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The differences between finance analysts and data analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a finance analyst and a data analyst. Additionally, a data analyst has an average salary of $74,342, which is higher than the $69,887 average annual salary of a finance analyst.
The top three skills for a finance analyst include financial analysis, financial models and financial data. The most important skills for a data analyst are data analysis, python, and power bi.
| Finance Analyst | Data Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $69,887 | $74,342 |
| Hourly rate | $33.60 | $35.74 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 138,600 | 167,520 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 40 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A finance analyst is responsible for evaluating a company's financial data and historical reports to assess investment opportunities and provide accurate financial statements in support of business strategies and company performance prediction. A financial analyst's duties also include suggesting recommendations to boost operations efficiency and grow revenues, researching the current market performance and economic trends to adjust budget goals as needed, and managing client portfolios. Finance analysts must have excellent critical and analytical thinking skills to identify the best actions for the company's profitability.
Data analysts are responsible for interpreting the company's statistics and providing sound recommendations to the organization. They manage the organization's data sets, usually related to market performance, finance, or human resources. They are in charge of studying the available data, spotting trends, interpreting what the data and the trends mean, and recommending suggestions that will help the organization perform better. Their recommendations should also be relevant and backed up with strong analyses. Data analysts are expected to have a good grasp of the current market trends in the industry.
Finance analysts and data analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Finance Analyst | Data Analyst | |
| Average salary | $69,887 | $74,342 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $104,000 | Between $53,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a finance analyst and a data analyst in terms of educational background:
| Finance Analyst | Data Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between finance analysts' and data analysts' demographics:
| Finance Analyst | Data Analyst | |
| Average age | 40 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8% | Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 14.1% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 12% |