Learn how much you can expect to make as a data analyst, with tips to boost your salary.
Data analysts use mathematical and analytical methods to transform data into better data-driven business decisions. As the amount of data available to businesses increases, so too does the demand for skilled data analysts to process and interpret it. Data analysts are typically paid well for their skills.
In this article, you’ll learn how much data analysts earn on average, as well as how various factors, like experience, industry, location, and job title can impact your data analyst salary. If you’re interested in starting or advancing your career as a data analyst, we’ll also talk about some ways you may be able to boost your earning potential.
The average salary for a data analyst in the United States in December 2022 is $66,859, according to job listing site Glassdoor [1]. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual salary of $82,360 [2], while human resources consulting firm Robert Half lists a midpoint salary for a data analyst at $106,500 [3].
While this range varies, each of these salary figures is significantly higher than the mean annual salary across all occupations in the United States, $58,260 [4].
Several factors can influence how much your salary will be as a data analyst. Let’s take a closer look at a few of these considerations.
Read more: What Does a Data Analyst Do? Your 2023 Career Guide
One of the biggest factors that can influence your salary is your level of experience. In general, the more years you spend working as a data analyst, the more you can expect to earn. Here's how experience can impact your data analyst salary, according to Glassdoor [1]:
2 to 4 years (Data Analyst): $98,682
5 to 7 years (Senior Data Analyst): $112,593
8+ years (Principal Data Analyst): $138,031
Moving into a leadership role can further boost your earning potential. Glassdoor reports that analytics managers earn an average salary of $129,076 in the US, while directors of analytics earn $180,392 [5, 6].
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Just about every industry can use data analytics to drive better business decisions. Industries where demand for data professionals is highest tend to be the same industries that pay the most on average.
Finance and insurance, professional, scientific, and technical services, information technology, management, and manufacturing represent more than three-quarters of data job openings [7]. Here are salaries, as reported by Glassdoor:
Financial data analyst: $80,034
Technical data analyst: $78,332
Scientific data analyst: $93,849
Where you live can have a big impact on how much make as a data analyst. Typically, working in a big city correlates to a higher salary (to match a higher cost of living). As more and more companies employ a geographically dispersed workforce (including remote workers), it’s common for companies to offer location-based salaries—salaries that take into account location rather than merit alone.
According to Glassdoor, these are the midpoint salaries for data analysts in the following large US cities:
San Francisco: $85,806
New York: $80,571
Boston: $76,536
Washington, DC: $66,106
Chicago: $79,137
Phoenix: $74,140
Getting a job as a data analyst might be the first step in your data career. As you gain experience and new data science skills, you might move into a more advanced or specialized position. Here are a few of them, along with their average US base salaries (Glassdoor).
Business analyst: $91,491
Database administrator: $97,166
Business intelligence analyst: $83,612
Statistician: $82,562
Data engineer: $114,196
Data scientist: $122,969
Data architect: $153,489
Analytics manager: $129,620
Machine learning engineer: $123,804
Read more: 4 Data Analyst Career Paths: Your Guide to Leveling Up
As big data keeps getting bigger, so too does the need for skilled data analysts. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that data analyst jobs will grow 25 percent between 2020 and 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations [2]. More than 80 percent of companies surveyed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2020 report said they’d be using big data by 2025. In the same report, data analysts and scientists appeared at the top of the list of jobs with increasing demand across industries [8].
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professional certificate
This is your path to a career in data analytics. In this program, you’ll learn in-demand skills that will have you job-ready in less than 6 months. No degree or experience required.
4.8
(105,422 ratings)
1,489,466 already enrolled
BEGINNER level
Average time: 6 month(s)
Learn at your own pace
Skills you'll build:
Spreadsheet, Data Cleansing, Data Analysis, Data Visualization (DataViz), SQL, Questioning, Decision-Making, Problem Solving, Metadata, Data Collection, Data Ethics, Sample Size Determination, Data Integrity, Data Calculations, Data Aggregation, Tableau Software, Presentation, R Programming, R Markdown, Rstudio, Job portfolio, case study
Glassdoor. "Data Analyst Salaries, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/data-analyst-salary-SRCH_KO0,12.htm." Accessed February 6, 2023.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Operations Research Analysts, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/operations-research-analysts.htm." Accessed February 6, 2023.
Robert Half. "Salary Guide 2022, https://www.roberthalf.com/salary-guide." Accessed February 6, 2023.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000." Accessed February 6, 2023.
Glassdoor. "Analytics Manager Salaries, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/analytics-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,17.htm." Accessed February 6, 2023.
Glassdoor. "Director Analytics Salaries, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/director-analytics-salary-SRCH_KO0,18.htm." Accessed February 6, 2023.
Burning Glass Technologies. "The Quant Crunch: How the Demand for Data Science Skills is Disrupting the Job Market, https://www.burning-glass.com/research-project/quant-crunch-data-science-job-market/." Accessed February 6, 2023.
World Economic Forum. "The Future of Jobs Report 2020, https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020." Accessed February 6, 2023.
Glassdoor. "Pay During COVID-19: Employed Women 19% Less Likely to Ask for More Money In The Next 12 Months, https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/covid-19-pay-survey/." Accessed February 6, 2023.
This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.