How Much Do Data Analysts Make in the UK? 2024 Salary Guide

Data analysts use mathematical and analytical methods to transform data into better data-driven business decisions. As the amount of data available to businesses increases, so too does the demand for skilled data analysts to process and interpret it. Data analysts are typically paid well for their skills.

In this article, you’ll learn how much data analysts earn on average, as well as how various factors, like experience, industry, location, and job title can impact your data analyst salary. If you’re interested in starting or advancing your career as a data analyst, we’ll also talk about some ways you may be able to boost your earning potential.

What is an average data analyst's salary?

The average base salary for a data analyst in the UK is £38,070 according to the job listing site Glassdoor, as of July 2023 [1]. In 2020, the median salary for full-time workers across the UK was £31,461, according to the ONS, showing how lucrative a career as a data analyst can be [2].

Several factors can influence how much your salary will be as a data analyst. Let’s take a closer look at a few of these considerations.

Data analyst salaries by experience

One of the biggest factors that can influence your salary is your level of experience. In general, the more years you spend working as a data analyst, the more senior a position you can expect to achieve. A higher salary is one of the main benefits of achieving a higher position in a company. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a senior data analyst is £47,761 [3]. Reaching the senior level usually takes two to four years.

Moving into a leadership role can further boost your earning potential. Glassdoor reports that directors of data make an average salary of £102,873 in the UK [4].

Data analyst salaries by industry

Just about every industry can use data analytics to drive better business decisions. But the industry you choose to work in can have an impact on your pay. The industries where the demand for data professionals is highest tend to be the same industries that pay the most on average. 

The business intelligence, finance, sharing economy services, health care, and entertainment industries are at the top of the list for hiring data analysts right now. Jobs in these industries represent a portion of the 86,000 data analyst jobs open worldwide [5].

Data analyst salaries by location

Where you live can also have a big impact on how much you can make as a data analyst. Typically, larger cities like London, Manchester, or Edinburgh have a higher demand for data analysts, meaning higher salaries. This also means a higher cost of living in most cases. The three cities just mentioned are all in the top 11 for the highest cost of living in the United Kingdom. However, as more and more companies employ a geographically dispersed workforce (including remote workers), it’s common for companies to offer location-based salaries—salaries that take into account location rather than merit alone.

According to Glassdoor, these are the average salaries for data analysts in the following large UK cities:

• London: £42,898 [6]

• Manchester: £34,402 [7]

• Edinburgh: £37,258 [8]

• Birmingham: £34,593 [9]

• Liverpool: £32,499 [10]

• Glasgow: £33,162 [11]

Salaries for other data professionals

Getting a job as a data analyst might be the first step in your data career. As you gain experience and new data science skills, you might move into a more advanced or specialised position. Here are a few of them, along with their average UK salaries according to Glassdoor. 

• Business analyst: £48,741 [12]

• Database administrator: £41,510 [13]

• Data engineer: £49,722 [14]

• Data scientist: £53,861 [15]

• Data architect: £78,562 [16]

• Analytics manager: £70,561 [17]

Job outlook for data analysts

The current job market in the UK is demanding workers that specialise in data, such as data analysts, data scientists, and data engineers. Additionally, data skills are listed as a requirement for various “on-the-rise” jobs included in LinkedIn’s 2022 Jobs on the Rise report [18]. 

This is likely fuelled by the fact that more and more companies are adopting big data analytics. More than 80 per cent of companies surveyed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2020 report said they’d be using big data by 2025. In the same report, data analysts and scientists appeared at the top of the list of jobs with increasing demand across industries [18].

Next steps

Start building the job-ready skills you need in less than six months with the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate on Coursera. Learn key analytical skills, including SQL, R, and Tableau, directly from Google’s own team of data professionals and earn a shareable certificate from an industry leader for your resume.