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Jobs that call for advanced training and experience in statistics and data science are expected to grow at several times the rate of all jobs across the economy, according to U.S. government data.
California, as the largest U.S. state and home to a vibrant technology sector, will be at the forefront of that job growth, but which roles are the best in this growing and increasingly diverse field?
Analyzing recent job posting data from Indeed.com for six specific titles in the field reveals some interesting details that may be valuable for job seekers and students across California and around the world.
Comparing average salaries with the total number of job openings indicates that Data Scientist is the hottest business analytics job in California. This job has a lucrative average salary of $147,179 and boasts more than 2,700 job openings across the state.
Data Scientists can serve an array of specific job roles given their broad base of knowledge and skills in math, statistics and programming. For business analytics-minded professionals, a job as a Data Scientist can let them use their data skills to drive wise business decisions in virtually every conceivable industry, as organizations of all types now rely on data for managing their businesses.
The San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley are the most fruitful locales in California for Data Scientists, and more than half of all job openings for Data Scientists are in that region. Amazon accounts for nearly 1 in 4 California postings for Data Scientists, and more than 20% of these jobs pay in excess of $120,000.
Though it has the third-lowest average salary, Business Analyst is the role with the highest number of total job openings, 2,830 total across the state. Those factors combine to make Business Analyst the second-hottest data analytics job in California.
These professionals help organizations improve processes and refine procedures in order to maximize profits and efficiency. Depending on the organization, Business Analysts may work within technology departments, while others will find jobs within management, HR or operations.
About one-third of California Business Analyst jobs offered salaries between $70,000 and $80,000, but more than 40% of jobs had salaries $90,000 or above. About 1 in 4 Business Analyst job openings were in Los Angeles or San Diego, which is the highest rate of the six jobs included in the study. Employers for this role skew toward the technical, banking, accounting and consulting, with Accenture, Deloitte and Amgen listed as the top three employers for Business Analysts.
Another broad, expansive title that could land a professional a job in pretty much any field, postings for Data Analysts were one of the highest, just over 2,700. The job offers the second-lowest average salary, which puts it in the third spot overall.
Data Analysts often fill roles that are quite similar to that of Data Scientists, but these analyst roles tend toward jobs where professionals must use a diverse skill set that expands beyond just working with data. Generally, the most successful Data Analysts are ones who have serious analytics chops but also can communicate with people naturally and effectively.
About 1 in 3 jobs for Data Analysts pay between $65,000 and $75,000, one of the highest ratios, but a low starting salary range is due in large part to the fact that the role has the highest proportion of entry-level openings, 27.2%. Nearly 30% of jobs are in San Francisco, and top employers range from financial (First Republic Bank) to educational (Cal State University).
The fourth-hottest job on the list is Intelligence Analyst, a role that has the lowest average salary (about $52,000) but a high number of job openings, more than 2,300. So while these jobs are likely to have a lower salary, they might be easier to get than some less-common roles.
Intelligence Analysts are highly sought-after in the IT sector as well as in defense and aerospace, as they are responsible for gathering information from many different, often unrelated sources, and analyzing it to generate threat assessments.
The average Intelligence Analyst salary is low, but more than 20% of these jobs pay in excess of $100,000. More than 20% of openings are in San Francisco, but given the military ties these jobs often have, more than 13% of openings are San Diego. Top employers include Accenture, Northrop Grumman, SAIC and General Dynamics.
With the second-lowest number of openings, Business Intelligence Analyst roles will be hard to find. But for those with the right skill set, these are likely to be lucrative jobs.
Business Intelligence Analysts have among the most outward-facing job functions of the six roles that were included in the analysis. Depending on their employer, these professionals generally are required to put their company or client in the best position within the market, and this usually involves conducting detailed research on the industry, market and competitors.
About 1 in 3 Business Intelligence Analyst jobs pay between $70,000 and $80,000, but more than 20% pay upwards of $95,000. Nearly two-thirds of these jobs are for mid-career professionals, and nearly 28% are based in San Francisco. This role has quite a diverse company roster, with Google, Uber and Apple all placing in the top five, along with the U.S. Army and Stanford Health Care.
Though it's by far the least common job covered in the study (just under 500 postings), Analytics Manager jobs came with the second-highest average salary of all six jobs in the study, $137,913.
Analytics Managers usually serve in senior-level roles with broad organizational responsibilities, including overseeing strategies and practices covering data collection and analysis. They may have daily data tracking tasks, or they may be charged with putting new procedures and tools in place.
Almost half of these jobs pay upwards of $100,000, which is the most of the six jobs in the study, and entry-level positions are rare, at just 3.5% of job openings for Analytics Managers. Analytics Manager jobs are more likely to be found in Los Angeles than any of the other jobs (13.4%), and more than half the roles were at just two companies — Deloitte and Northrop Grumman.
Data analytics jobs are among the most attractive for people who are data-savvy but want jobs with large companies that offer high wages and good benefits. Whether they want to spend their days writing complex code to analyze data or they want to bridge the divide between data and plain English, California is among the best places in the world for data analysts to practice their trade.
Headed by a group of data analysts, MastersofBusinessAnalytics.com analyzed more than 12,000 jobs posted on Indeed.com through mid-January 2020, comparing data for six jobs within data analytics across metrics like job openings, average salary, city, company and experience required. You can read the full study here.
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