With one of the healthiest economies in the U.S., Colorado is a prime site for business analytics professionals. A diverse landscape with heavy employment in sectors as disparate as utilities, government and professional services, Colorado’s gross domestic product for 2018 neared $375 billion, an increase of nearly 50% since 2009.
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The home state for almost two dozen Fortune 500 companies, Colorado also ranks among the most popular places for startup investment, coming in No. 10 among all states in the third quarter of 2019 with investments totaling $322 million.
Colorado is firmly rooted in traditional industries while gearing up for a bright future, which makes it an ideal place for people with expertise in business analytics. The diversity of the state’s economy makes it perfect for people with master’s degrees in business analytics or related tracks, as they’ll be able to make major contributions — and probably earn major salaries.
What is the state of business analytics in Colorado? Where are jobs most plentiful and most likely to be well-paying, and which higher educational institutions in the state are poised to offer the best preparation for a long career?
Business Analytics Salaries in Colorado
The field of business analytics goes beyond the job title of Business Analyst, though there’s no doubt that’s a popular title that many people will find applicable. Because the training necessary to get a job in business analytics is likely to be quite vast, job titles range from the highly technical to the managerial — and everything in between.
Some possible business analytics roles include:
- Data Scientist
- Management Consultant
- Financial Analyst
- Market Research Analyst
- Budget Analyst
- Digital Marketing Specialist
- Strategy Manager
- Insights Analyst
- Research Executive
- Decision Engineer
- Quantitative Modeler
- Operations Research Analyst
- Business Intelligence Report Developer
To measure the health of the business analytics landscape in Colorado, we’ll dig into data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor. The BLS publishes data related to employment, wages and businesses across the country, and we examined data for five analyst job titles that fall within the business analytics umbrella — Budget, Financial, Management, Market Research and Operations Research.
For all five of the jobs we researched, typical salaries for business analytics experts are higher in Colorado than in the U.S. overall, with the greatest spread in Financial Analyst wages.
Median annual wage, Colorado vs. U.S.
| Job Title | Colorado | U.S. |
| Budget Analyst | $79,630 | $76,220 |
| Financial Analyst | $90,060 | $85,660 |
| Management Analyst | $86,560 | $83,610 |
| Market Research Analyst | $65,400 | $63,120 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $84,420 | $83,390 |
Colorado ranks no lower than 15th for the median wage for any of the five jobs we studied, and its highest ranking among all states was No. 6 for Financial Analyst wages.
Median annual wage, Financial Analyst
| Highest | |
| New York | $107,160 |
| California | $95,680 |
| New Jersey | $94,070 |
| Connecticut | $92,470 |
| District of Columbia | $91,390 |
| Colorado | $90,060 |
| Massachusetts | $87,060 |
| Virginia | $86,550 |
| Montana | $86,520 |
| Minnesota | $85,940 |
| Lowest | |
| Kansas | $69,870 |
| South Dakota | $69,240 |
| West Virginia | $69,190 |
| Tennessee | $69,130 |
| Florida | $69,060 |
| Nebraska | $68,850 |
| South Carolina | $68,260 |
| Louisiana | $67,760 |
| Kentucky | $65,760 |
| Oklahoma | $62,600 |
Colorado ranks no lower than No. 7 for the long-term growth rate projected for any of the five business analytics jobs we examined, and the state is expected to see the third-highest growth rate in the country for Management Analyst job openings through 2026.
Projected percentage change in Management Analyst job openings, 2016-2026, top 15
| Utah | 57.4% |
| Washington | 33.7% |
| Colorado | 27.4% |
| Tennessee | 26.6% |
| Florida | 25.1% |
| Nevada | 25.0% |
| Texas | 21.2% |
| Arizona | 21.0% |
| Arkansas | 19.5% |
| North Carolina | 19.2% |
| Virginia | 18.5% |
| Iowa | 18.3% |
| New York | 18.1% |
| South Carolina | 17.3% |
| Indiana | 16.8% |
Double-digit long-term growth is expected in Colorado for all five of the job titles we studied, and the average short-term growth rate for Colorado is 5.1% through 2020.
Colorado job opening growth rate, short- and long-term
| Job Title | Short-term | Long-term |
| Budget Analyst | 2.5% | 13.6% |
| Financial Analyst | 5.3% | 22.9% |
| Management Analyst | 4.6% | 27.4% |
| Market Research Analyst | 6.5% | 31.1% |
| Operations Research Analyst | 6.4% | 42.5% |
Note: Short-term 2016-2020; long-term 2016-2026
Typical wages in Colorado cities vary considerably, though generally Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs offer comparable wages to the state overall, with some jobs being far more lucrative in the cities.
Median annual wage, Colorado vs. select cities
| Job Title | Colorado | Denver | Boulder | Colorado Springs |
| Budget Analyst | $79,630 | $79,800 | $93,140 | $77,350 |
| Financial Analyst | $90,060 | $91,440 | $108,810 | $85,380 |
| Management Analyst | $86,560 | $86,770 | $80,050 | $86,530 |
| Market Research Analyst | $65,400 | $68,960 | $64,350 | $58,020 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $84,420 | $78,440 | $92,210 | $104,910 |
Colorado Business Analytics Degree Programs
Colorado colleges and universities rank among the best in the country, with students having many options between private and public institutions. Colorado’s position as a popular place for investment in startups, particularly in the tech sector, make it an ideal educational stop for people interested in the kind of data science that powers business analytics.
Here’s a look at some of the best analytics degrees offered in Colorado:
Business Analytics Degree Jobs in Colorado
Colorado ranks No. 4 when it comes to the lowest unemployment rates in the country, but that doesn’t mean business analytics experts should be discouraged about their chances of finding a good job. That’s thanks largely to the diversity of the Colorado economy, which presents employment opportunities in traditional business venues as well as nonprofits, healthcare or even the U.S. military.
SEE ALSO: Masters in Business Analytics Salary Outlook
Here is a sampling of the companies, organizations, agencies and other groups that were hiring business analytics professionals in Texas in late 2019:
- Transamerica
- Joy Organics
- Xero
- City of Fort Collins
- Aspen Skiing Co.
- IBM
- DST Systems
- JBS USA Food Co.
- Denver Public Schools
- S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Western Union
- Children’s Hospital Colorado
- Lockheed Martin
- UCHealth
- Shane Co.
- Arrow Electronics
- Adams County
- Panasonic
- Norththrop Grumman
- Crowe
Conclusion
Everywhere any kind of business is done, even if that business isn’t designed to actually turn a profit, there’s a great and growing need for experts in business analytics. That’s because our world is increasingly relying on data, whether that means sales figures, social media shares or hiring data. So people with an advanced training in business analytics should continue to have a strong employment outlook here in Colorado and beyond.
References
Note: Information on recent job openings was gathered from Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com in late 2019.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economy at a Glance, Colorado. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.co.htm
PWC/CB Insights, MoneyTree Report, Q3 2019. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/moneytree-report/assets/moneytree-report-q3-2019.pdf
U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Query System, Custom Tables. (Undated). Accessed from https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/home
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Total Gross Domestic Product for Colorado. (2019). Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CONGSP
U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts, Colorado. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CO/PST045218