and organizations must provide funding sufficient for their submitted service requests. That is agency-to-agency or organization-to-agency billing—not an invoice sent to the applicant.
Do not translate one table row into a universal retail price for “a Secret clearance” or “a Top Secret clearance.” The required investigation is designated for the position, products and rates change by fiscal year, some agencies conduct their own investigations, and additional processing can depend on the program. The applicant does not choose the case type.
Why this page does not publish a fixed dollar answer
A fixed “clearance price” would misstate both the customer and the product. Use the current DCSA schedule when you need the government's live reimbursable rate; use the employer's security office for the position's actual process.
Who normally pays for the investigation?
Federal employee case
The requesting agency normally orders and pays for the background investigation. An applicant still must follow the hiring agency's authorized instructions.
Federal contractor employee case
The Congressional Research Service says the requesting agency typically pays for contractor-employee investigations as well. The contractor first identifies the access need and works through the sponsoring agency.
Employer overhead
The investigation bill is not the employer's only cost. An employer can still carry recruiting, security-program, staffing, schedule, and access-delay costs that help explain a preference for already-active eligibility.
Other programs or agencies
DCSA conducts most executive-branch investigations, but other agencies have delegated or statutory authority. The exact administrative funding path can differ without creating a consumer clearance for sale.
Can you pay for your own security clearance?
No. DCSA states that individuals cannot submit security-clearance applications on their own behalf and that only the employing organization can decide whether a position requires classified access and initiate processing. Paying a recruiter, consultant, training provider, or website cannot replace that position-based government process.
A person may separately choose to pay for career coaching, professional advice, travel, or document services. Those purchases are not a clearance fee and do not guarantee a job, initiation, interim decision, final eligibility, or access. Keep any separate service contract distinct from what the employer and government actually require.
Read DCSA's rule on who may initiate a clearance ↗Clearance-fee and recruiter scam warnings
The FTC says honest employers, including the federal government, do not ask applicants to pay to get a job. A demand for money to “buy,” “activate,” “transfer,” “sponsor,” or “fast-track” a clearance is therefore a serious warning sign—not a normal DCSA applicant step.
- Verify the opening on the employer's own careers site or USAJOBS and contact the organization through independently found official details.
- Check the sender's full email domain. Do not rely on a logo, display name, text message, or copied job description.
- Do not send payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, wire, payment app, or a returned portion of an employer check.
- Do not send an SF-86, Social Security number, passport, bank information, or clearance documents to an unverified recruiter or job board.
- If you paid, contact the payment company immediately, ask whether the transfer can be reversed, and report the job scam to the FTC.
Why active clearances can still matter to employers
A government-paid investigation is not instant or risk-free for a hiring organization. The employer may need someone who can begin classified work on a contract schedule, may not have unclassified duties available while processing continues, and cannot guarantee an interim or final decision. That can make active eligibility valuable without turning the clearance into property the applicant purchased.
In a posting, “active required” and “ability to obtain” describe different timing. Cleared Colorado uses “obtainable” only when the direct employer source explicitly permits that timing; it does not infer that every applicant will be sponsored.
See how employer or agency initiation works →Current Colorado jobs where timing may be obtainable
Cleared Colorado currently has 518 direct-employer listings across 14 employers whose source language explicitly allows the required Secret-or-higher clearance to be obtainable. This is a timing filter—not a promise that the employer will initiate a case for every applicant or cover every separate applicant expense.
$79,365 - $134,921
$79,365 - $134,921
$79,365 - $134,921
$177,000 - $265,600
Follow employer-stated obtainable openings
Save the job criteria you want and receive an accountless alert only when a new eligible direct-employer listing matches. Then verify the complete initiation and employment terms at the source.