Decision Analyst Overview
Working as a Decision Analyst
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a decision analyst. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.01 an hour? That's $74,905 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 26% and produce 28,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Decision Analyst Do
There are certain skills that many decision analysts have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, math skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a decision analyst, we found that a lot of resumes listed 21.8% of decision analysts included data analysis, while 19.0% of resumes included sql, and 18.1% of resumes included sas. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the decision analyst job title. But what industry to start with? Most decision analysts actually find jobs in the finance and technology industries.
How To Become a Decision Analyst
If you're interested in becoming a decision analyst, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.4% of decision analysts have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 45.8% of decision analysts have master's degrees. Even though most decision analysts have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a decision analyst. When we researched the most common majors for a decision analyst, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on decision analyst resumes include doctoral degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a decision analyst. In fact, many decision analyst jobs require experience in a role such as finance analyst. Meanwhile, many decision analysts also have previous career experience in roles such as senior business analyst or internship.
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Decision Analyst Jobs
Average Salary for a Decision Analyst
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Regions Bank Decision Science Analyst Decision Science Analyst | Regions Bank Regions Bank | 06/20/2019 06/20/2019 | $109,20006/20/2019 $109,200 |
All Ohio Five Jays Inc. DBA Joes Deli & Restaurant Decision Analyst Decision Analyst | All Ohio Five Jays Inc. DBA Joes Deli & Restaurant All Ohio Five Jays Inc. DBA Joes Deli & Restaurant | 05/24/2019 05/24/2019 | $48,00005/24/2019 $48,000 |
Data, Inc. Operations Data/Decision Analyst Operations Data/Decision Analyst | Data, Inc. Data, Inc. | 03/18/2019 03/18/2019 | $62,00003/18/2019 $62,000 |
Quickpath Consulting Inc. Decision Science Analyst Decision Science Analyst | Quickpath Consulting Inc. Quickpath Consulting Inc. | 03/16/2019 03/16/2019 | $75,00003/16/2019 $75,000 |
Quickpath Consulting Inc. Senior Decision Science Analyst Senior Decision Science Analyst | Quickpath Consulting Inc. Quickpath Consulting Inc. | 03/16/2019 03/16/2019 | $86,00003/16/2019 $86,000 |
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Top Colleges for Decision Analysts
1. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY
2. New York University
New York, NY
3. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
6. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
7. Stanford University
Stanford, CA
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
9. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
10. Boston University
Boston, MA
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Decision Analyst
Top Skills For a Decision Analyst
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.8% of decision analysts listed data analysis on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and math skills are important as well.
- Data Analysis, 26.2%
- SQL, 16.2%
- SAS, 15.2%
- R, 12.1%
- Powerpoint, 7.8%
- Other Skills, 22.5% See All Decision Analyst Skills
Best States For a Decision Analyst
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a decision analyst. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Delaware, New York, and Minnesota. Decision analysts make the most in Washington with an average salary of $98,058. Whereas in Delaware and New York, they would average $87,717 and $85,589, respectively. While decision analysts would only make an average of $85,372 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Delaware
$87,718
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$91,063
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$85,590
Avg. Salary