I saw this Twitter post the other day…
I’ve seen posts like this one before.
People making unrealistic promises about how much you can make as a data analyst.
They often do this to bait people into their course or cohort like this individual.
The thing is, this person isn’t completely wrong. There are data analysts that make $200K. The problem is that the AVERAGE amount that a data analyst can make is not $200K. It’s not even $100K.
You want to know how much it is?
About $87K.
This is based off of my research from many different career platforms like Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Coursera, etc.
I took all the info I could find and got the average of all the averages. This is the number I landed on. It might not be 100% accurate, but it’s much closer to the truth.
When it comes to data salaries, there are many factors that influence compensation.
Here are just a few of them:
1. Experience
↳ This is true for any career path. The long you’ve worked, the more you’re likely to make.
2. Industry
↳ People in tech and finance often make more. Some data analysts at Google make more that CTO’s or Analytics Directors at smaller companies.
3. Location
↳ NYC, San Fran, and Seattle are home to some of the biggest tech companies in the world. They’re going to pay more.
These 3 factors alone influence the average salary of a data analyst greatly.
Let’s look at an example based on this critera.
Sally is a data analyst at Google with 5 years of experience living in New York City.
Jeff just started his first job as a data analyst at e-commerce startup in Texas.
Sally makes more than Jeff. A lot more.
Sally actually makes more than most analytics managers at other companies. She also skews the average up higher due to how much she makes.
But Jeff still makes a GREAT wage for being entry-level.
So don’t be discouraged if you’re not making $200K. There’s a reason why data is such a popular career path, and a big reason for that is the compensation.
Even if you start at $70K, you’re still doing pretty good.
Before I pivoted into data, I was an Operations Supervisor working 50+ hours a week and only making $63K.
These will always be predatory social media “gurus” selling cheap expectations.
But even the reality of a $87K average is still a good one.
Btw, I recorded an entire video breaking down how much data analysts make. I go in-depth on the factors mentioned above as well as salary figures for other data career paths such as engineers, architects, and strategists.
That’s it for this week.
See you next time ✌️