Data Analyst Salary: What the Government Wage Data Shows

BLS does not list “data analyst” as an occupation, so no official salary exists under that title. The closest job it measures, operations research analysts, had a May 2025 median wage of $88,940 a year. The middle half of workers earned between $68,360 and $125,990, and your own number depends on your state and employer.

Why Is There No Official Data Analyst Salary?

Federal wage surveys count jobs by standard occupation codes, and “data analyst” is a title employers use, not a code the government created. BLS counts data analysts with operations research analysts, so these figures cover that wider group and are not a data-analyst-only number.

Be careful with salary sites that quote one clean figure for the title. Many rely on job postings or self-reported pay, which can lean high and cannot be compared year to year. The numbers on this page come from a government survey of employers.

For what the work involves and how to get hired, see our guide to data analyst jobs.

What Is the Median Data Analyst Salary?

For operations research analysts, the May 2025 national median is $88,940 a year, or $42.76 an hour. The mean is $99,730, or $47.95 an hour. BLS counts 108,510 workers in this occupation.

The mean sits above the median because a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. When you plan, the median is the better guide to what a typical worker takes home.

How Much Does Pay Vary From Low to High?

Percentiles show how pay spreads across workers. BLS does not report pay by years of experience, so the percentiles are the closest thing to rough experience bands.

Read it this way: a tenth of workers earn $57,060 or less, and a tenth earn $159,910 or more. The gap between the median and the 75th percentile is $37,050, which shows how much room there is to move up. From the 25th percentile to the median is $20,580, while the median to the 90th percentile spans $70,970, so the steps get larger near the top.

Moving up that ladder usually takes a mix of skills, scope and employer.

What Moves a Data Analyst’s Pay?

Location is the factor we can measure best. The same job pays very differently across states, as the next section shows.

Beyond location, the data points to a few other forces:

• Employer and scope. The wide spread between the 10th and 90th percentiles reflects different employers and different levels of responsibility.
• Skills. Modeling and machine learning work tends to sit in more technical roles. BLS lists developing and testing quantitative models among the duties of this occupation.
• Cost of living. High-wage states are often expensive places to live, so compare pay against rent before you move.

Which States Pay Data Analysts the Most?

By annual mean wage for the closest occupation, five places lead. The worker counts matter, because a high average on a few hundred jobs is a thinner market than the same average on thousands.

Virginia stands apart because it pairs a high wage with a deep job market. The middle of its pay range is high too: its 10th percentile is $71,820, above the national 25th percentile.

Where Are the Most Data Analyst Jobs?

Employment is concentrated in a few large states:

• Texas: 11,890 workers, median $90,710.
• California: 10,620 workers, median $102,100.
• Florida: 9,120 workers, median $77,600.
• Virginia: 6,980 workers, median $129,460.
• New York: 5,890 workers, median $108,610.

Florida has many jobs but a lower median, and its top tenth earns $131,490 or more. California’s top tenth earns $168,030 or more. If you can choose between two job markets, compare the median, not just the number of openings.

At the low end, Arkansas has a median of $59,030 on 210 workers, and Missouri has a median of $62,380 on 1,190 workers. Pay there is lower, and so is typical living cost, so the gap may be smaller in practice.

How Does Data Analyst Pay Compare With Other AI-Adjacent Jobs?

Analysts sit lower on the pay scale than the engineering and research jobs that AI degrees also prepare you for. These are May 2025 BLS medians for the nearest occupations:

The gap is real, and it explains why some analysts add machine learning skills and move toward data science. It also reflects different duties and entry requirements, so a higher median does not mean an easy switch.

If that move interests you, read our page on the machine learning engineer salary to see what the next rung pays.

What Do Mid-Sized States Pay?

Not everyone lives in a top-five state, and the middle of the country is where many people actually look for work. Here is how several large job markets compare on median wage for the closest occupation.

Most of these medians land between $90,000 and $105,000, which is above the national median of $88,940. Georgia is the outlier here, with a median of $76,220 on 4,600 workers, so a large market does not guarantee higher pay.

When you compare offers, line up the state median against what the employer is offering. If an offer sits near the 25th percentile for your state, you have a reasonable basis to ask for more.

How Can You Use These Numbers When You Negotiate?

Wage data helps most when you use it as a range, not a single target. A few habits make it more useful:

• Use your state’s figures. The national median hides a lot. Virginia’s 25th percentile is $99,660, which is above the national median, while Florida’s median is $77,600.
• Match the job, not the title. If the duties in the posting include building models, you are closer to the upper percentiles than if they are mostly reports.
• Ask what the role grows into. A job that adds scope in a year can matter more than a few thousand dollars today.
• Remember what the survey covers. BLS reports wages, not bonuses or stock, so your total pay may be different.

These figures are a reference point. They do not predict your offer.

What Does the Job Outlook Look Like?

BLS projects 12 percent growth in employment for operations research analysts from 2025 to 2035, which it calls much faster than average. It expects about 13,500 added jobs on a base of 113,100 in 2025, plus about 7,500 openings a year.

Growth matters for pay because more openings give workers more choices. Projections are estimates, though, and they do not guarantee any particular job will be there when you finish a degree.

Does a Degree Change a Data Analyst’s Pay?

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education for the closest occupation. It does not report wages by degree, so we cannot say what an AI master’s adds to a paycheck.

A fair reading is that a degree helps you qualify, and pay then follows your skills, your state and your employer. A master’s in applied or business-focused AI is aimed at analysts who want modeling skills. See our data analyst career page for which program types fit.

What Does an Online AI Degree Cost Compared With Data Analyst Pay?

This is where the math gets personal. All the prices below are total tuition from our program data, and they leave out fees and books.

The cheapest master’s on our list is the University of Texas at Austin’s online Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence at $9,990 in total tuition. You can see that school and others on our cheapest online AI degrees list. Several business-oriented programs cost more:

The median total for an online AI master’s on our list is $32,463, which is about a third of the national median wage for the job. The most expensive master’s on our list costs $81,000. For a wider view, see our list of the best online master’s in artificial intelligence and the online AI degrees for business.

At the bachelor’s level, the median total is $58,800, and the lowest total we list is $44,856 at Dakota State University.

How Long Would It Take to Earn Back the Tuition?

Here is a simple way to think about it. Take the program’s total tuition and divide it by the raise you expect. A $32,463 degree that raised your pay by $8,000 a year would take about four years to repay. If it raised your pay by nothing, it would never repay itself.

That example is arithmetic, not a forecast. Nothing in the BLS data says what any degree adds to a paycheck, so use a raise you could defend, such as a posted salary range for the role you want next.

Time matters too. Some master’s programs finish in about a year of full-time study, while part-time students can take around three years. Those years cost you evenings and weekends, and that cost belongs in the math.

Is the Cost Worth It?

Run your own numbers instead of relying on an average. Start with what you earn now, then ask what raise or new job would make the degree pay for itself, and how long that would take.

Some questions to answer before you enroll:

• Will your employer pay part of the tuition?
• Does the program let you study part time while you keep working?
• Could a shorter certificate give you the skills you need for less money?
• Do you already have a bachelor’s degree, or do you need one first?

The cheapest path is not always the best one, and the most expensive is not always better. Pick a program that fits your schedule and goals, then confirm its accreditation and admissions rules on the school’s own site.

Our guide on whether an AI degree is worth it walks through the tradeoffs in more detail. If you are weighing machine learning roles too, compare with the machine learning engineer salary page.