The US cybersecurity workforce needs to grow by 62% to close the skills gap, according to research by (ISC)², a nonprofit membership association of cybersecurity professionals.

It estimates the US currently has 804,700 cybersecurity professionals, but the country needs 498,480 more.

“We’ve been evolving our research approach for 15 years to get to this point today, where we can confidently estimate the current workforce and better understand what it will take as an industry to add enough professionals to protect our critical assets,” said Wesley Simpson, COO at (ISC)².

Globally, the size of the cybersecurity workforce is 2.8 million, according to the Clearwater, Florida-based association. However, the world needs 145% more, an increase of 4.07 million cybersecurity professionals.

The average North American salary for cybersecurity professionals is $90,000; those holding security certifications have an average salary of $93,000 while those without earn $76,500 on average, according to the organization.