How To Become A Location Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a location analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

John Lyden

A location analyst can be involved in various aspects of business operations in a location. This may include site research, management, planning, and so on. A location analyst is responsible for studying geographical locations to acquire information for market intelligence, planning, or simply for research purposes. You may also be involved in operations planning and property acquisition. Your work involves mapping out the dynamics of areas and provide ideas and new information on site development, ensuring that they all work based on the goals of a company or individual. You may also help find investment opportunities by analyzing data from a given location.

To qualify as a location analyst, you will need a bachelor's degree-level education in accounting, finance, business administration, or any other field that equips you with numeracy and analytics skills. Knowledge of GIS/Mapping will be quite vital here. Plus, you should be able to prepare reports and present information clearly and succinctly. An ability to think critically and solve basic problems will be essential here as well. A location analyst's average salary ranges from $38,530 to $143,750.

What general advice would you give to a location analyst?

John Lyden

Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, University of Nebraska - Omaha

Research skills (ability to find and interpret information), oral and written communication skills (ability to present information clearly), data analysis and interpretation, language interpretation and translation. Computer facility will be highly valued. Employers will include those in higher education, government, non-profits, research institutes, and museums.

ScoreLocation AnalystUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,631

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate 19%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.13%

Asian 14.05%

Black or African American 4.69%

Hispanic or Latino 11.16%

Unknown 4.88%

White 65.09%

Gender

female 64.04%

male 35.96%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a location analyst

Explore location analyst education requirements

Most common location analyst degrees

Bachelor's

68.2 %

Associate

13.6 %

Master's

10.6 %

Start to develop specific location analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Integrity Issues	43.98%
Market Trends	19.09%
Financial Models	18.22%
Analysis Support	15.20%
GIS	2.09%

Complete relevant location analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New location analysts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a location analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real location analyst resumes.

Research location analyst duties and responsibilities

Analyze and forecast sales, manage inventory levels and determine distribution strategy to all Marshalls stores.
Evaluate sales and inventory performance in order to maintain open-to-buy projections, vendor forecasts and properly allocate merchandise
Transform data into stories through effective use of data visualization, simplification and understanding of intend audiences.

Prepare your location analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your location analyst resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a location analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable location analyst resume templates

Build a professional location analyst resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your location analyst resume.