Financial Analyst Salary in Minneapolis — 2026 BLS Data
Salary distribution
Percentile breakdown of Financial Analyst base salaries in Minneapolis.
The BLS OEWS May 2024 data for Financial and Investment Analysts (SOC 13-2051) in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro puts the median annual base salary at $103,350 — roughly 2% above the national median of $101,350 for the same occupation. That above-national-median positioning makes Minneapolis a genuine financial analytics hub, not a discount market. The metro hosts 17 Fortune 500 headquarters including UnitedHealth Group, U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise Financial, Target, and Cargill — all of which maintain large internal finance functions that anchor local demand for analyst talent. The resulting labor market is competitive, well-paying, and more stable than markets driven by a single industry.
The $103,350 median is also the start of the analysis, not the end. The P25-to-P90 spread of $80,724 to $165,510 represents an $84,786 wage range within a single occupational title. Understanding what moves you through that range is more valuable than knowing the midpoint.
What the median doesn’t tell you
The BLS SOC 13-2051 bucket captures an unusually wide range of actual jobs. A junior FP&A analyst at a mid-market manufacturing company in the suburbs, a portfolio analytics specialist at Ameriprise’s downtown Minneapolis offices, a sell-side equity analyst at Piper Sandler, and a senior treasury analyst at U.S. Bancorp all report to the same SOC code. Their pay, career trajectory, skills, and labor market dynamics are materially different.
Three structural variables explain nearly all of the P25-to-P90 spread in this market:
Industry cluster and employer type. Minneapolis is not a Wall Street extension, but it has a dense and sophisticated financial services ecosystem. Ameriprise Financial — a Fortune 500 investment management and financial planning company headquartered in downtown Minneapolis — employs hundreds of analysts across investment research, planning analytics, and risk management. U.S. Bancorp is the fifth-largest bank by assets in the US, with a large analytics and finance function. UnitedHealth Group and its Optum subsidiary need financial analysts who understand healthcare cost modeling, actuarial-adjacent work, and complex payer economics. These verticals pay differently: pure finance/banking tends to pay 10–20% above the all-industry BLS median; healthcare financial roles tend to cluster near median; corporate FP&A at consumer/retail companies like Target and General Mills runs slightly below median at the analyst level but offers strong benefits and predictable advancement.
Analyst level and function. The BLS data is level-agnostic. In the real Minneapolis market, a Level 1 FP&A analyst fresh out of college earns $65,000–$75,000. A Level 2 or mid-career analyst with 3–5 years of experience and a CFA Level 1 or CPA credential earns $85,000–$105,000. A Senior Financial Analyst with 5–8 years and demonstrated ownership of a P&L or model suite earns $115,000–$145,000. The jump from analyst to senior analyst in Minneapolis typically requires crossing a functional threshold — not just time served, but documented ability to run a forecast cycle or build a pricing model independently.
Specialty and credential premium. Minneapolis’s financial labor market rewards specific technical depth. Analysts who specialize in financial modeling for M&A transactions, investment portfolio attribution, healthcare actuarial support, or quantitative risk earn above the general median. The CFA charter carries a documented premium in this market — Ameriprise, Piper Sandler, and U.S. Bancorp all have explicit preference for CFA candidates in investment-track roles, and internal survey data from CFA Institute consistently shows charter-holders in mid-sized financial markets earning 15–25% more than non-charterholders in equivalent years of experience.
Hub comparison: Minneapolis versus peer markets
Minneapolis belongs to a cluster of financially sophisticated secondary markets — alongside Chicago, Charlotte, and Dallas — that offer strong financial analyst salaries without coastal cost-of-living premiums. Understanding where it stands versus those peers and versus the major hubs shapes the real value proposition.
New York City: The national ceiling for financial analyst compensation. The BLS national P90 for SOC 13-2051 is $165,510; in the New York metro, the same P90 exceeds $200,000. Sell-side analyst roles at bulge-bracket banks and hedge fund analyst roles in NYC routinely pay $130,000–$180,000+ for associates with 3–5 years of experience. The 40–50% nominal premium over Minneapolis looks substantial until you apply NYC’s cost-of-living index (approximately 188 on the C2ER composite) against Minneapolis’s 106. A $155,000 NYC base has the purchasing power of roughly $87,000 at national-average prices — barely above Minneapolis’s P50. For investment banking analyst roles specifically, the NYC premium is real and defensible. For general FP&A and corporate finance, the purchasing-power advantage is much smaller than it appears.
Chicago: The most directly comparable market. Chicago is the Midwest’s largest financial center, with a major futures and derivatives ecosystem (CME Group, CBOE), large banking institutions, and a deep corporate finance sector. BLS OEWS for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA shows Financial Analyst median around $105,000–$110,000, a modest 3–7% above Minneapolis. Chicago’s C2ER cost-of-living index is approximately 107 — nearly identical to Minneapolis’s 106. These two markets are competitive peers for the majority of financial analyst roles, with Chicago maintaining a slight edge in investment banking and trading-desk adjacent roles and Minneapolis maintaining an edge in healthcare finance and insurance analytics.
Dallas-Fort Worth: An increasingly relevant benchmark as financial services firms relocate operations. BLS OEWS for the Dallas metro shows Financial Analyst median around $97,000–$100,000, slightly below Minneapolis. Texas has no state income tax; Minnesota’s top marginal rate is 9.85% on income above $183,340 (and 6.8% on income above $89,975 for 2024). For a Minneapolis financial analyst earning $103,350, Minnesota state income tax adds approximately $7,000–$9,000 in annual tax liability versus a comparable Dallas earner. That tax delta partially offsets Minneapolis’s nominal pay advantage. On pure purchasing power, Dallas and Minneapolis are quite close.
Denver: EM median base around $95,000–$100,000 for financial analysts, with a COL index of approximately 121. Minneapolis delivers better nominal pay and significantly better purchasing power than Denver, primarily because Denver’s housing costs have increased sharply since 2020 while Minneapolis housing has remained more stable.
The practical conclusion: Minneapolis financial analysts comparing to Chicago offers can negotiate almost dollar-for-dollar. Comparing to NYC or SF requires the purchasing-power adjustment, which narrows the gap dramatically. Comparing to Texas requires modeling the state income tax differential — approximately $7,000–$9,000 annually for mid-career salaries.
What drives the spread: company tier, level, and specialty
The P25 to P90 range of $80,724 to $165,510 maps onto four recognizable analyst profiles in the Minneapolis market:
P25 ($80,724): Entry to early-career analyst. Typically 0–2 years of post-undergraduate experience in corporate FP&A at a consumer goods company (General Mills, Cargill’s corporate finance division, Best Buy), or a financial analyst role at a regional insurer or healthcare payer. These roles often carry “Financial Analyst I” or “Associate Financial Analyst” titles. Compensation at this tier is relatively compressed — recruiters in the Minneapolis market treat $78,000–$85,000 as the standard starting band for candidates with a finance degree and no CFA progress. Benefits packages at Minneapolis Fortune 500s are competitive and add $20,000–$25,000 in total compensation value above base.
Median ($103,350): Mid-career analyst with demonstrated ownership. 3–6 years of experience, typically in one or two functional roles, with evidence of owning a forecast model, a reporting suite, or a specific P&L. This tier includes analysts who have passed at least CFA Level 1 or hold a CPA. At U.S. Bancorp’s treasury analytics group, UnitedHealth’s corporate finance team, and Ameriprise’s financial planning division, this is where most of the “Financial Analyst II” or “Senior Financial Analyst” hiring concentrates. The $103,350 median is not a ceiling — it’s the entry point for the career stage where leverage accumulates.
P75 ($134,430): Senior analyst or specialist. 6–10 years of experience, either as a rising senior analyst with full-cycle FP&A ownership or in a specialist function — investment analysis, portfolio attribution, M&A financial modeling, or healthcare cost analytics. The CFA charterholder premium is most pronounced at this tier. Ameriprise investment analysts and U.S. Bancorp capital markets analysts with CFA designations and 7+ years of experience cluster in the $130,000–$150,000 range. Sell-side equity research associates at Piper Sandler covering Midwest consumer or healthcare companies with 5–8 years of total experience land in this tier.
P90 ($165,510): Principal analyst, team lead, or high-paying specialty. Finance directors with significant analytical ownership (not just management), quantitative analysts at Ameriprise or U.S. Bancorp in risk modeling or portfolio construction, and senior analysts at alternative asset managers operating in the Twin Cities. BLS data is a conservative floor here — Levels.fyi and financial services compensation surveys show total compensation for investment-track analysts at Minneapolis financial firms reaching $180,000–$220,000 at the P90 when bonus and carried interest are included.
Total compensation breakdown
For a financial analyst at the Minneapolis median ($103,350 base), total annual compensation typically assembles as follows:
Base salary: $103,350. The BLS-tracked figure. Minneapolis’s dominant financial employers have formal internal compensation bands. U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise, and UnitedHealth use grade-based systems where “Financial Analyst” roles map to specific pay grades with defined floor-midpoint-ceiling ranges. Minnesota’s pay transparency law (effective January 1, 2025) requires employers with 30+ employees to disclose salary ranges in job postings — this gives candidates a verifiable anchor for negotiations that didn’t exist before 2025.
Annual cash bonus: ~$10,500. Minneapolis financial services firms and large corporates typically structure analyst bonuses at 8–12% of base, tied to individual performance ratings and company financial results. A 10% target bonus on $103,350 base is $10,335; above-target payout in a strong year gets to $12,000–$13,000. Investment-track roles at Ameriprise and Piper Sandler carry higher bonus targets — 15–25% at senior levels — but these represent a smaller portion of the analyst population. For BLS-median analysts at corporate FP&A or banking roles, 10% target bonus is the realistic estimate.
Equity / deferred compensation: ~$8,000 annualized. This is the most variable component and the one most different from coastal tech markets. Public companies like U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise, and UnitedHealth offer RSU grants to analysts, but at modest levels compared to tech employers — typical annualized RSU value for a mid-career financial analyst runs $5,000–$15,000 depending on employer and level. Cargill and other large private employers may offer profit-sharing or discretionary bonuses in lieu of equity. Startups in the Minneapolis financial technology space are smaller and fewer than on the coasts; pre-IPO equity upside exists but is not a dominant comp feature.
Total: ~$121,850. At P75 base ($134,430), the same bonus and equity percentages produce total compensation of approximately $155,000–$165,000. At P90 base ($165,510) with above-median bonus at an investment-focused employer, total compensation approaches $200,000.
The BLS figures exclude equity, deferred compensation, and benefits. The $121,850 total comp estimate here incorporates market-rate bonus and equity assumptions; the base salary number alone ($103,350) is what drives mortgage qualification, retirement contribution benchmarks, and tax planning.
Cost-of-living adjusted reality
Minneapolis carries a C2ER composite cost-of-living index of approximately 106 (US average = 100). That 6% premium over the national baseline is modest compared to most major metros and makes Minneapolis one of the more affordable large cities in which to build a finance career.
The purchasing-power math for a $103,350 Minneapolis base:
- To match $103,350 Minneapolis purchasing power in San Francisco (COL approximately 179), you would need roughly $175,000 in base salary.
- To match it in New York City (COL approximately 188), you would need roughly $183,000.
- To match it in Seattle (COL approximately 140), you would need roughly $136,000.
- Chicago (COL approximately 107) and Minneapolis are essentially equivalent — $103,350 in one city buys approximately what $102,350 buys in the other.
Housing is where Minneapolis earns its reputation. As of mid-2025, median rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in Minneapolis proper runs $1,800–$2,300/month. In first-ring suburbs near major employer campuses — Minnetonka (Ameriprise), Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Bloomington — comparable units run $1,700–$2,100/month. A financial analyst earning $103,350 gross takes home approximately $5,900–$6,400/month after federal income tax, Minnesota state income tax, and standard payroll deductions. Rent consumes 28–39% of net take-home — within conventional affordability guidelines, and roughly half the proportion it consumes for a comparable earner in San Francisco or New York.
The state income tax caveat is real. Minnesota’s marginal rate reaches 6.8% on income above $89,975 (single filer, 2024), and the top rate of 9.85% applies above $183,340. For a $103,350 analyst salary, estimated Minnesota state income tax is approximately $6,000–$7,500 annually. That is materially higher than Texas, Florida, or Washington — states with no income tax that increasingly attract finance employers and remote finance roles. If you are comparing a Minneapolis offer against a remote role with a Texas or Florida employer, add $6,000–$7,500 to the effective value of that remote offer before making the comparison.
Three-lever negotiation playbook
Lever 1: Use Minnesota’s pay transparency law as your opening anchor. As of January 1, 2025, Minnesota law requires employers with 30 or more employees to include salary ranges in job postings. Every major Minneapolis financial employer — U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise, UnitedHealth Group, Cargill, Target — posts salary ranges. Before your first compensation conversation, look up the posted range for the specific role. If you are being offered $98,000 and the posting lists $90,000–$130,000, you are being offered well below the midpoint of the stated range. Name that gap directly: “The posting listed $90,000 to $130,000. Based on my modeling background and the specific deliverables you described in the interview, I’d expect to be positioned in the upper third of that range.” This is not aggressive — it is using publicly available information the employer disclosed to perform exactly this function.
Lever 2: Quantify your technical differentiator before the offer conversation. The BLS median of $103,350 reflects the full distribution of financial analyst work in Minneapolis — including entry-level FP&A roles, generalist finance positions at mid-size companies, and junior bank analyst seats. If your work involves financial modeling in Excel or Python at a level beyond standard template-filling, knowledge of a specific domain (healthcare payer economics, investment portfolio attribution, M&A deal modeling), or a credential in progress (CFA candidate, CPA), that is material information for the compensation conversation. “I have built three-statement financial models for acquisition targets and hold CFA Level 2 — both of which you said are priorities for this role” gives a recruiter specific evidence to justify a higher band placement internally. Concrete specifics travel further than generic seniority claims.
Lever 3: Negotiate the title and level, not just the number. Minneapolis’s dominant financial employers use formal leveling systems where titles map to salary bands with limited cross-grade flexibility but meaningful within-grade range. If you are being hired as a “Financial Analyst II” when the scope of work described matches what you know a “Senior Financial Analyst” does — and if you have documented evidence of that scope in your prior role — negotiating the level upgrade before accepting is often more powerful than negotiating within the lower band. A level upgrade typically moves you into the next band entirely, a $15,000–$25,000 shift that a recruiter can justify to HR more easily than a $20,000 exception within your current grade. Ask directly: “Is the role posted as Analyst II or Senior Analyst? What criteria differentiate those levels internally?” The answer will tell you where the real leverage sits.
Bonus tactic: CFA study as a negotiation signal. If you are actively pursuing the CFA charter — particularly if you have passed Level 1 or are Level 2 candidate — state this explicitly in conversations with investment-track employers (Ameriprise, Piper Sandler, U.S. Bancorp capital markets). These organizations subsidize CFA exam fees and view active candidates as retention investments. Mentioning active CFA progress at offer stage accomplishes two things: it signals commitment to the investment track, and it gives the employer an incentive beyond the offer itself. Some Minneapolis finance employers will offer exam fee reimbursement ($1,000–$1,500 per level) as a negotiation sweetener when they cannot move base salary.
Data caveats
BLS OEWS is the highest-quality publicly available wage dataset for occupational salary research. It is a mandatory employer survey — not a voluntary self-report platform — that covers tens of millions of wage and salary workers. The percentile figures on this page reflect BLS’s May 2024 metro-area estimates for SOC 13-2051 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MSA, cross-referenced against third-party aggregations and employer posting data for the Minneapolis market.
Equity and deferred comp are excluded from BLS figures. RSU vesting, profit-sharing distributions, and option proceeds do not appear in OEWS data because BLS tracks payroll wages. The total compensation figures cited here incorporate equity and bonus estimates from market sources, not BLS methodology. For investment-track analysts at Ameriprise or Piper Sandler with significant deferred compensation, the gap between BLS base and total realized compensation is material. For FP&A analysts at corporate employers, the BLS base figure is a closer approximation of actual realized cash compensation.
SOC 13-2051 spans a wide functional range. BLS SOC 13-2051 is “Financial and Investment Analysts” — a category that includes FP&A analysts, investment research analysts, credit analysts, portfolio analysts, and treasury analysts. The Minneapolis median reflects this full functional mix. Investment-track analysts in securities research and portfolio management consistently run $20,000–$40,000 above the all-function median at equivalent experience levels. Corporate FP&A analysts at manufacturing or consumer goods companies typically run $10,000–$15,000 below. Match the data to your actual functional category, not just the occupation title.
The data reflects a May 2024 survey period. Finance hiring in Minneapolis has remained relatively stable through 2025–2026, without the dramatic rebalancing seen in tech. The BLS percentile figures are reliable benchmarks for current negotiations, though the P90 tier may be slightly conservative for specialized quantitative and investment-track roles where competition with remote-first financial employers has pushed compensation upward in the past 12 months.
For high-precision benchmarking, triangulate BLS base data against: Minnesota pay transparency job postings (searchable on employer career pages, LinkedIn, and Indeed for the specific roles you’re targeting), CFA Institute’s annual member compensation survey (which reports Minneapolis-area investment professional compensation by charter status and years of experience), and direct salary-sharing with peers — the Minneapolis finance community is tightly networked through the CFA Society Minnesota chapter, and those conversations are the highest-signal data source available.