Quick answer:Data analytics degrees usually cover statistics, SQL, visualization and business decision modelling at bachelor’s or master’s level. The two occupations this feeds report medians of $120,230 for data scientists and $78,760 for market research analysts, with projected changes of 33.5 percent and 6.7 percent through 2034 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Coursework, how this differs from data science, and pay are all below.
What the Coursework Usually Covers
Applied statistics - distributions, inference, regression and experimental design, taught for use rather than for proof
SQL and data wrangling - querying, joining, cleaning and reshaping data, which is where most working hours actually go
Visualization and reporting - dashboards, chart choice, and communicating a finding to someone who will not read the appendix
Business decision modelling - forecasting, optimization, segmentation and the management science side of CIP 52.1301
Analytics tooling - a scripting language, a business intelligence platform, and spreadsheet modelling taken seriously
Data ethics and governance - privacy obligations, bias, and the limits of what a dataset can support
Most programs include a capstone using a real or realistic dataset. Ask what it is, because a portfolio of analyses on genuine messy data is what an analytics employer will actually look at.
Why This Is Not the Data Science Page
This is the distinction most readers arrive confused about, so it is worth being precise.
Data analytics sits under CIP 30.7102 and 52.1301, the data analytics, business analytics and management science codes, awarded by 475 institutions at bachelor’s or master’s level (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Data science sits under CIP 30.7001, 30.7101 and 30.3001. These are different program codes maintained by different departments, and the school lists they generate barely overlap.
The curriculum difference is real. An analytics program is usually housed in a business school and weights statistics, SQL, visualization and decision modelling toward answering a question someone in the organization asked. A data science program is usually housed in a computing or statistics department and weights linear algebra, machine learning, programming and model deployment toward building a system that produces answers repeatedly.
The relationship is close to the one between accounting and finance. Both work with the same underlying numbers, both are legitimate careers, and confusing them at enrollment costs you two years of the wrong coursework. Accounting is the discipline of recording and interpreting what happened; finance is the discipline of modelling what will. Analytics and data science divide along the same seam.
Which is right for you is mostly a question about mathematics tolerance and about who you want to sit next to. Analytics puts you next to decision-makers. Data science puts you next to engineers.
Before you request information anywhere, ask which department houses the program and how much mathematics the core sequence requires. With that filter set, compare online data analytics programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering This Degree
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
People who already read numbers at work and want the method. Supervisors, estimators, schedulers and anyone who has tracked downtime or costed a job are doing analytics informally. The degree supplies the statistics and the tooling.
Tradespeople moving toward operations or management. Analytics is one of the more direct bridges between shop-floor knowledge and a management track, because domain understanding is genuinely scarce among analysts. Knowing what the data is describing is an advantage that no amount of tooling replaces.
Working adults who want a master’s without a heavy mathematics prerequisite. The analytics master’s is widely offered part-time and is a lighter mathematical lift than the data science equivalent.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Reading the Two Occupations Honestly
This degree maps onto both of the federal occupations below, and the two tell different stories. Individual outcomes may vary.
Data scientists report a median of $120,230 across employment of 262,440, with employment projected to change by 33.5 percent from 245,900 to 328,300 and about 23,400 openings a year. That is the strongest projection of any occupation covered on this site’s computing pages.
Market research analysts and marketing specialists report a median of $78,760 across employment of 899,580, projected to change by 6.7 percent from 941,700 to 1,004,700, with about 87,200 openings a year.
The honest framing is that these are two different destinations, and an analytics degree points more naturally at the second. The first is where data science graduates concentrate. That does not make the analytics route worse, but it does make the wage expectation different, and a page that quoted only the $120,230 figure would be misleading you.
What the second row has is volume. About 87,200 openings a year against about 23,400 is a much wider door, and employment of 899,580 against 262,440 means analytics roles exist in ordinary organizations in ordinary places rather than clustering in technology employers. For someone who wants to stay in their region and in an industry they already understand, that distribution matters more than the median.
The upgrade path between the rows is also real. Analysts who add programming, statistics depth and model-building move toward the data scientist classification over time. The coursework that does it is the quantitative electives, which is worth knowing before you choose them.
Is It Worth It?
The case for is unusually solid. Both occupations are growing, one of them sharply, the total employment is large, the work is remote-friendly, and the domain knowledge a career changer already carries is a genuine asset rather than something to be unlearned.
The case against is that “analytics” is a crowded credential label and the quality range is wide. 475 institutions award it, and some of those programs are a statistics minor with a new name. The filter is the capstone, the tooling and the mathematics in the core sequence. Outcomes vary.
Data scientists earn a median $120,230 across employment of 262,440 with a projected change of 33.5 percent through 2034, while market research analysts and marketing specialists earn a median $78,760 across employment of 899,580 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Data Analytics at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$120,230 (data scientists)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Mean annual wage
$126,800 (data scientists)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$67,240 (10th pct) - $199,130 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Median hourly wage
$57.80
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
262,440 data scientists; 899,580 market research analysts
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
33.5%, about 23,400 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Bachelor’s, with master’s common for senior roles
Program catalogs
Institutions awarding
475
IPEDS Completions, 2024
SOC codes covered
15-2051 data scientists; 13-1161 market research analysts and marketing specialists
BLS OEWS, May 2025
The Two Destinations Compared
Role
Median
25th percentile
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Data scientists
$120,230
$85,660
$158,880
262,440
33.5%
Market research analysts and marketing specialists
$78,760
$58,350
$108,310
899,580
6.7%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
The gap at the 75th percentile, $158,880 against $108,310, is the clearest picture of what the quantitative depth is worth over a career. The gap in openings, about 23,400 against about 87,200, is the clearest picture of what it costs to get in. An analytics degree buys the second door with a route toward the first, and how far along that route you travel depends mostly on which electives you take.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do data analysts make?
Analytics pay depends on which occupation the role is counted in. Data scientists report a national median annual wage of $120,230 with a range from $67,240 at the 10th percentile to $199,130 at the 90th. Market research analysts and marketing specialists, where a large share of business analytics work sits, report a median of $78,760 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Is data analytics a growing field?
Data scientist employment is projected to change by 33.5 percent from 2024 to 2034, from 245,900 to 328,300, with about 23,400 openings per year. Market research analysts and marketing specialists are projected to change by 6.7 percent, from 941,700 to 1,004,700, with about 87,200 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
What is the difference between a data analytics degree and a data science degree?
The program codes are different and so is the curriculum. Data analytics sits under CIP 30.7102 and 52.1301, the business analytics and management science codes, awarded by 475 institutions at bachelor's or master's level (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Data science sits under CIP 30.7001, 30.7101 and 30.3001 and is the mathematically heavier route. Analytics answers business questions with existing data; data science builds models and systems. The relationship is close to the one between accounting and finance.
Which should I choose, analytics or data science?
Choose analytics if you want to work with decision-makers, and data science if you want to build models. Data science pays more at the median, $120,230 against $78,760 for the market research row, and demands more mathematics. Analytics has the far larger job market at employment of 899,580 and about 87,200 openings a year, and a lower barrier to entry (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
How many schools offer this degree?
475 institutions awarded CIP 30.7102 or 52.1301 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). It is a well-supplied category, and a large share of the master's programs are built for working adults.
Can you study data analytics online?
Yes. The subject is entirely computational, needs no laboratory, and the datasets and tools are the same ones used in practice. The part that varies is whether a program includes a real client or capstone project, which is worth asking about.
Does an analytics degree work as a move from a trade?
It can, and the mathematics barrier is lower than for data science or artificial intelligence. Anyone who has read equipment logs, tracked failure rates or costed a job has already done small-scale analytics without the vocabulary. Individual outcomes may vary.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051), Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists (SOC 13-1161)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - CIP 30.7102, CIP 52.1301
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
