role

Data Analyst

Review Data Analyst role tasks, pay context, AI-impact notes, skill gaps, and cited evidence.

Certification details change. Always confirm final pricing, availability, and credential terms on the official provider page linked in the sources below before you pay for anything.

Growing occupation - projected +33.5% through 2034.

The call: Starting from scratch, the strongest-mapped entry credential for this role is Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate - the top of 2 mapped entry options. That ranking comes from RoleMath's cited role mapping, not a universal best - check the full certification decision table below before you commit.

BLS projects Data scientists - the occupation this role maps to - to grow 33.5% from 2024 to 2034. O*NET profiles the work as primarily Investigative (analytical, problem-digging) and Conventional (structured, detail-heavy). Weigh that against how you actually like to work.

What the numbers say about this work

Government occupation data for the role this maps to — Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051). This is planning context for the occupation, not a salary or a job this role guarantees you.

Median pay (occupation): $120,230 / yr · $67,240 to $199,130 (10th–90th percentile)
Projected change (2024–34): +33.5% · ~23.4k openings/yr
Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

BLS OEWS — occupation-level, national · checked 2026-06-25 BLS Employment Projections 2024–34 · checked 2026-06-25 This role uses a broad O*NET-SOC/BLS occupation mapping. Data Analyst is mapped to O*NET Business Intelligence Analysts, which rolls into the broader BLS Data Scientists occupation for national wage and outlook data. Treat those figures as nearest-occupation analytics context; entry data analyst jobs commonly sit below the occupation median, and the figure is not a title-specific salary promise.

What it pays by metro

The national median hides a wide geographic spread. Below is the occupation’s median in some of the highest-paying and largest-employment metros, adjusted for local prices — regional price-level context, not take-home pay or a salary this role guarantees you.

Metro	Nominal median	Cost-adjusted
San Jose, CA	$185,080	$167,610
Seattle, WA	$164,740	$148,237
San Francisco, CA	$170,110	$147,137
Charlotte, NC	$132,460	$136,069
Austin, TX	$127,360	$129,872
Baltimore, MD	$134,320	$128,552

See all metros and how this is calculated → Sources: BLS OEWS (May 2025), occupation-level metro median ÷ BEA Regional Price Parities (2024, US=100).

What this work involves

The tasks the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET lists most central to this occupation — role-fit evidence to weigh against your background, not a measure of employer demand.

Generate standard or custom reports summarizing business, financial, or economic data for review by executives, managers, clients, and other stakeholders.
Maintain or update business intelligence tools, databases, dashboards, systems, or methods.
Manage timely flow of business intelligence information to users.
Provide technical support for existing reports, dashboards, or other tools.
Identify and analyze industry or geographic trends with business strategy implications.
Document specifications for business intelligence or information technology reports, dashboards, or other outputs.

O*NET — occupation-level · checked 2026-07-14

Skills that matter

The skills O*NET rates most important for this occupation. A starting map for what to build — weigh it against the specific job you’re targeting.

Reading Comprehension
Active Learning
Active Listening
Critical Thinking
Speaking
Writing
Mathematics
Monitoring

O*NET — occupation-level · checked 2026-07-14

Certification decision support

Certifications mapped to Data Analyst

Certifications mapped to this role from cited OEM target-role data and the RoleMath role mapping, ordered by relationship strength and then Difficulty Score. This is planning context — not a guarantee, not an employer requirement, and not a claim that any one certification is best for everyone. Your fit depends on your background; pay/outlook context is occupation-level on the role page.

Start here signalGoogle Data Analytics Professional CertificateWe have not recorded a stated experience requirement for Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate, so how hard it is depends entirely on what you already know.

Entry and starting signals

2 mapped

Credentials that map to this role as starting points or foundation signals.

Credential	Experience expected	Cost	Relationship	Why it appears here
Google Data Analytics Professional CertificateGoogle · foundation	We have not recorded this	Cost not verified	strong signal	Google Data Analytics can support entry data analyst transitions and portfolio-building.Official source
CompTIA Data+CompTIA · foundation	Core stageabout 1-2 years recommended	$264 exam	strong signal	Data+ maps to analyst fundamentals, data preparation, statistics, visualization, and governance.Official source

Advanced or later-step credentials

2 mapped

Credentials that may matter after experience builds; they are not presented as first steps.

Credential	Experience expected	Cost	Relationship	Why it appears here
CompTIA DataSys+CompTIA · intermediate	Core stageabout 1-2 years recommended	$399 exam	adjacent	DataSys+ supports database fluency but is not primarily a data analyst credential.Official source
CompTIA DataAICompTIA · advanced	Expert stage5+ years required or expected	$544 exam	advanced adjacent	DataAI is advanced and can sit on a long-term data ladder, not an entry analyst route.Official source

Adjacent, not primary

2 mapped

Useful only for a pivot or neighboring track; not primary evidence for this role.

Credential	Experience expected	Cost	Relationship	Why it appears here
Cisco AI Technical PractitionerCisco · practitioner	We have not recorded this	$150 exam	ai fluency adjacent	Cisco AI Technical Practitioner includes data research and analysis topics but is not a data analyst hiring credential.Official source
CompTIA A+CompTIA · foundation	Core stageabout 1-2 years recommended	$548 exam	not primary	A+ is not a data analyst credential unless the user first needs IT support employment.Official source

Experience expected is what the vendor publishes about the background it asks for or recommends — never a pass rate, and never a RoleMath rating of how hard an exam is. Certification mappings are planning context, not employer requirements, job guarantees, salary claims, or ROI claims.

Answer blocks

Common Questions

What certifications do I need to become a Data Analyst?

Certifications commonly mapped to a Data Analyst role, ordered by mapped relationship strength and then difficulty: Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate; CompTIA Data+ — with advanced credentials such as CompTIA DataSys+, CompTIA DataAI as later steps.

Entry options, closest role match first: Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate (Google; Difficulty Score 20/100, Foundational; exam fee pending vendor verification); CompTIA Data+ (CompTIA; Difficulty Score 30/100, Foundational; exam ~$264). Advanced or later-step credentials: CompTIA DataSys+ (CompTIA; Difficulty Score 60/100, Hard; exam ~$399); CompTIA DataAI (CompTIA; Difficulty Score 85/100, Expert; exam ~$544).

Citations: Sources shown on this page: 3 citations. Each mapped certification's official source is linked in the decision table on this page.

Use the RoleMath planner to adapt this sequence to your background, budget, and timeline. No provider can pay to change what this page says.

What is the easiest certification to start a Data Analyst career?

The lowest-difficulty cited certification mapped to a Data Analyst path is Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate (RoleMath Difficulty Score 20/100, Foundational, exam fee pending vendor verification). It is a starting signal, not a guarantee of a role.

Citations: Sources shown on this page: 3 citations. Each mapped certification's official source is linked in the decision table on this page.

Use the RoleMath planner to adapt this sequence to your background, budget, and timeline. No provider can pay to change what this page says.

How much do Data Analyst certifications cost and how hard are they?

Cited Data Analyst certification exam fees range roughly $264–$544, spanning from Foundational entry options to Expert credentials on the RoleMath Difficulty Score. Pay and outlook are reported at the occupation level on the Data Analyst page, never per certification.

Citations: Sources shown on this page: 3 citations. Each mapped certification's official source is linked in the decision table on this page.

Use the RoleMath planner to adapt this sequence to your background, budget, and timeline. No provider can pay to change what this page says.

Quick Verdict

Data Analyst maps to BLS/OEWS occupation context Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051), which has a national median of $120,230. Pay is occupation-level and location-driven - not caused by the job title or a certification. Below are the full cited labor-market context, the skills the role draws on, and the certification paths that map to it. This role uses a broad ONET-SOC/BLS occupation mapping. Data Analyst is mapped to ONET Business Intelligence Analysts, which rolls into the broader BLS Data Scientists occupation for national wage and outlook data. Treat those figures as nearest-occupation analytics context; entry data analyst jobs commonly sit below the occupation median, and the figure is not a title-specific salary promise.

Fit Signals

Investigative (6.98)
Conventional (5.39)
Artistic (2.61)

Skills & Tools

*Tools and technologies ONET associates with this occupation* - role-specific examples with ONET hot/in-demand flags, not employer requirements:

Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology, in demand)
Microsoft Azure software (hot technology, in demand)
Microsoft Excel (hot technology, in demand)
Microsoft Office software (hot technology, in demand)
Microsoft Power BI (hot technology, in demand)
Microsoft PowerPoint (hot technology, in demand)
Python (hot technology, in demand)
R (hot technology, in demand)

*Foundational ONET skills** (broadly shared across occupations, not unique to this role): Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Writing.

AI & this career

What we can — and can’t — tell you about AI and this role

Cited context only: an occupation-level outlook, descriptive usage data, an employer-language sample, and attributed research — kept separate. No RoleMath AI score, no automation timeline, no job-loss prediction. How we source this →

Occupation outlook · BLS

Where the occupation is projected to go

BLS projects Data scientists at 33.5% employment change for 2024-2034, with 23.4 thousand annual openings. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · checked 2026-06-07

A forecast, not a guarantee; occupation-level, not about you - and BLS does not model rapid AI adoption, so this is never an AI prediction.

How AI shows up in the work

Descriptive usage, not demand or loss

For this O*NET detail, the May 2026 usage sample reports 33.86% of Claude conversations augmenting the person's work and 66.14% automating a task. Anthropic · checked 2026-06-30 Anthropic Economic Index dataset, CC-BY.

Across all occupations the same dataset splits 51.4% augmentation / 48.6% automation (May 2026) — shown so a single role’s number is never read as an outlier.

Descriptive Claude usage data, not employment demand, not job loss, and not a personal forecast; CC-BY attribution required.

Employer language · sample

What a posting sample mentions

a sample of 10 postings (as of 2026-07-09) mentions these AI-related terms

Employer-language sample only; not official demand, market-size, salary, or certification ROI evidence.

Published research · attributed

What independent research says (not RoleMath’s claim)

Eloundou et al. estimate that about 80% of U.S. workers have at least 10% of their work tasks exposed to large language model capabilities (Science 2024). American Association for the Advancement of Science · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
Eloundou et al. estimate that about 19% of U.S. workers have at least 50% of their work tasks exposed to large language model capabilities (Science 2024). American Association for the Advancement of Science · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
Eloundou et al. explicitly disclaim any forecast of AI adoption or timing, describing their measure as capability overlap with tasks rather than a prediction of job loss (Science 2024). American Association for the Advancement of Science · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
OECD reports that high-skill occupations are the most exposed to AI on task-overlap measures (OECD Employment Outlook 2023). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
OECD reports that, as of 2023, there is little empirical evidence of negative employment effects from AI (OECD Employment Outlook 2023). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
OECD and the AIOE research find that AI exposure and automation risk often run in opposite directions, with the most-exposed high-skill occupations tending to be the least at risk of automation. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
Felten, Raj and Seamans construct an occupation-level AI Occupational Exposure index by linking AI capabilities to O*NET occupational abilities (Strategic Management Journal). Strategic Management Journal (Wiley) · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
Stanford Digital Economy Lab researchers find a roughly 16% relative decline in employment for workers ages 22-25 in the most AI-exposed occupations, based on high-frequency ADP payroll data (Canaries in the Coal Mine, working paper). Stanford Digital Economy Lab · checked 2026-06-19 correlational usage data, not proof.
The ILO notes that AI-exposure indicators measure potential task overlap and cannot by themselves establish job loss (Workers' exposure to AI). International Labour Organization · checked 2026-06-19 exposure = task overlap, not job loss.
The Anthropic Economic Index reports no measured systematic rise in unemployment attributable to AI in its usage data. Anthropic · checked 2026-06-30 correlational usage data, not proof.

Tier A research stays attributed and separate from BLS outlook and employer-language samples.

Core source records

This table lists the page’s core content records and when they were checked. Claim-specific citations appear beside the relevant text and may not be repeated here.

ID	Supports	Source	Checked
CIT-01	Supports occupation-level wage context for Data Analyst.	Data Analyst BLS OEWS wage source	2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-02	Supports occupation-level outlook context for Data Analyst.	Data Analyst BLS Employment Projections source	2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-03	Supports skills, tasks, interests, and fit context for Data Analyst.	Data Analyst O*NET source	2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00

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Data Analyst

Growing occupation - projected +33.5% through 2034.

What the numbers say about this work

What it pays by metro

What this work involves

Skills that matter

Certifications mapped to Data Analyst

Entry and starting signals

Advanced or later-step credentials

Adjacent, not primary

Common Questions

What certifications do I need to become a Data Analyst?

What is the easiest certification to start a Data Analyst career?

How much do Data Analyst certifications cost and how hard are they?

Quick Verdict

Fit Signals

Skills & Tools

What we can — and can’t — tell you about AI and this role

Where the occupation is projected to go

Descriptive usage, not demand or loss

What a posting sample mentions

What independent research says (not RoleMath’s claim)

Where to go next

Roles & paths this connects to

Zoom out

Core source records