Job market reports · October 2026

Data Analyst job market report

What 2,054 live US Data Analyst postings actually ask for, read from employers’ own careers pages in October 2026. Updated monthly.

2,054
Live postings
625 first posted in October 2026
$125k
Median disclosed pay
45.1% of postings state one
7.6%
Open to entry level
157 internship or junior postings
13%
At employers with H-1B records
Verified in US government filings

Which skills postings mention

Share of the 524 Data Analyst postings we have read that name each skill. Ranked by how often it appears, not by how important anyone thinks it is.

These are mentions, not requirements. Our extraction returns one list per posting and does not separate “5+ years required” from “a plus”, so both are counted here. Read a percentage as how often a skill comes up, never as how often it is mandatory.

From 526 postings (25.6% of this role) whose full description we have read. That subset was selected by our job-matching system rather than at random, so treat this as describing the subset rather than the whole market. Why.

  1. 1sql66.4%
  2. 2python47.3%
  3. 3tableau39.5%
  4. 4data analysis37.4%
  5. 5data visualization33%
  6. 6power bi29.8%
  7. 7r23.5%
  8. 8data modeling22.3%
  9. 9excel20.6%
  10. 10dbt16.2%
  11. 11looker15.5%
  12. 12snowflake13.4%
  13. 13etl12.2%
  14. 14data quality11.5%
  15. 15reporting11.5%
  16. 16business intelligence10.7%
  17. 17dashboarding9.4%
  18. 18dashboards9.4%
  19. 19data governance9.2%
  20. 20communication8.4%
  21. 21automation8%
  22. 22bigquery7.8%
  23. 23business analysis7.8%
  24. 24a/b testing7.6%
  25. 25databricks7.6%

sql leads at 66.4%, then python at 47.3% and tableau at 39.5%. A skill appearing in a third of postings is worth learning; one appearing in 5% is worth knowing exists.

How much experience is expected

The seniority mix below covers all 2,054 postings. Among the ones we have read, half of those stating a number ask for 3+ years, and the middle 50% sit between 2 and 5.

  1. 1No level in title57.1%
  2. 2Senior28.3%
  3. 3Entry level / junior3.8%
  4. 4Internship3.8%
  5. 5Lead3.2%
  6. 6Manager1.4%
  7. 7Staff1.3%
  8. 8Principal0.7%
  9. 9Director+0.5%

7.6% of Data Analyst postings are open to entry level. That is 157 postings out of 2,054. This is the number most career guides leave out, and it is the one that should shape how you apply: the ceiling on a new graduate’s search is not effort, it is how few of these roles are open to them at all. Volume of applications matters more here than it does at senior level, and so does applying to the postings that are genuinely entry level rather than the ones that merely sound it.

What it pays

Annual base ranges as stated by employers. Read the caveats at the bottom before quoting any of these — the disclosing minority is not a random sample.

All levels
n = 237
10th
$80k
25th
$100k
Median
$125k
75th
$156k
90th
$180k
Entry level only

Not enough disclosed salaries to publish a band — only 16 of these postings state one. We would rather show nothing than a median built on a handful of rows.

Senior / staff / principal
n = 98
10th
$110k
25th
$123k
Median
$155k
75th
$175k
90th
$189k

From 526 postings (25.6% of this role) whose full description we have read. That subset was selected by our job-matching system rather than at random, so treat this as describing the subset rather than the whole market. Why.

Where the jobs are

Share of postings by metro. Postings we could not place to a metro are not counted here, so these shares describe the located subset.

  1. 1Remote12.1%
  2. 2New York, NY7.1%
  3. 3Washington, DC5.6%
  4. 4Other — CA4.4%
  5. 5Other — VA3.8%
  6. 6San Francisco, CA2.3%
  7. 7Dallas, TX1.9%
  8. 8Other — FL1.9%
  9. 9Other — TX1.9%
  10. 10Other — OH1.8%
  11. 11Chicago, IL1.6%
  12. 12Other — WA1.6%
  13. 13Los Angeles, CA1.5%
  14. 14Boston, MA1.5%
  15. 15Other — MD1.4%

Remote, hybrid or on-site

17.5% of these postings are explicitly remote and 18.8% are explicitly on-site. A large "not stated" share is normal — many descriptions simply never say.

  1. 1Not stated42.6%
  2. 2Hybrid21.1%
  3. 3On-site18.8%
  4. 4Remote17.5%

From 526 postings (25.6% of this role) whose full description we have read. That subset was selected by our job-matching system rather than at random, so treat this as describing the subset rather than the whole market. Why.

Who is hiring

Employers with the most open Data Analyst postings this month. The number beside each is their posting count.

Visa sponsorship

13% of Data Analyst postings sit at employers that appear in US government H-1B approval records for the last three fiscal years. That is a property of the employer, not a promise about this role.

Employers hiring most for this role who appear in those filings:

A further 2.7% of these postings are at employers whose job descriptions state that they sponsor, but which we could not find in the approval records. That is a weaker signal, so we count it separately rather than adding it to the figure above. It may simply mean the employer sponsors under a different legal name.

Separately, 19.4% of these postings require a security clearance, which in practice means US citizenship. If you need sponsorship, that slice of the market is closed to you regardless of the employer’s history — worth filtering out early rather than discovering at the final stage.

How to prepare, based on the above

Nothing in this section is generic advice. Every line is read off this month's numbers for this role.

  1. Learn sql, python, tableau first. They appear in 66.4%, 47.3% and 39.5% of postings respectively. Anything below roughly 10% on the list above is a differentiator, not a prerequisite — useful once the top of the list is solid, and a poor use of your time before that.
  2. Expect to be asked for 3 years. A stated minimum is a filter, not a rule, and the 2-year figure at the 25th percentile is the realistic target for the most reachable quarter of this market. Apply to those before the ones asking 5+.
  3. Apply to far more postings than feels reasonable. With 7.6% of postings open to entry level, the addressable market for a new graduate this month is roughly 157 postings nationally. That is a volume problem before it is a quality problem.
  4. Anchor on $100k–$156k when pay comes up — the middle half of disclosed ranges. Below the 10th percentile of $80k you are being underpaid relative to what employers in this corpus publish for the role.

How we counted

967,730 live US postings read directly from 82,954 employers’ own careers pages in October 2026 — not from a jobs aggregator, so a role reposted across several sites is counted once. Counts, seniority, locations and sponsorship cover all of them. Skills, pay and years of experience cover 526 postings (25.6%) whose full description we have read — a subset assembled by our job-matching system rather than drawn at random, so read those as describing the subset. Full methodology, limitations and external checks.

Reusing these figures? Please cite the month and link back to this page — the numbers move every month, and an undated statistic about hiring is worse than none. All reports.

Earlier months