Data Analyst Salary in Austin — 2026 BLS Data

$90K median base salary · Austin
BLS OEWS · 2024 data

Salary distribution

Percentile breakdown of Data Analyst base salaries in Austin.

Austin is a friendlier market for data analysts than the headline tech-hub list suggests. The role sits at a lower base than software engineering, but the entry-level density is much deeper, the path into a Levels.fyi-tier company is shorter, and Texas’s lack of a state income tax meaningfully changes what your offer is actually worth. This guide pulls the 2024 BLS OEWS percentiles for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, layers in 2026 Built In Austin and Levels.fyi numbers from Apple, Google, Meta, and Facebook, and walks through how to read an Austin offer relative to other markets.

How Austin DA salaries compare

The data analyst market in Austin is broader and shallower than the software engineer market. There are more open roles at the junior end, fewer at the staff and principal end, and a long tail of operations-analyst and analytics-engineer titles that pay close to the BLS median. Built In Austin’s 2026 city snapshot puts the average data analyst salary at $91,816, with additional cash compensation of $8,453 for a total of around $100,269. That figure tracks closely with the BLS OEWS 50th percentile and is the right anchor for a mid-level offer at a non-FAANG employer.

For comparison against other tech-heavy metros in early 2026:

  • San Francisco Bay Area — Data analyst median total comp around $135K, with senior bands clearing $180K.
  • New York City — Median total comp roughly $115K, heavily skewed by finance and ad-tech employers.
  • Seattle — Median around $120K, driven by Amazon and Microsoft analytics orgs.
  • Remote-US — Median around $95K, with wide variance based on geo-banding policy.
  • Austin — BLS 50th percentile sits near $90K; Levels.fyi reports a current Austin total comp range of $108K–$168K, which skews toward mid-senior reporters at large tech firms.

Two numbers, two stories. Built In’s $92K average covers the full Austin population (including municipal, healthcare, and education employers). Levels.fyi’s higher band reflects who actually fills out the site: mid-senior analysts at Apple, Google, Meta, Indeed, and a few large startups. Both are accurate for the population they describe.

What drives the spread in Austin

The Austin data analyst market splits into four tiers, and where an offer lands is almost entirely about which tier the employer occupies.

At the top are the FAANG and FAANG-adjacent offices that have full analytics orgs in Austin. Apple’s Austin campus pays data analysts $86.5K at the ICT2 entry band and up to $173K at ICT4. Meta’s smaller Austin presence pays its highest medians: Facebook IC5 data analysts here clear $186K total comp, with offers running $120K to $225K+. Google’s Austin office pays data analysts in a wide $70K–$246K+ band depending on level. These offices use the same compensation philosophy as their Bay Area HQs and treat Austin as a same-band location for analytics roles.

The second tier is the large public tech employers that have grown analytics teams in Austin: Indeed (headquartered here), Oracle, IBM, AMD, Tesla, and Dell. These run more conservative total comp in the $95K–$140K range, with a heavier base-and-bonus structure and lighter equity than the FAANG offices.

The third tier is the funded startup ecosystem: companies like Q2, Cart.com, Self Financial, ICON, and dozens of Series B–D startups. Pay sits in the $80K–$110K total comp range with equity-heavy mix. This is where most Austin analyst hiring happens by raw headcount.

The fourth tier is the long tail of local employers, agencies, healthcare systems, and government contracting work, where pay sits closer to the BLS 25th percentile of $70K. State of Texas analyst roles in the Austin HHSC and DSHS offices sit at the very bottom of this band, often $55K–$70K.

Junior and entry-level analysts have a real path through tiers 3 and 4 into tier 2 or 1 within three to five years if the pace of skill growth is right. That ladder is harder to climb in San Francisco or New York, where the entry-level market is more saturated.

Total comp in Austin

The structure of an Austin data analyst offer is typically much more base-heavy than a software engineer offer at the same employer. Equity is real but smaller, and the bonus target is usually 8–12 percent of base rather than 15–20 percent.

A representative mid-level Austin offer at a large public tech company in 2026 looks like:

  • Base salary: $90,000
  • Target annual bonus: $8,000 (about 9% of base, typical at Indeed, Oracle, IBM)
  • Equity (annualized): $5,000 (four-year vest, conservative grants)
  • Sign-on: $5,000–$10,000

That puts the typical mid-level total comp at around $103K, which lines up with Built In Austin’s $100K figure. Senior analysts (L4/IC4 equivalent) at FAANG offices reach $140K–$180K, and a small set of staff and principal analysts at Apple, Meta, and Google clear $200K. Below the FAANG tier, the senior ceiling is closer to $130K–$150K total.

Two structural differences from the Bay Area worth budgeting for:

  1. Equity is meaningfully smaller. A mid-level Apple analyst in Austin typically receives an RSU grant 60–70 percent of the equivalent Bay Area grant. Recruiters will frame this as a cost-of-living adjustment. Push back if the offer is below band, but expect resistance.
  2. No state income tax. Texas has none. A $100K base in Austin nets roughly $5K–$7K more per year than the same base in California after state taxes, and roughly $3K–$5K more than New York. At the data analyst pay band this percentage gap is smaller in dollars than it is for software engineers, but it still matters.

COL-adjusted comparison

Austin’s cost of living index sits at roughly 119.3 against a US baseline of 100. San Francisco runs at 178.6, NYC at 168, Seattle at 142. The story for data analysts is different from the software engineer story because the gross salary gap is wider in percentage terms.

A $90K Austin offer with no state tax and Austin housing costs produces a take-home position roughly comparable to a $120K–$125K San Francisco offer after California state tax and Bay Area rent. For senior analyst roles ($130K Austin vs $160K Bay), the gap narrows further and Austin often wins on post-tax savings rate. New York comparisons are closer because rent in Brooklyn and Queens is competitive with Austin’s central neighborhoods, but the state-plus-city tax burden in NYC erases roughly $7K–$9K from a $130K base.

The break-even point for most data analysts sits around the senior IC band. Below that, Austin’s after-tax position is competitive or better than any other major hub except remote roles paying Bay Area bands. Above it, the equity ceiling at Bay Area FAANG pulls ahead.

Negotiation playbook

A few moves that consistently work in Austin data analyst negotiations in 2026:

  • Anchor on Levels.fyi for FAANG and Built In Austin for everyone else. Levels.fyi data skews senior and large-company. Built In’s $92K average is the right anchor for a Series B startup or a mid-size tech employer. Bringing both numbers to a negotiation signals the employer is being benchmarked against the right peer group.
  • Negotiate base first. Bonus targets are percentage-of-base, so a $5K base bump compounds into bonus and future raise math. Equity at this pay band is smaller and harder to move; sign-on is one-time.
  • Use the no-state-tax argument carefully. If a recruiter tries to discount your offer because Texas has no income tax, counter with the fact that Travis and Williamson county property taxes run 2.0–2.4 percent of assessed value, among the highest in the country, and federal rates do not change.
  • Negotiate title where possible. Data analyst, senior data analyst, analytics engineer, and business intelligence engineer all overlap in scope but have different salary bands. At the same employer, an analytics engineer title typically pays 10–15 percent more than a data analyst title for the same actual work. If the role uses dbt, SQL transformations, and pipeline ownership, ask for the higher title.
  • Get competing offers from across tiers. A FAANG offer plus a startup offer gives a recruiter cover to move the band more than two FAANG offers do, because the two FAANG offers are already in the same comp philosophy.

Track every offer, recruiter conversation, and follow-up timing in one place so the leverage above does not slip through scheduling cracks.

Caveats

The numbers in this guide are aggregates and should not be read as a specific offer band. A few things to keep in mind:

  • BLS OEWS data lags by roughly 12–18 months. The 2024 release reflects wages paid in May 2024 and predates the late-2024 and 2025 analytics-team consolidations at several large Austin employers.
  • Levels.fyi data skews toward self-reported analysts at FAANG and FAANG-adjacent companies. Total comp medians from that source tend to run 15–25 percent above the true Austin-wide median for any given level.
  • Built In Austin’s $92K average covers a broader population including junior, contract, and non-tech-sector analyst roles.
  • Equity values assume the stock price holds. RSU refreshers and stock movement can swing realized comp by 20 percent or more in either direction over a four-year window.
  • The state-tax math assumes Texas residency. Splitting time between Austin and a state with income tax can change the post-tax position significantly.

Use the percentiles as a sanity check, company-specific Levels.fyi and Built In Austin pages as the real anchor, and your own offer history as the final benchmark.

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