Investigative analyst vs staff analyst

The differences between investigative analysts and staff analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an investigative analyst and a staff analyst. Additionally, an investigative analyst has an average salary of $125,975, which is higher than the $99,158 average annual salary of a staff analyst.

The top three skills for an investigative analyst include criminal justice, external stakeholders and anti-money laundering. The most important skills for a staff analyst are project management, process improvement, and technical support.

Investigative analyst vs staff analyst overview

	Investigative Analyst	Staff Analyst
Yearly salary	$125,975	$99,158
Hourly rate	$60.56	$47.67
Growth rate	3%	11%
Number of jobs	28,703	174,178
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does an investigative analyst do?

An investigative analyst is responsible for handling and resolving suspicious activities that pose risks for an organization's reputation and stability. Investigative analysts review incident reports, such as fraud and other law violations, strategizing on effective ways to minimize losses and prevent misconduct reoccurrence. They collect evidence, including documents and interviews, to support their claims and record their findings. An investigative analyst must be highly communicative and organizational, as well as the ability to keep and secure confidential information until further notice.

What does a staff analyst do?

Staff Analysts are employees who oversee the activities related to the employees. They monitor the performance of the employees and assess whether particular employees suit the role they have. They also assess the current roles in the company to see if those roles are really needed. Staff Analysts ensure that the manpower allocation in the company is efficient. They analyze staff-related data to check whether there are more areas for improvement. Staff Analysts may also be assigned to come up with projects related to improving productivity.

Investigative analyst vs staff analyst salary

Investigative analysts and staff analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Investigative Analyst	Staff Analyst
Average salary	$125,975	$99,158
Salary range	Between $102,000 And $154,000	Between $71,000 And $136,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Montana	New Jersey
Best paying company	Meta	Bayer
Best paying industry	Professional	Technology

Differences between investigative analyst and staff analyst education

There are a few differences between an investigative analyst and a staff analyst in terms of educational background:

	Investigative Analyst	Staff Analyst
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Business
Most common college	SUNY at Binghamton	Northwestern University

Investigative analyst vs staff analyst demographics

Here are the differences between investigative analysts' and staff analysts' demographics:

	Investigative Analyst	Staff Analyst
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 44.9% Female, 55.1%	Male, 47.6% Female, 52.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 2.8% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 12.1% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	12%

Differences between investigative analyst and staff analyst duties and responsibilities

Investigative analyst example responsibilities.

Manage a team responsible for an audit and complete overhaul of a lab after finding several critical HIPAA violations.
Manage reporting, investigating identity thefts, identifying account take over and AML, conducting compliance audits and account closures as needed
Manage the Medicaid provider exclusion and reinstatement monitoring and reporting activities to meet customer expectations and government requirements.
Provide QA oversight of corrective and preventive actions by reviewing and entering data into the CAPA system.
Increase focus on data privacy and breaches, HIPAA compliance, third-party due diligence and export controls.
Review ACH, wires and activity on accounts for suspicious activity.

Show more

Staff analyst example responsibilities.

Develop infrastructure to enable clients to better understand and manage risks associate with their decision environment to capture opportunities.
Communicate with design engineers to obtain weekly status of engineering documents and update spreadsheet and charts in SharePoint.
Project manager for derivative processing on the accounting platform including creating a steam line process and validating tickets for accuracy.
Provide statistically orient in-depth market analyses using SAS for specific construction products including concrete, oil, steel and machinery equipment.
Deliver an innovative data visualization capability.
Monitor and analyze critical path of material flows and trends, coordinate material synchronization within the MRP system to maximize profitability.

Show more

Investigative analyst vs staff analyst skills

Common investigative analyst skills

Criminal Justice, 7%
External Stakeholders, 7%
Anti-Money Laundering, 7%
Identify Trends, 7%
Management System, 6%
Law Enforcement Agencies, 4%

Common staff analyst skills

Project Management, 9%
Process Improvement, 7%
Technical Support, 6%
Windows, 6%
SQL, 6%
Logistics, 5%

Investigative Analyst vs. similar jobs

Investigative Analyst related careers

Investigative Analyst related jobs

What similar roles do

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse protective service jobs

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z