Financial Analyst Salary: The Complete Breakdown

The distance from the 25th percentile ($79,290) to the 90th ($180,860) is $101,570. That spread alone is about twice the median annual wage for all U.S. occupations, $50,980.^[2] Three things in the federal data line up with where an analyst lands in it. The first is industry: the same occupation has a median of $124,370 in securities and investment firms and $85,390 at colleges and universities. The second is location, covered in the state section below. The third is the job itself. SOC 13-2051 covers an analyst who studies a company's own financial performance and an analyst who rates securities for an investment fund, and BLS describes the senior end of the field as moving into portfolio and fund management.^[4]

The shape of the range matters too. The 25th percentile sits $15,570 above the 10th, but the 90th sits $47,520 above the 75th. Pay is bunched together at the bottom of the field and stretched out at the top, which is why the average, $116,800, runs $14,060 above the median. For planning a first job or a budget, the median is the more useful number; the mean is pulled up by a minority of high earners.

The wage survey behind every salary on this page counts straight-time gross pay: base pay, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, and incentive pay including commissions and production bonuses. It excludes overtime, severance, nonproduction bonuses, and the employer's cost of benefits such as health insurance and retirement contributions.^[5] In a job where a discretionary year-end bonus is part of the package, that means the figures here describe salary more reliably than total pay. If an offer includes a bonus target, compare the base salary to these medians and treat the bonus as a separate line.

The survey also leaves out the self-employed and owners of unincorporated firms.^[5] That matters less for this occupation than for most: BLS estimates that 2.2 percent of financial and investment analysts are self-employed, against 5.8 percent across all occupations.^[2]

New York is both the highest-paying large market and the largest one. Of the 361,980 financial analyst jobs in the survey, 52,380 (14.5 percent) are in New York, followed by California with 45,380 and Texas with 28,820. Two things can lift a state's median: its mix of employers, since securities and investment firms are the highest-paying industry for this occupation nationally, and its prices, since employers in expensive places have to pay more to hire. BLS does not publish this occupation's pay by state and industry together, so the table cannot say how much of New York's $25,190 premium comes from each. The cost-of-living section below at least removes the price effect.

Two results deserve a second look. Wyoming has the highest median in the table, $187,090, but it rests on about 190 jobs, too few to call it a market, which is why the top-paying list only counts states with at least 1,000 analysts. Oregon is the more useful surprise: 2,820 jobs and a $120,590 median, second only to New York among the larger markets. At the other end, Louisiana ($75,680) and West Virginia ($69,030) have the lowest medians, $58,900 below New York's.

A large job market is not the same as a high-paying one. Texas has the third-most financial analyst jobs, 28,820, with a median of $99,150, and Florida has 23,900 jobs at $94,490. Both sit below the national median. For a job seeker that cuts both ways: more openings to choose from, at lower nominal pay, and the cost-of-living section shows how much of that gap local prices close.

A higher salary in an expensive state does not always buy more. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Regional Price Parities, which measure how much the same mix of goods and services costs in each state relative to the national average, set at 100.^[6] Dividing a state's median by its price parity restates it in national-average dollars. Among states with at least 1,000 analysts, these come out on top:

• New York: $127,930 nominal, about $118,500 after adjusting for prices that run 7.9 percent above the national average.
• Oregon: $120,590 nominal, about $116,700 after adjusting for prices that run 3.4 percent above the national average.
• North Carolina: $102,390 nominal, about $108,500 after adjusting for prices that run 5.7 percent below the national average.
• Missouri: $98,420 nominal, about $108,400 after adjusting for prices that run 9.2 percent below the national average.
• Iowa: $92,370 nominal, about $105,300 after adjusting for prices that run 12.2 percent below the national average.

The ranking reshuffles. New York stays first at about $118,500 and Oregon second at about $116,700, because Oregon's prices run only 3.4 percent above average. States with below-average prices move up: North Carolina, Missouri, and Iowa are not in the nominal top five, but all three join it once prices are counted. California moves the other way: its $109,110 median drops to about $98,500 once its price level, 10.7 percent above average, is applied, which puts it below the national median of $102,740.

These parities are statewide averages. Prices in a state's largest metro area usually differ from the state figure, and BEA publishes metro-level parities for that reason, so use this as a first pass when comparing locations rather than a final answer on a specific offer.

The highest-paying industry on this list is also the largest employer. In securities, commodity contracts, and investment firms, where 89,390 analysts work, the analysis is the product: BLS describes financial and investment analysts as people who rate and recommend investments based on business and economic trends, which is the core business of asset managers, brokerages, and investment banks.^[4] The median there is $124,370, and the industry accounts for 24.7 percent of all financial analyst jobs in the wage survey.^[1] The three largest employers on the list together hold 46.7 percent of the occupation.

Management of companies and enterprises, the second-largest employer with 44,850 jobs and a $101,760 median, covers corporate headquarters and holding companies, where the work centers on the parent company's own finances rather than outside securities. Credit intermediation ($100,700) and insurance carriers ($98,420) pay close to the national median. Computer systems design and related services is the outlier: a smaller employer with 10,930 analysts but the second-highest median on the list, $121,630.

The lowest median among these large employers is colleges and universities, $85,390. Across the eight industries, medians for the same occupation code span $38,980. If pay is the priority, the industry you aim for matters about as much as the title on the offer.

BLS ties demand for financial analysts to overall economic activity. Analysts are needed to evaluate investments when businesses start or expand, investing has become more global, and companies have growing volumes of data to assess.^[4] The other side of that link is that hiring tends to follow the economy; the projection is an average over ten years, not a forecast for any single one.

Two different job counts appear on this page, and they measure different things. The wage survey counts 361,980 wage-and-salary jobs in May 2025. The projections count 377,200, drawn from a broader set of surveys that also covers the self-employed.^[2] Use the first when reading the pay figures and the second when reading growth.

Among neighboring roles, projected growth from 2025 to 2035 ranges widely: data scientists 34.6 percent, management analysts 10.1 percent, financial managers 9.7 percent, accountants 5 percent, and personal financial advisors 1.4 percent.^[2] Financial analysts sit in the middle of that group.

Financial managers earn the most of this group, a median of $166,570, but it is a management job that BLS says typically requires 5 years or more of related work experience.^[2] See financial manager pay for how that role's range compares.

Personal financial advisors have a median close to analysts, $105,070, but a much wider range: $50,190 at the 10th percentile and $357,020 at the 90th. Management analysts sit almost level with financial analysts at $101,860. Accountants earn less at the median, $83,680, in a far larger occupation of 1,449,500 jobs. If you are still choosing a major, our accounting vs finance guide compares the two paths before the paycheck.

Data scientists, which BLS lists as a similar occupation, earn a median of $120,230, $17,490 more than financial analysts, in an occupation projected to grow much faster.^[4][2] The overlap is the analytical toolkit; the difference is that a data scientist's subject is any data, not specifically financial statements and securities. See data scientist pay for that role's full breakdown.

BLS's Occupational Outlook Handbook profile for financial analysts combines two occupations: financial and investment analysts, covered on this page, and financial risk specialists, who measure a firm's exposure to credit and market risk and set policies to keep it within regulatory limits.^[4] The risk side pays more at the median. Financial risk specialists earned a median of $117,330 in May 2025, with the middle half between $83,980 and $158,250 and the top 10 percent above $196,110.^[1]

It is also a much smaller occupation, 63,850 jobs in the wage survey against 361,980 for financial and investment analysts, and it is projected to grow 7.4 percent from 2025 to 2035.^[1][2] The entry requirement is the same bachelor's degree.^[2] For someone with strong statistics and an interest in regulation, risk is a parallel track into the same family of jobs, and one that pays $14,590 more at the median.

The figures on this page are most useful when you check an offer against three of them at once. Start with the state median for where the job is, not the national one: the national median is $102,740, but the state median is $127,930 in New York and $94,490 in Florida. Then check the industry median for the employer's industry, since that spread is as large as the spread between states. Finally, place the offer on the percentile ladder: an offer at $79,290 sits at the 25th percentile nationally, and one at $133,340 at the 75th.^[1]

Two adjustments make the comparison fairer. Compare base salary to base salary, because the wage survey excludes nonproduction bonuses and benefits.^[5] And if the job requires a move, use the cost-of-living adjustment above to compare locations in the same dollars.

Licensing can matter as much as the charter. Some financial analyst positions require a license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA); because most of those licenses require sponsorship by an employer, companies do not expect candidates to hold one before starting.^[4] The one FINRA exam you can take on your own is the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE): it is open to anyone 18 or older, including students, costs $100, and a pass stays valid for four years, though it does not qualify you for registration by itself.^[7] BLS also notes that a master's degree in finance or an MBA may improve an analyst's chances of moving up to portfolio or fund manager.^[4] Our rankings of master's in finance programs and MBA programs cover both routes, and CFA vs CPA compares the two credentials analysts weigh most often.