Salary benchmark
Is $170,110 good for Data Analyst in San Francisco, CA?
For a mapped Data Scientists role in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area, a base salary near $170,110 sits around the official BLS OEWS median wage estimate. A stronger offer usually includes clear bonus terms, benefits, review timing, and limited restrictive language.
Role mapping note: Analyze data, build models, and turn findings into business decisions.
| Percentile | Annual base benchmark |
|---|---|
| 10th | $99,170 |
| 25th | $130,430 |
| 50th | $170,110 |
| 75th | $212,970 |
| 90th | $272,430 |
Priority offer brief
San Francisco data analyst offer focus
For a San Francisco data analyst offer, the key question is whether the role is really analytics engineering, product analytics, data science support, or executive reporting. Public wage mapping cannot see how much modeling, data ownership, or stakeholder pressure is inside the offer.
- Clarify whether the role owns dashboards only, or also metrics definitions, experiments, SQL models, and decision support.
- Ask which warehouse, BI, experimentation, and stakeholder systems are in scope.
- Confirm whether the band is analyst, senior analyst, analytics engineer, or data scientist-adjacent.
Negotiation angle: If the offer expects modeling, experimentation, or analytics engineering work, negotiate level and title clarity before debating only base salary. Ask for a written promotion or compensation review if the title understates the work.
Recruiter ask: Is this calibrated as analyst, senior analyst, analytics engineer, or data-science-adjacent work, and what San Francisco band supports that level?
How to use this benchmark
- Below $130,430
- Below the local 25th percentile for this mapped occupation. Confirm level, scope, and whether the employer can move base salary or add guaranteed sign-on.
- $130,430 to $170,110
- Between the 25th percentile and median. Check whether the role is entry, mid-level, or scoped below the public occupation mapping before deciding how hard to push.
- $170,110 to $212,970
- Between median and the 75th percentile. Base pay is more competitive, so negotiation may shift toward bonus clarity, equity terms, review timing, schedule, and benefits.
- Above $212,970
- Above the 75th percentile. Pressure-test total compensation quality and restrictive clauses instead of assuming the headline base salary tells the whole story.
Negotiation signals for this role
- The role owns metrics definitions, stakeholder strategy, experimentation, or data modeling instead of only dashboards.
- The job expects SQL, Python, warehouse modeling, forecasting, causal analysis, or data science-adjacent work.
- The analyst will be the primary decision-support partner for a product, finance, growth, or operations team.
Offer risks to check
- A take-home project or ramp plan reveals analytics engineering or data science duties that the title does not reflect.
- Reporting cycles, month-end work, or executive deliverables imply recurring overtime without clear boundaries.
- Tooling ownership, data quality cleanup, or stakeholder training is expected but absent from the compensation discussion.
What this public benchmark misses
- This page maps Data Analyst to SOC 15-2051, Data Scientists; the actual offer may be narrower, broader, or leveled differently than that public occupation group.
- Public wage data cannot distinguish BI analyst, analytics engineer, product analyst, and data scientist ladders.
- The benchmark does not value internal data access, model ownership, decision rights, or the cost of maintaining reporting infrastructure.
- BLS OEWS wages are straight-time wage estimates and do not add private salary submissions or employer-specific compensation data.
Questions to ask the recruiter
- Is this role leveled as analyst, senior analyst, analytics engineer, or data scientist?
- What tools, data warehouse ownership, and stakeholder groups are in scope?
- How often do reporting deadlines require work outside normal hours?
- What promotion or review path exists if the work expands into modeling or engineering?
San Francisco, CA and remote context
- Confirm whether the band is anchored to San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, another Bay Area office, or a remote location policy.
- Equity, commute expectations, and relocation support can matter as much as base salary in the final decision.
- If the role is remote or hybrid, ask whether pay is anchored to San Francisco, CA, a headquarters band, or your home market.
Source note: BLS OEWS May 2025, mapped to SOC 15-2051 and BLS area code 0041860. OEWS wages are straight-time wage estimates and do not fully capture equity, signing bonus, severance, or every total-compensation detail.
Deeper review: Data Analyst offers in San Francisco, CA
Company-tier salary ranges
San Francisco data analyst base salary tiers from BLS OEWS for the SF-Oakland-Fremont labor area:
Common red flags in Data Analyst offers in San Francisco, CA
- Job description includes A/B test design, metric definitions, modeling, or experiment platform ownership — but the title and band map to 'analyst' rather than 'data scientist' or 'analytics engineer'.
- Equity grant in a late-stage private SF employer with no 409A reference date or post-termination exercise window.
- Take-home interview project that previews data-science or analytics-engineering work — early signal of mis-leveling.
- Required on-call or escalation support for production data pipelines with no compensation or rotation clarity in the offer.
- Sign-on bonus paired with a 12+ month full-repayment clawback rather than prorated.
Negotiation leverage for Data Analyst in San Francisco, CA
- If the role expects A/B test ownership, modeling, or warehouse maintenance, ask the recruiter to map it to the analytics engineer or data scientist ladder before debating base.
- Anchor on the BLS 75th-percentile band ($190k) when modeling and decision-support are in scope.
- Negotiate the equity refresh policy in writing — SF tech analyst roles often have refresh policies that materially change year-3 total comp.
- Push for a written first-promotion review date, especially when the role is framed as 'growth into analytics engineer' or 'growth into data scientist'.
- Ask for a documented on-call or escalation policy if production data ownership is in scope.
Local market context — 2026
The 2026 SF data analyst market is concentrated in AI/ML (data infra and model evaluation), B2B SaaS (product analytics, growth analytics), fintech, and developer tools. Analytics-engineering and data-scientist-adjacent roles have consolidated above the BLS 75th-percentile band. The single most under-priced lever is title-and-band re-mapping — SF analyst offers with modeling scope should rarely sit on a generic BI analyst ladder.
FAQ
Is $170,110 a good salary for a Data Analyst in San Francisco, CA?
$170,110 is near the BLS OEWS median base-wage estimate for the mapped Data Scientists occupation in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area. Treat it as a base salary anchor, then evaluate bonus, equity, benefits, schedule, review timing, and restrictive terms before deciding whether the full offer is strong.
What deserves extra attention for Data Analyst offers in San Francisco, CA?
For a San Francisco data analyst offer, the key question is whether the role is really analytics engineering, product analytics, data science support, or executive reporting. Public wage mapping cannot see how much modeling, data ownership, or stakeholder pressure is inside the offer. If the offer expects modeling, experimentation, or analytics engineering work, negotiate level and title clarity before debating only base salary. Ask for a written promotion or compensation review if the title understates the work.
What should a Data Analyst negotiate beyond base salary?
Start with level and scope. For this role, one useful signal is whether the role owns metrics definitions, stakeholder strategy, experimentation, or data modeling instead of only dashboards. Also ask for written details on any variable pay, equity, review timing, and offer terms that could affect future mobility.
What does this benchmark miss for Data Analyst offers?
This page maps Data Analyst to SOC 15-2051, Data Scientists; the actual offer may be narrower, broader, or leveled differently than that public occupation group. Public wage data cannot distinguish BI analyst, analytics engineer, product analyst, and data scientist ladders. The benchmark does not value internal data access, model ownership, decision rights, or the cost of maintaining reporting infrastructure. BLS OEWS wages are straight-time wage estimates and do not add private salary submissions or employer-specific compensation data.
How should remote or hybrid offers tied to San Francisco, CA be checked?
Confirm whether the band is anchored to San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, another Bay Area office, or a remote location policy. Equity, commute expectations, and relocation support can matter as much as base salary in the final decision. If the role is remote or hybrid, ask whether pay is anchored to San Francisco, CA, a headquarters band, or your home market.
Which public data source is used on this page?
This page uses BLS OEWS May 2025, mapped to SOC 15-2051 (Data Scientists) and BLS area code 0041860. It uses public OEWS wage estimates, not private salary submissions or employer-specific compensation data.
On an H-1B (or hoping for one)?
Since March 2026 the H-1B lottery weighs entries by OFLC wage level, so where this salary lands changes your selection odds. Request a free H-1B Offer Brief — estimated wage level, lottery entries, and a prevailing-wage sanity check for your offer.