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The differences between decision support analysts and analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a decision support analyst, becoming an analyst takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a decision support analyst has an average salary of $81,227, which is higher than the $73,007 average annual salary of an analyst.
The top three skills for a decision support analyst include data analysis, SAS and tableau. The most important skills for an analyst are customer service, troubleshoot, and data analysis.
| Decision Support Analyst | Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $81,227 | $73,007 |
| Hourly rate | $39.05 | $35.10 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 96,068 | 253,138 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A decision support analyst is a support staff who perform a variety of specialized analyses such as financial analyses and cost-benefit analyses. Your duties typically include documenting analytical findings, designing and developing data reporting systems tailored for business operations, and providing team members with processed data as needed. Additionally, you will be responsible for managing data integrity and accuracy, diagnosing and troubleshooting system errors, and providing recommendations for improvements of the decision support systems. You are also expected to train other team members on how to use the system.
Analysts are employees or individual contributors with a vast experience in a particular field that help the organization address challenges. They help the organization improve processes, policies, and other operations protocol by studying the current processes in place and determining the effectiveness of those processes. They also research industry trends and data to make sound inferences and recommendations on what the company should do to improve their numbers. Analysts recommend business solutions and often help the organization roll out these solutions. They ensure that the proposed action plans are effective and produce the desired results.
Decision support analysts and analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Decision Support Analyst | Analyst | |
| Average salary | $81,227 | $73,007 |
| Salary range | Between $58,000 And $112,000 | Between $53,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a decision support analyst and an analyst in terms of educational background:
| Decision Support Analyst | Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between decision support analysts' and analysts' demographics:
| Decision Support Analyst | Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.1% Female, 50.9% | Male, 52.4% Female, 47.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 12.9% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 7.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.3% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 12% |