The state of Minnesota produced a total economic value of nearly $400 billion in 2018, which represents a nearly 40% increase in gross domestic product since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009. An estimated 3 million people are employed across the state, and more than 150,000 employer firms are operating around Minnesota.
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Minnesota is home to two dozen Fortune 500 companies, including two in the top 50 (UnitedHealth Group at No. 6 and Target at No. 39), and Minnesota drew upwards of $40 million in startup investment during the third quarter of 2019 alone. More than 1 in 3 Minnesota jobs are in either education and health services or transportation and utilities, with professional and business services and government agencies accounting for another 26% of jobs across the state.
The healthy economy of Minnesota, combined with its well-regarded educational system, combine to make the state a perfect landing place for professionals looking to pursue or level-up a career in business analytics.
What business analytics educational programs are available here in Minnesota, what can people with applicable degrees expect to earn, how does the state compare to its regional neighbors and the rest of the U.S., and which companies have recently sought to hire business analytics professionals?
Business Analytics Salaries in Minnesota
Business analytics is quite a broad field with dozens of diverse and interesting job titles fitting comfortably under the umbrella of business analytics. Jobs run the gamut from the highly technical, such as Quantitative Modeler, to the more creative, such as Marketing Engagement Analyst.
Job titles for business analytics professionals in Minnesota include:
- Data Scientist
- Management Consultant
- Financial Analyst
- Market Research Analyst
- Budget Analyst
- Insights Analyst
- Business Intelligence Specialist
- Research Executive
- Decision Engineer
- Marketing Engagement Analyst
- Quantitative Modeler
- Operations Research Analyst
To understand the situation for business analytics employment and salaries in Minnesota, we’ll dig into the most recent data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for five common business analytics jobs, Budget Analyst, Financial Analyst, Management Analyst, Market Research Analyst and Operations Research Analyst.
The salaries for all five jobs in Minnesota are either near or slightly higher than the overall U.S. median, with the biggest gulf seen in Management Analyst jobs, which see those in Minnesota earning about $5,000 less than the average U.S. Management Analyst. Still, all five roles are considerably higher-paying than the overall median annual wage in Minnesota, about $43,000.
Median annual wage, Minnesota vs. U.S.
| Job Title | Minnesota | U.S. |
| Budget Analyst | $76,400 | $76,220 |
| Financial Analyst | $85,940 | $85,660 |
| Management Analyst | $78,430 | $83,610 |
| Market Research Analyst | $67,670 | $63,120 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $83,850 | $83,390 |
For all but two of the five jobs, Minnesota ranks in the top 15 among all states, and the state has the nation’s 10th-highest median salary for Financial Analysts.
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 |
In addition to relatively high salaries, business analysts generally can expect to see readily available job openings in their chosen fields. For instance, Minnesota ranks No. 11 among the states and the District of Columbia for the concentration of Management Analyst jobs.
Management Analyst employment per 1,000 jobs, top 15
| District of Columbia | 25.84 |
| Virginia | 12.92 |
| Maryland | 6.92 |
| Washington | 6.73 |
| Illinois | 6.64 |
| Rhode Island | 6.47 |
| South Dakota | 6.40 |
| Massachusetts | 6.32 |
| California | 6.12 |
| Delaware | 5.68 |
| Minnesota | 5.23 |
| Florida | 5.20 |
| Connecticut | 5.09 |
| New York | 5.07 |
| Georgia | 4.87 |
The short term and long term both look healthy for business analytics job openings in Minnesota, with steady growth expected for all five jobs, and double-digit long-term growth projected for three of the five.
Minnesota job opening growth rate, short- and long-term
| Job Title | Short-term | Long-term |
| Budget Analyst | 2.2% | 6.8% |
| Financial Analyst | 2.5% | 9.7% |
| Management Analyst | 2.5% | 11.1% |
| Market Research Analyst | 3.5% | 20.1% |
| Operations Research Analyst | 5.7% | 22.6% |
Note: Short-term 2016-2020; long-term 2016-2026
Salaries vary considerably by geographic location in the state, and the Twin Cities tend to offer the highest wages when compared to the state and other cities in Minnesota.
Median annual wage, Minnesota vs. select cities
| Job Title | Minnesota | Minneapolis-St. Paul | Duluth | St. Cloud |
| Budget Analyst | $76,400 | $80,330 | — | — |
| Financial Analyst | $85,940 | $87,580 | $73,210 | $71,810 |
| Management Analyst | $78,430 | $79,630 | $65,610 | $71,850 |
| Market Research Analyst | $67,670 | $70,530 | $53,920 | $48,520 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $83,850 | $84,400 | $57,320 | — |
Minnesota Business Analytics Degree Programs
Minnesota is home to a range of excellent institutions of higher learning, and business analytics students should be able to find opportunities in both private and public education.
Here’s a look at some of the colleges and universities in Minnesota that offer degrees in business analytics and related fields:
Business Analytics Degree Jobs in Minnesota
People with advanced training and education in business analytics should have their pick of jobs in any industry or field that can be imagined. That’s because any company or organization that uses numbers to make any decision requires the expertise of people who know how to harness those numbers to make wise decisions, and that’s exactly what business analytics training does.
SEE ALSO: Masters in Business Analytics Salary Outlook
Here is a sampling of the organizations that had posted openings for business analytics professionals in Minnesota in late 2019:
- Best Buy
- GreatAmerica Financial Services
- Prime Therapeutics
- Mayo Clinic
- Andersen Corp.
- S. Bank
- Target
- Wenger Corp.
- Wells Fargo Bank
- Ecolab
- Travelers
- CRC Marketing Solutions
- Minnesota Judicial Branch
- Presbyterian Healthcare Services
- Cargill
- Medtronic
- Avtex
- Aetna
- Daugherty Business Solutions
- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Conclusion
Earning a degree in business analytics can equip a professional with the kind of advanced tools that will enable them to make smart contributions to the success of any organization for decades to come. That’s because most business analytics programs build on the foundation of business education and add cutting-edge data science and related skills to help students future-proof their training.
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, Minnesota. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.mn.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 Minnesota. (2019). Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MNNGSP
U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts, Minnesota. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MN/PST045218