While the demand for data analysts continues to grow, the number of new data analysts entering the job market hasn’t kept pace. As a result, many employers are increasing salaries in order to draw in the best talent.
Over the last five years, data analyst salaries have risen significantly. Today, the average base salary for a data analyst is 100,000 per year.
Average Base Salary
Average Total Compensation
This steady wage growth is expected to continue as more and more companies make data analytics a priority. Hiring growth is especially pronounced in industries like finance, telecommunications, healthcare, and e-commerce. In these industries, data analyst salaries typically start at close to $100,000.
As data analysts progress in their careers, they often experience steady wage growth. Senior data analysts, for example, earn an average base salary just below 20,000 over base salaries for entry-level analytics positions.
Here are the base salaries of a data analyst grouped into 6 seniority categories:
Seniority can increase the pay of a Data Analyst. Here are the base salaries of a Data Analyst grouped into 6 seniority categories.
An undergraduate degree in math, statistics, or business is usually a prerequisite for internships and entry-level positions in data analytics. Increasingly, however, advanced degrees, such as a master’s in data analytics, are becoming necessary to climb the career ladder in analytics and earn mid- and senior-level wages.
Compared to other data science positions, data analysts have starting salaries on the lower end of the spectrum. However, this is relative. The average earnings for data analysts far outpace the average earnings of other occupations in the U.S. and many other countries. For example, in the U.S., data analyst base salaries are 40% higher than average earnings, 90,000 average base salary), product analyst (122,000 average base salary). Many start working in analytic positions while earning an advanced degree in the hopes of landing a data science role in the future.
Most data science positions fall under different position titles depending on the actual role.
From the graph we can see that on average the Product Manager role pays the most with a $158,049 base salary while the Business Analyst role on average pays the least with a $80,730 base salary.
Data analyst salaries are highest in tech hubs and financial centers within the U.S. and around the world. In the U.S., San Francisco and Seattle offer some of the highest average salaries, at 93,000 respectively, which is due, in part, to top tech companies like Amazon and Twitter having headquarters in those cities.
New York is also a top-paying U.S. city, with many data analysts employed by tech and financial services firms. Globally, Singapore and Australia offer high starting wages for data analysts.
The highest-paying data analyst jobs are primarily in the finance and technology industries. In finance, data analysts earn some of the highest wages at companies like Citadel, Citi, Bloomberg, and Tower Research Capital. In tech, the top three highest-paying companies are Netflix, Twitter, and Affirm.