Data Analyst vs. Data Scientist Salary: Which Pays More?
The federal wage data puts a $31,290 gap between the two job families — but the comparison hinges on which occupation code your analyst title actually falls under.
By Priya Nandakumar · Oct 06, 2026 · 9 min read
On the federal numbers, data scientist is the better-paid of the two titles. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage for data scientists at $120,230 in May 2025, against $88,940 for operations research analysts, the closest Occupational Outlook Handbook match for quantitative analyst-style work, since BLS has no dedicated code for "data analyst" (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). That is a $31,290 annual difference at the median.
Both figures are medians of wages, not total compensation, and both are national US figures. They do not include bonuses or equity, they do not cover work outside the United States, and they shift by state, metro area and industry — the sections below show where to look up each one.
Side-by-Side Pay Comparison
All figures below are national US medians from the same release — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 wage data — so the two columns are arithmetically comparable. "Data analyst" uses operations research analysts as its stand-in, because BLS does not publish a separate data analyst occupation.
| Dimension | Data scientist | Data analyst (operations research analyst proxy) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage, May 2025 (BLS) | $120,230 | $88,940 | $31,290 a year |
| Median hourly equivalent (annual ÷ 2,080 hours) | $57.80 | $42.76 | $15.04 an hour |
| Median monthly equivalent (annual ÷ 12) | $10,019 | $7,412 | $2,608 a month |
| Median as a percentage of the other role | 135.2% of the analyst median | 74.0% of the data scientist median | 35.2% up / 26.0% down |
| Entry tier: BLS lowest 10 percent, May 2025 | Published on the BLS Data Scientists page, Pay tab | Published on the BLS Operations Research Analysts page, Pay tab | Compare the two 10th-percentile annual figures directly |
| Top tier: BLS highest 10 percent, May 2025 | Published on the BLS Data Scientists page, Pay tab | Published on the BLS Operations Research Analysts page, Pay tab | Compare the two 90th-percentile annual figures directly |
| Raise timeline you can actually measure | New OEWS median each year; current release is May 2025 | New OEWS median each year; current release is May 2025 | Re-check both medians once a year |
Two cautions on reading that table. First, BLS does publish a lowest-10-percent and a highest-10-percent annual wage for both occupations (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), but those dollar amounts are not reproduced here — look them up on each occupation's Pay tab rather than assuming the $120,230 and $88,940 medians describe the ends of the range.
Second, there is no published "typical raise timeline" for either role. The honest version is that OEWS is refreshed annually, the current vintage is May 2025, and the way to track your own trajectory against the market is to re-read both medians each time a new release lands.
Both medians are wage figures. If an employer quotes you a package that includes an annual bonus, a signing bonus or equity, that package is not comparable to $120,230 or $88,940 — separate the base number out before you compare.
If your title is literally "data analyst," also look at market research analysts, which appears with its own median annual wage on the similar-occupations table of the BLS Data Scientists page (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) and is often a closer match for a junior reporting-and-dashboards job than operations research analysts is.
Pay by Experience and Location
BLS does not break wages out by years of experience, so there is no honest "3 years vs 8 years" table to build. What it does publish, for each occupation separately, is a national median, percentile wages, state and metropolitan area wages, and an industry breakdown. The rows below pair the two roles on the same basis each time, all drawn from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data.
| Tier or view (matched units) | Data scientist | Data analyst (operations research analyst proxy) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| National median, all experience levels, annual | $120,230 | $88,940 | $31,290 |
| Same medians, hourly at 2,080 hours | $57.80 | $42.76 | $15.04 |
| Same medians, weekly at 52 weeks | $2,312 | $1,710 | $602 |
| Same medians, monthly at 12 months | $10,019 | $7,412 | $2,608 |
| Entry tier (lowest 10 percent, annual, May 2025) | Listed on the BLS Data Scientists Pay tab | Listed on the BLS Operations Research Analysts Pay tab | Compare 10th percentile to 10th percentile |
| Experienced tier (highest 10 percent, annual, May 2025) | Listed on the BLS Data Scientists Pay tab | Listed on the BLS Operations Research Analysts Pay tab | Compare 90th percentile to 90th percentile |
| Best-paying industry (median annual, May 2025) | BLS names a top-paying industry for data scientists | BLS names a top-paying industry for operations research analysts | Compare the two industry medians, not the two national medians |
| Your state or metro (annual, May 2025) | BLS OEWS state and metro tables, data scientists | BLS OEWS state and metro tables, operations research analysts | State gaps can differ from the $31,290 national gap |
The hourly, weekly and monthly rows are straight conversions of the same May 2025 annual medians, shown so you can compare a salaried offer against an hourly contract without mixing units.
Location matters more than most candidates expect, and it is the one variable you can check precisely: pull your own state's figure for each occupation from the OEWS tables before you treat $31,290 as the gap that applies to you. Industry matters too — BLS lists a highest-paying industry for each occupation in the May 2025 data, and in both cases that industry median sits apart from the national median.
Outside the United States, none of these figures apply. BLS covers US employment only; use your own national statistics agency's occupational wage series instead.
Why the Pay Gap Exists
The job titles are not measured the same way. BLS has no occupational code called "data analyst." The $88,940 median annual wage used throughout this guide belongs to operations research analysts, the closest Occupational Outlook Handbook match for quantitative analyst work (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Data scientists, by contrast, have their own code and their own $120,230 median annual wage in the same May 2025 release. Part of the $31,290 difference is therefore a classification effect: employers can put a job that looks identical to yours under either banner, and the title they choose moves the benchmark before any work is done. Market research analysts, which also carries a published median annual wage on the BLS Data Scientists similar-occupations table (2025), is a third possible home for the same duties.
Entry requirements differ by occupation, and BLS records that difference. The Occupational Outlook Handbook lists a typical entry-level education and states whether related work experience is normally required, separately for data scientists and for operations research analysts (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Occupations that gate entry behind more schooling or prior experience in a related job tend to carry the higher median — which is consistent with the data scientist median sitting 35.2% above the analyst median in the same May 2025 data. Read both Handbook pages side by side before deciding which route to train for; the requirement is the lever, not the title.
Projected demand is tracked separately for each role. BLS publishes a projected employment growth rate and a numeric employment change for data scientists over 2025–35, and a different pair of projections for operations research analysts over the identical 2025–35 window (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Two occupations competing for the same graduates with different ten-year demand outlooks will not converge on the same wage. Check both projections on the Handbook's Job Outlook tab, since the gap in the 2035 outlook is a better guide to where pay is heading than the May 2025 medians are.
Neither figure is take-home total compensation. $120,230 and $88,940 are median annual wages for May 2025. Annual bonuses, signing bonuses and equity grants sit on top of base pay and are negotiated per employer — so a data science package quoted as a single number may overstate the base you can borrow against, while an analyst role with a steady base and no variable pay may be closer to its headline figure. Ask every employer to split base from variable before you compare any offer to these medians.
Finally, there is no licensing body for either role and no general union wage scale in either occupation — so unlike nursing or the trades, nothing external anchors the floor. The floor is whatever the lowest-10-percent annual wage on each BLS page says it is, and that is the number worth checking before you accept your first offer.
Frequently asked questions
Can a data analyst ever out-earn a data scientist?
Yes — as an operations research analyst (the BLS stand-in for data analyst), you would need to clear $120,230 a year to beat the data scientist median annual wage from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data. That is $31,290 above the $88,940 analyst median, so it means sitting well up the analyst distribution. Check the highest-10-percent annual figure on the BLS Operations Research Analysts Pay tab to see how far above the analyst median that top decile reaches.
Is the $120,230 figure base salary or total compensation?
That figure applies to data scientists only, and it is a median annual wage for May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) — not a package. Equity, signing bonuses and annual bonuses are negotiated separately by each employer and are not folded into $120,230. If a data science offer is quoted as one combined number, ask for the base figure before comparing it to the median.
My job title is literally "Data Analyst." Which number should I use?
For the analyst side, start with operations research analysts at a $88,940 median annual wage (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025), because BLS publishes no separate data analyst occupation. If your work is closer to reporting and dashboards than to modelling, also check market research analysts, which carries its own published median annual wage on the BLS Data Scientists similar-occupations table (2025) and often sits nearer a junior analyst job.
Does the $31,290 gap hold in every state?
Not necessarily. The $31,290 is the difference between two national medians — $120,230 for data scientists and $88,940 for operations research analysts in the May 2025 BLS data. For the data scientist side specifically, BLS publishes separate state and metropolitan area annual wage tables, and the same is published separately for operations research analysts. Pull both for your state and recalculate the gap yourself before using the national number in a negotiation.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Data Scientists : Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Operations Research Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025)
Written by
Priya Nandakumar
Priya covers the texture of offices, remote teams, and the spaces in between — what makes a workplace bearable or unbearable long after the paycheck stops mattering. She likes stories where nobody is the villain.
