Data Analyst vs Project Manager Salary
Project Managers earn approximately 16.7% more than Data Analysts nationally — $98,000 vs $84,000.
Project Managers earn more today, but the more useful difference is direction: Data Analyst employment is growing much faster than average while Project Manager is growing faster than average.
Pay range, not just the median
The medians hide most of what matters. Data Analyst pay runs from roughly $50,000 at the low end to $155,000 at the high end; Project Manager runs $52,700 to $132,900. The title sets the band; specialization, employer size, and location decide where inside it you actually sit.
The two bands are shaped differently. Data Analyst top earners make about 3.1× what beginners make, against 2.5× for Project Manager. A wide band means the ceiling rewards specializing and the median understates what is achievable; a narrow one means pay is more predictable and less dependent on landing the right niche.
Where each field is heading
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects Data Analyst employment to grow 23% over the decade to 2034 — growing much faster than average — against growth of 6% for Project Manager.
Growth rate is not the same thing as opportunity. Data Analyst roles see roughly 19,800 openings a year and Project Manager roles about 65,200, counting replacements for people who retire or leave. Project Manager has the larger raw number, which is usually what you feel when actually job hunting — a small field growing fast can still be harder to break into than a large flat one.
Moving between the two
These two barely touch. Tech and Business draw on separate training pipelines, and employers in one rarely read experience in the other as relevant. Budget for a real reset. Common entry point for career-switchers from finance, operations, or marketing because SQL and Excel are learnable in a few months and many roles don't require a CS background. Common entry point from operations, IT, or construction coordinator roles; PMP certification is portable across industries and often required for senior openings.
If you are entering rather than switching: Data Analyst — Bachelor's in any quantitative-adjacent field (business, econ, stats) plus a portfolio of dashboards/SQL projects; the 2021 SOC revision folds data analysts into the same Data Scientists code as more advanced ML roles, so BLS wage/openings figures here are shared with data scientists and likely overstate the analyst-only entry pay. Project Manager — Bachelor's degree in business, IT, or a technical field, then 2-3 years coordinating projects before earning the title; a CAPM or PMP certification accelerates the jump to lead PM.
Pay ranges, education requirements, and employment projections come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook and Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. See our methodology for how these are compiled and updated.
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