Introduction

This analysis examines salary variation across five data roles, Data Architect, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Business Analyst, and Data Analyst, using occupational wage estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, May 2024. Data were collected at the state level and aggregated by Census region. The goal is to document how compensation differs by both role specialization and geography across the United States.

This analysis uses a visual selection framework. I tried matching chart types to the structure of the data. State-level data is summarized at the regional level in Chart 3 to maintain readability across 50 states.

A note on job classifications: Because several industry job titles do not map cleanly onto OEWS occupational categories, some roles are represented using the closest available BLS occupation codes. Data Engineer is proxied by Software Developers (SOC 15-1252), Data Analyst by Operations Research Analysts (15-2031), and Business Analyst by Management Analysts (13-1111). Data Architect maps to Database Architects (15-1243) and Data Scientist to Data Scientists (15-2051) — both reasonably direct matches. The Software Developers category in particular is broader than data engineering specifically and may introduce some upward bias in those estimates.

Chart 1 - Data Architects and Engineers Lead Data Role Pay

Key Finding - Chart 1

Across the U.S., Data Architects and Data Engineers earn the most — Data Analysts the least — a gap of roughly $35,000 between the top and bottom roles.

Chart 2 — Highest and Lowest Paying States

Key Finding — Chart 2

$65,000 gap — California’s average data role salary is nearly $65,000 higher than Mississippi’s. Coastal states dominate the top 10 across every role examined.

Chart 3 — Regional Heatmap

Key Finding — Chart 3

$145,000 — Northeast Data Architects earn the most of any role-region combination. The role hierarchy holds everywhere: Data Architects out-earn Data Analysts regardless of region.

Chart 4a — State Pay Extremes by Role

Chart 4b — State Pay Extremes (Data Engineer, Data Scientist)

Key Finding — Chart 4a and 4b

Geographic spread widens at the top — The pay gap between highest and lowest states is largest for Data Engineer and Data Architect roles, smallest for Data Analyst.

Conclusion

Data role salaries are shaped by two factors: what you do and where you do it. Technical roles pay more everywhere. Coastal states pay more for every role. The highest salaries sit where both align — a senior technical role in California or Massachusetts. These findings are descriptive and do not account for cost of living or industry sector.