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What is a price economist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted expert
Christopher Ball Ph.D.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a price economist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.95 an hour? That's $58,131 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 1,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a price economist?

Christopher Ball Ph.D.Christopher Ball Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Director Central European Institute & Istvan Szechenyi Chair Associate Professor of Economics, Quinnipiac University

Economics is a broad, analytical, and generally more quantitative significant. Because it’s a social science that helps students understand nearly any field because they know all fundamental interactions between people in markets (supply and demand) or inside workplaces (incentives, optimal production, etc.). And because much of economics focuses on the market place (supply and demand), our majors have an understanding of the core principles involved in all business disciplines. As a result, I recommend our students aim for more quantitative jobs and those using more analysis. The specific field is less important, and I always recommend people seek employment in areas they like. When you enjoy something, you work harder, and you are more likely to succeed. Because economics forms the basis of so many things in business from the marketing to production to the management, economics majors tend to start similarly to other majors and then change trajectories and rise faster than other majors. A few years out and they are ideal for management because they can apply economic concepts to any area and learn the basics quickly.
However, if someone is quantitatively oriented and added a technical minor to the econ major like data science or something, then those students are in super high demand, COVID crisis or not. We still see them graduating with some of the highest starting salaries and having much higher wages just five years out than most other graduates. All the benefits of economics being analytical and quantitative combines well with those hardcore data skills to form a compelling combination.
ScorePrice EconomistUS Average
Salary
4.5

Avg. Salary $58,131

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
4.3

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
2.5
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 11.56%

Black or African American 4.50%

Hispanic or Latino 7.92%

Unknown 5.35%

White 70.45%

Gender

female 35.00%

male 65.00%

Age - 43
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 - 43
Stress level
4.3

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level
10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
5.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a price economist

  1. Explore price economist education requirements

    Most common price economist degrees

    Bachelor's

    65.2 %

    Master's

    26.1 %

    Doctorate

    8.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific price economist skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Financial Statements46.76%
    Transfer Pricing43.62%
    Data Collection9.62%
  3. Research price economist duties and responsibilities

    • Manage, utilize, and archive database for commodities in assign areas.
    • Develop and apply sophisticated statistical models in the production of the CPI using SAS software.
    • Develop hedonic regression models using SAS in order to quality adjust apparel price movements within the indexes.
    • Develop, specify, and test econometric models using time-series econometrics, panel-data econometrics, and limit dependent variable techniques.
  4. Apply for price economist jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a price economist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first price economist job

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Average price economist salary

The average price economist salary in the United States is $58,131 per year or $28 per hour. Price economist salaries range between $25,000 and $132,000 per year.

Average price economist salary
$58,131 Yearly
$27.95 hourly

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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