Only six states added more residents between 2017 and 2018 as Georgia, and the state’s economy produced a total of nearly $600 billion in 2018 alone. Georgia has more than 225,000 employer firms across the state, and the labor force topped 5 million in mid-2019.
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About 1 in 5 jobs in Georgia are tied to trade, transportation and utilities, with professional and business services accounting for more than 15% and hospitality adding another 11%. Mining and construction are Georgia’s most rapidly growing sectors so far in 2019 compared to 2018.
Georgia is home to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies, including some of the most valuable companies in the U.S., such as Coca-Cola and UPS. But it’s not just longtime market staples that Georgia is known for, with more than $200 million in venture capital investment in the second quarter of 2019 alone.
SEE ALSO: Why Choose a Business Analytics Degree
A growing population and rapidly expanding economy. A business environment that includes some of the most venerated companies in American history but that’s also attractive for startups. For individuals with advanced education in business analytics, the options in Georgia are broad.
For Georgia students, what Master of Business Analytics programs are available in our state, which business analytics jobs pay the best here (and how do we stack up with other states), and what local companies are seeking to hire business analytics pros?
Business Analytics Salaries in Georgia
While a Master of Business Analytics degree-holder certainly would be qualified for the job title of Business Analyst, this is a field that encompasses dozens of other potential job titles. That includes the highly technical (think Quantitative Modeler) and the more managerial (think Management Consultant). What all these jobs have in common is a grounding in both the principles of business and the practice of data analysis.
Job titles you can find in Georgia for business analytics include:
- Management Consultant
- Data Scientist
- Financial Analyst
- Market Research Analyst
- Budget Analyst
- Data Engineer
- Quantitative Modeler
- Operations Research Analyst
What is the state of business analytics employment in Georgia? To understand how lucrative jobs are here and how we stack up to the rest of the country, we’ll use five business analytics jobs as examples and examine data for those jobs as published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
SEE ALSO: Masters in Business Analytics Salary Outlook
In Georgia, annual pay for the five sample business analytics jobs lags behind the overall U.S. wages. Still, all five jobs enjoy much higher wages than the median wage for all occupations in Georgia, which is just shy of $36,000.
Median annual wage, Georgia vs. U.S.
| Job Title | Georgia | U.S. |
| Budget Analyst | $67,850 | $76,220 |
| Financial Analyst | $75,230 | $85,660 |
| Management Analyst | $80,710 | $83,610 |
| Market Research Analyst | $61,100 | $63,120 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $62,680 | $83,390 |
The median annual wage in Georgia for Management Analysts is $80,710, which puts the state at No. 19 overall. That’s the highest placement among the states for any of these jobs in Georgia.
Median annual wage, Management Analyst, top 20
| District of Columbia | $103,300 |
| Washington | $97,910 |
| New Jersey | $97,860 |
| Maryland | $97,850 |
| Virginia | $97,420 |
| Massachusetts | $95,080 |
| New York | $94,970 |
| Connecticut | $94,410 |
| New Hampshire | $90,190 |
| Alaska | $89,550 |
| Colorado | $86,560 |
| Texas | $85,770 |
| Alabama | $84,400 |
| Illinois | $83,780 |
| North Carolina | $83,700 |
| California | $82,550 |
| Pennsylvania | $81,560 |
| Rhode Island | $81,010 |
| Georgia | $80,710 |
| Wyoming | $79,590 |
Typical wages for these five example jobs may lag behind a bit in Georgia, but the state has among the highest projected growth rates for many of the jobs, including the fifth-highest rate through 2020 for Financial Analysts.
Projected growth in Financial Analyst job openings, 2016-2020
| Highest | |
| Arizona | 7.3% |
| Utah | 5.9% |
| Vermont | 5.9% |
| North Carolina | 5.4% |
| Georgia | 5.4% |
| Colorado | 5.3% |
| District of Columbia | 4.8% |
| Texas | 4.7% |
| Nevada | 4.6% |
| Washington | 4.6% |
| Lowest | |
| Indiana | 1.5% |
| Missouri | 1.4% |
| New Jersey | 1.3% |
| Delaware | 1.1% |
| Louisiana | 1.0% |
| Maryland | 0.8% |
| Maine | 0.0% |
| Montana | 0.0% |
| North Dakota | 0.0% |
| West Virginia | 0.0% |
All five example business analytics jobs are expected to see healthy growth, particularly through 2026.
Georgia job opening growth rate, short- and long-term
| Job Title | Short-term | Long-term |
| Budget Analyst | 2.1% | 12.2% |
| Financial Analyst | 5.4% | 16.7% |
| Management Analyst | 5.5% | 16.7% |
| Market Research Analyst | 8.1% | 29.0% |
| Operations Research Analyst | 6.6% | 27.8% |
Note: Short-term 2016-2020; long-term 2016-2026
Business analytics income varies depending on the geography of the state, from a high of $83,010 for Management Analysts in Atlanta to $57,560 for Operations Research Analysts in Savannah.
Median annual wage, Georgia vs. select cities
| Job Title | Georgia | Atlanta | Augusta | Savannah |
| Budget Analyst | $67,850 | $67,780 | $69,380 | $73,370 |
| Financial Analyst | $75,230 | $77,060 | $68,450 | $70,170 |
| Management Analyst | $80,710 | $83,010 | $80,390 | $59,040 |
| Market Research Analyst | $61,100 | $63,230 | $52,020 | $47,810 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $62,680 | $62,980 | $68,800 | $57,560 |
Georgia Business Analytics Degree Programs
Georgia is home to several of the most well-regarded academic programs in the U.S., including many that have rigorous business analytics degree programs. Here’s a look at the colleges and universities that offer advanced business analytics training:
SEE ALSO: List of Georgia Masters in Business Analytics Degrees
Business Analytics Degree Jobs in Georgia
Georgia’s bustling (and still growing) economy means that business analytics jobs should remain plentiful across the state and should be found in a variety of settings, from traditional corporate structures to easygoing startups to selfless nonprofits.
SEE ALSO: 10+ Highest Paying Data Science & Analytics Jobs for 2020
Here is a sampling of the companies, organizations, agencies and other groups that had posted openings for business analytics pros in Georgia in July 2019:
- Kaiser Permanente
- Emory University
- Georgia Department of Agriculture
- Hyundai USA
- Delta Air Lines
- VMware
- Georgia State University
- LG Electronics
- UPS
- DeKalb County
- Chick-fil-A
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
- Porsche
- Instacart
- Amazon
- The Coca-Cola Co.
- Georgia-Pacific
- Verizon
- Carter’s
Conclusion
Master of Business Analytics is one of today’s most sought-after business degrees because it prepares an individual to make important contributions now and long into the future. That’s because the degree combines the principles of traditional business with the foundations of data collection and analysis that will continue to be the future of the business world. Between the wide availability of business analytics jobs in Georgia and the degree options here in our state, Georgia just may become the next business analytics epicenter.
References
- Note: Information on recent job openings was gathered from Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com in late July 2019.
- 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 Georgia. (2019). Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GANGSP
- U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts, Georgia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/GA
- PWC/CB Insights, MoneyTree Report, Q2 2019. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/moneytree-report/assets/moneytree-report-q2-2019.pdf
- U.S. Census Bureau, Nevada and Idaho Are the Nation’s Fastest-Growing States. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/estimates-national-state.html