Budget Analysts
Career, Salary and Education Information
What They Do: Budget analysts help public and private institutions organize their finances.
Work Environment: Budget analysts work in government agencies, universities, and private companies. Most work full time.
How to Become One: A bachelor’s degree is typically required to become a budget analyst. Courses in accounting, economics, and statistics are helpful.
Salary: The median annual wage for budget analysts is $79,940.
Job Outlook: Employment of budget analysts is projected to grow 3 percent over the next ten years, slower than the average for all occupations.
Related Careers: Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of budget analysts with similar occupations.
Following is everything you need to know about a career as a budget analyst with lots of details. As a first step, take a look at some of the following jobs, which are real jobs with real employers. You will be able to see the very real job career requirements for employers who are actively hiring. The link will open in a new tab so that you can come back to this page to continue reading about the career:
Top 3 Budget Analyst Jobs
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Senior Finance and Budget Analyst - State Program Administrator Principal - Paid Leave
- Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
- Saint Paul, MN
Senior Finance and Budget Analyst Job Class: State Program Administrator Principal Agency: Department of Employment and Economic Development * Job ID : 81906 * Location : St. Paul * Telework Eligible
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Senior Financial Analyst (Healthcare)
- Texas Health Action
- Austin, TX
Conduct monthly and quarterly budget variance and revenue analyses providing meaningful insights into variances and financial performance trends. Strategic Financial Support * Prepare budgets and ...
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Financial Analyst II
- BluPeak Credit Union
- Bonita, CA
Perform interest rate risk measurement and financial modeling. • Generate monthly cost center management reports, including budget variance analysis comparing plan to prior year outcomes to develop ...
What Budget Analysts Do[About this section] [To Top]
Budget analysts help public and private institutions organize their finances. They prepare budget reports and monitor institutional spending.
Duties of Budget Analysts
Budget analysts typically do the following:
- Work with program and project managers to develop the organization's budget
- Review managers' budget proposals for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with laws and other regulations
- Combine all the program and department budgets together into a consolidated organizational budget and review all funding requests for merit
- Explain their recommendations for funding requests to others in the organization, to legislators, and to the public
- Help the chief operations officer, agency head, or other top managers analyze proposed plans and find alternatives if the projected results are unsatisfactory
- Monitor organizational spending to ensure that it is within budget
- Inform program managers of the status and availability of funds
- Estimate future financial needs
Budget analysts advise various institutions—including governments, universities, and businesses—on how to organize their finances. They prepare annual and special reports and evaluate budget proposals. They analyze data to determine the costs and benefits of various programs, and they recommend funding levels based on their findings. Although government officials or top executives in a private company usually make the final decision on an organization's budget, they rely on the work of budget analysts to prepare the information for that decision.
Sometimes, budget analysts use cost–benefit analyses to review financial requests, assess program tradeoffs, and explore alternative funding methods. Budget analysts also may examine past budgets and research economic and financial developments that affect the organization's income and expenditures. Budget analysts may recommend cutting spending on particular programs or redistributing extra funds.
Throughout the year, budget analysts oversee spending to ensure compliance with the budget and determine whether changes to funding levels are needed for certain programs. Analysts also evaluate programs to determine whether they are producing the desired results.
In addition to providing technical analysis, budget analysts must communicate their recommendations effectively to officials within the organization. For example, if there is a difference between the approved budget and actual spending, budget analysts may write a report explaining the variations and recommend changes to reconcile the differences.
Budget analysts working in government may attend committee hearings to explain their recommendations to legislators. Occasionally, budget analysts may evaluate how well a program is doing, provide policy analysis, and draft budget-related legislation.
Work Environment for Budget Analysts[About this section] [To Top]
Budget analysts hold about 50,400 jobs. The largest employers of budget analysts are as follows:
| Federal government | 25% |
| Educational services; state, local, and private | 13% |
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | 11% |
| Local government, excluding education and hospitals | 11% |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | 9% |
Although budget analysts usually work in offices, some may travel to get budget details firsthand or to verify funding allocations.
Budget Analyst Work Schedules
Most budget analysts work full time, and overtime is sometimes required during final reviews of budgets. The pressures of deadlines and tight work schedules can be stressful.
How to Become a Budget Analyst[About this section] [To Top]
Get the education you need: Find schools for Budget Analysts near you!
A bachelor's degree is typically required to become a budget analyst. Courses in accounting, economics, and statistics are helpful.
Education for Budget Analysts
Employers generally require budget analysts to have at least a bachelor's degree. Because developing a budget requires strong numerical and analytical skills, courses in accounting, economics, and statistics are helpful. Federal, state, and local governments have varying requirements, but usually require a bachelor's degree in one of many areas, such as accounting, finance, business, public administration, economics, statistics, political science, or sociology.
Sometimes, budget-related or finance-related work experience can be substituted for formal education.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations for Budget Analysts
Government budget analysts may earn the Certified Government Financial Manager credential from the Association of Government Accountants. To earn this certification, candidates must have a minimum of a bachelor's degree, 24 credit hours of study in financial management, and 2 years of professional-level experience in governmental financial management. They must also pass a series of exams. To keep the certification, budget analysts must take 80 hours of continuing education every 2 years.
Important Qualities for Budget Analysts
Analytical skills. Budget analysts must be able to process a variety of information, evaluate costs and benefits, and solve complex problems.
Communication skills. Budget analysts need strong communication skills because they often have to explain and defend their analyses and recommendations in meetings and legislative committee hearings.
Detail oriented. Creating an efficient budget requires careful analysis of each budget item.
Math skills. Most budget analysts need math skills and should be able to use certain software, including spreadsheets, database functions, and financial analysis programs.
Writing skills. Budget analysts must present technical information in writing that is understandable to the intended audience.
Budget Analyst Salaries[About this section] [More salary/earnings info] [To Top]
The median annual wage for budget analysts is $79,940. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $49,330, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $124,440.
The median annual wages for budget analysts in the top industries in which they work are as follows:
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | $98,030 |
| Federal government | $87,190 |
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | $79,270 |
| Local government, excluding education and hospitals | $77,320 |
| Educational services; state, local, and private | $63,890 |
Most budget analysts work full time, and overtime is sometimes required during final reviews of budgets. The pressures of deadlines and tight work schedules can be stressful.
Union Membership for Budget Analysts
Compared with workers in all occupations, budget analysts have a higher percentage of workers who belong to a union.
Job Outlook for Budget Analysts[About this section] [To Top]
Employment of budget analysts is projected to grow 3 percent over the next ten years, slower than the average for all occupations.
Despite limited employment growth, about 4,000 openings for budget analysts are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment of Budget Analysts
Calls for efficient use of public funds will lead to continued demand for budget analysts to estimate program costs, develop budgets, and explain their findings to legislators and the public. Demand for these workers is somewhat tied to the government funding that is allocated for these positions. However, budget analysts manage resource allocation and will be needed even during times of tight budgets.
| Occupational Title | Employment, 2021 | Projected Employment, 2031 | Change, 2021-31 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Numeric | |||
| Budget analysts | 50,400 | 51,800 | 3 | 1,400 |
More Budget Analyst Information[About this section] [To Top]
For information about the Government Financial Manager certification, visit
A portion of the information on this page is used by permission of the U.S. Department of Labor.