In a lot of cases, a higher education can mean a higher salary or even a better job. That's why we found out the best colleges for data analysts. We based this list on these metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of students working, ratio of working vs. non-working students 10 years after admission, average cost of attendance and median debt for graduates.
Best Colleges And Majors For Data Analysts
Best Colleges For Data Analysts
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
3. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
5. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,230
Enrollment
12,161
6. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$18,454
Enrollment
40,108
7. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$52,930
Enrollment
5,030
8. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
9. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,830
Enrollment
29,474
10. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,896
Enrollment
15,529
Data Analyst Education Requirements
There are several education requirements to become a data analyst. Data analysts usually study business, computer science or finance. 65% of data analysts hold a bachelor's degree and 15% hold a master's degree. We found these by analyzing 61,216 data analyst resumes to investigate the topic of data analyst education more precisely.
The most common colleges for students to pursue their goal of becoming a data analyst are University of Phoenix and DeVry University.
For those who would rather stay in your pajamas during the day, we prepared some online courses that can help in data analyst education paths.
We prepared a list of a data analyst certifications that you should consider. The necessary certifications that data analysts must have to succeed are Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
What Education Do You Need To Become a Data Analyst?
What degree do you need to be a Data Analyst?
The most common degree for data analysts is bachelor's degree 65% of data analysts earn that degree. A close second is master's degree with 15% and rounding it off is associate degree with 12%.
- Bachelors, 65%
- Masters, 15%
- Associate, 12%
- High School Diploma, 3%
- Other Degrees, 5%
What Should I Major in to Become a Data Analyst?
Most data analysts, 24% to be exact, major in business. Some other common majors for a data analyst include computer science and finance majors.
- Business, 24%
- Computer Science, 10%
- Finance, 6%
- Accounting, 6%
- Other Majors, 54%
Most Common Colleges For Data Analysts
Here are the most common colleges for a data analyst career in the US based on their resumes. Advocates often get their degree in University of Phoenix, DeVry University, and University of Maryland - College Park .
| Data Analyst Common College | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Phoenix | 15.31% |
| DeVry University | 6.58% |
| University of Maryland - College Park | 5.90% |
| University of California - Davis | 5.82% |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | 5.16% |
Best Majors For Data Analysts
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business | 23.9% |
| 2 | Computer Science | 10.1% |
| 3 | Finance | 6.3% |
| 4 | Accounting | 5.8% |
| 5 | Economics | 5.4% |
20 Best Online Courses for Data Analysts
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1. Data Analysis Immersive (Full-time)
Learn to problem solve, and effectively communicate, like an analyst. This course teaches you to use industry-standard tools to make ethical, data-driven decisions. Experience hands-on training to master SQL, Excel, Tableau, PowerBI, and Python – tools listed in virtually every data analytics job posting across industries...
2. Data Analytics (Part Time)
Harness Excel, SQL, and Tableau to drive powerful analysis and insights. Build confidence and credibility to apply this versatile skill set to countless jobs. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...
3. Intro to Statistics
Statistics is about extracting meaning from data. In this class, we will introduce techniques for visualizing relationships in data and systematic techniques for understanding the relationships using mathematics...
4. Data Visualization with Tableau
Learn the fundamentals of data visualization and practice communicating with data. This course covers how to apply design principles, human perception, color theory, and effective storytelling with data. If you present data to others, aspire to be a business analyst or data scientist, or if you'd like to become more effective with visualization tools, then you can grow your skills with this course...
5. Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python
Working knowledge of SQL (or Structured Query Language) is a must for data professionals like Data Scientists, Data Analysts and Data Engineers. Much of the world's data resides in databases. SQL is a powerful language used for communicating with and extracting data from databases. In this course you will learn SQL inside out- from the very basics of Select statements to advanced concepts like JOINs. You will: -write foundational SQL statements like: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE -filter...
6. Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere
This is the first course in the Google Data Analytics Certificate. These courses will equip you with the skills you need to apply to introductory-level data analyst jobs. Organizations of all kinds need data analysts to help them improve their processes, identify opportunities and trends, launch new products, and make thoughtful decisions. In this course, you’ll be introduced to the world of data analytics through hands-on curriculum developed by Google. The material shared covers plenty of key...
7. Data Warehouse ETL Testing & Data Quality Management A-Z
ETL Testing and Data Quality Management for beginners with practical exercises and certificate of completion...
8. Fundamentals of Data Analysis for Big Data
This course prepares participants to begin running data analysis on databases...
9. Intro to Data Analytics
Discover if data is a career fit for you Regardless of your industry or role, fluency in the language of data analytics will allow you to contribute to data driven decision making. In this free, two-hour livestream, you’ll learn to understand, analyze, and interpret data so you too can join the data conversation. We’ll cover how to ask the right questions of your data and basic analytic functionality. Then you’ll apply your new found data analytic skills to a real-world dataset, allowing you...
10. Intro to Data Analysis
This course will introduce you to the world of data analysis. You'll learn how to go through the entire data analysis process, which includes posing a question, wrangling your data into a format you can use and fixing any problems with it, exploring the data, finding patterns in it, and building your intuition about it, drawing conclusions and/or making predictions, and communicating your findings. You'll also learn how to use the Python libraries NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib to write code...
11. Process Data from Dirty to Clean
This is the fourth course in the Google Data Analytics Certificate. These courses will equip you with the skills needed to apply to introductory-level data analyst jobs. In this course, you’ll continue to build your understanding of data analytics and the concepts and tools that data analysts use in their work. You’ll learn how to check and clean your data using spreadsheets and SQL as well as how to verify and report your data cleaning results. Current Google data analysts will continue to...
12. Analyze Data to Answer Questions
This is the fifth course in the Google Data Analytics Certificate. These courses will equip you with the skills needed to apply to introductory-level data analyst jobs. In this course, you’ll explore the “analyze” phase of the data analysis process. You’ll take what you’ve learned to this point and apply it to your analysis to make sense of the data you’ve collected. You’ll learn how to organize and format your data using spreadsheets and SQL to help you look at and think about your data in...
13. Practical SQL Bootcamp for Data Analysts and Data Scientists
Master One of the Most In-Demand Skills for Data Analysts in 2020!...
14. Data Analyst - ETL/SSIS/SQL/PowerBI
Learn to extract, transform, and analyse data...
15. Data Engineering - ETL, Web Scraping, Big Data, SQL, Power BI
Hands on Data Interaction using - ETL, Web Scraping, Big Data, SQL, Power BI...
16. Complete Data Wrangling & Data Visualisation With Python
Learn to Preprocess, Wrangle and Visualise Data For Practical Data Science Applications in Python...
17. Data Warehouse Developer-SQL Server/ETL/SSIS/SSAS/SSRS/T-SQL
Develop and Implement a Data Warehouse Solution Step by step...
18. Data Warehouse - The Ultimate Guide
Master Data Warehousing, Dimensional Modeling & ETL process...
19. Statistics / Data Analysis: Survey Data and Likert Scales
How to Process Survey Data and Analyze Likert Scales In SPSS...
20. The Data Science Course 2022: Complete Data Science Bootcamp
Complete Data Science Training: Mathematics, Statistics, Python, Advanced Statistics in Python, Machine & Deep Learning...
Top 10 Affordable Universities For Data Analysts
If those top 10 were a bit out of your price range, you might want to check these schools instead. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price and mean earnings after 6 years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for data analysts.
1. Baruch College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,262
Cost of Attendance
14,046
2. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,381
Cost of Attendance
21,034
3. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,306
Cost of Attendance
16,091
4. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,620
Cost of Attendance
18,136
5. Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,656
Cost of Attendance
21,623
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,309
Cost of Attendance
16,714
7. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,410
Cost of Attendance
20,456
8. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,798
Cost of Attendance
18,306
9. USF Sarasota-Manatee
Sarasota, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,587
Cost of Attendance
13,043
10. University of Houston - Victoria
Victoria, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,491
Cost of Attendance
19,075
Top 10 Hardest Universities To Get Into For Data Analysts
Some people like a challenge. Well, we challenge you to get into one of these schools. It's not going to be easy. We know this based on these institutions' admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted and mean earnings of students 6 years after admission.
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,508
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,492
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
13%
SAT Average
1,445
4. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions Rate
20%
SAT Average
1,419
5. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Admissions Rate
5%
SAT Average
1,520
6. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions Rate
11%
SAT Average
1,513
7. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
Admissions Rate
15%
SAT Average
1,506
8. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
22%
SAT Average
1,380
9. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Admissions Rate
22%
SAT Average
1,420
10. University of Rochester
Rochester, NY • Private
Admissions Rate
29%
SAT Average
1,422
Top 10 Easier To Apply Universities For Data Analysts
Why make getting a job harder on yourself than it has to be? With these colleges, you're sure to be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores and average salary of students 6 years after graduation in order to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into.
1. Notre Dame de Namur University
Belmont, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
82%
SAT Average
983
2. Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
98%
SAT Average
1,003
3. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions Rate
68%
SAT Average
964
4. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
84%
SAT Average
1,031
5. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions Rate
81%
SAT Average
999
6. Holy Names University
Oakland, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
70%
SAT Average
849
7. University of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
88%
SAT Average
1,044
8. University of North Texas at Dallas
Dallas, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
83%
SAT Average
992
9. Life University
Marietta, GA • Private
Admissions Rate
94%
SAT Average
979
10. University of Baltimore
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions Rate
78%
SAT Average
1,020
Average Data Analyst Salary by Education Level
Data analysts with a Doctorate degree earn more than those without, at $85,768 annually. With a Masters degree, data analysts earn a median annual income of $81,723.
| Data Analyst Education Level | Data Analyst Salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $81,723 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $74,921 |
| Doctorate Degree | $85,768 |
Data Analyst Education FAQs
What Degree Do You Need To Be A Data Analyst?
To be a data analyst, you typically need a bachelor's degree in data analytics, computer science, statistics, information systems, or a related field. Many schools may not have a specific degree for data analytics, but all of the aforementioned majors will give you the foundational technical skills that you will need as a data analyst.
Many aspiring data analysts will complete internships during their studies to help give them the necessary experience for finding their first positions. This is especially helpful for students who attend a university without a specific data analytics degree. A bachelor's degree is the minimum requirement for becoming a data analyst. This will qualify you for entry-level positions.
If you are looking to excel in the field and want to do more specialized work, obtaining a higher degree is recommended. This will qualify you for more positions that generally are paid better and require you to be highly specialized.
What Is The Best College For Data Analysts?
The best college for Data Analysts is Northwestern University
Have more questions? See all answers to common business and financial questions.