Budget Analyst

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Budget Analyst develops the overall annual budget for a company or organization. Evaluates budget proposals, prepares information for government officials or company executives to inform funding decisions; monitors spending and analyzes differences between budget and actual spending. May evaluate programs or provide policy analysis.

Job Outlook

There were 313 Budget Analyst job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 9516 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Budget Analyst industry, which includes the Budget Analyst career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Budget Analyst jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $86,909.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $79,279.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Budget Analyst postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $72,759.

Education and Experience

Posted Budget Analyst jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	62.53%
Master's Degree	23.38%
Doctoral Degree	9.29%
Other	7.02%

Posted Budget Analyst jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	40.08%
3 to 5 years	40.35%
6 to 8 years	11.92%
9+ years	7.65%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Budget Analyst positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Budgeting (67.59%)
Management (55.71%)
Planning (37.66%)
Communication (34.54%)
Forecasting (29.12%)
Operations (27.95%)
Microsoft Excel (27.22%)
Research (25.78%)
Leadership (22.46%)
Writing (18.31%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Financial Analysis (27.38%)
Financial Management (30.45%)
Budget Analysis (71.54%)
Accounting (60.27%)
Finance (52.22%)
Financial Statements (27.18%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Budget Management (9.69%)
Budget Development (18.55%)
Variance Analysis (4.67%)
Data Analysis (11%)
Accruals (3.23%)
Financial Forecasting (4.9%)
Procurement (11.87%)
Internal Controls (5.64%)
Continuous Improvement Process (2.69%)
Economics (13.74%)
Public Administration (13.58%)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (1.69%)
Financial Systems (15.04%)
Financial Data (16.36%)
Invoicing (12.4%)
Auditing (20.57%)
Reconciliation (10.22%)
Purchasing (10.94%)
Financial Planning (11.69%)
Capital Budgeting (5.12%)
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (8.03%)
Operating Budget (9.82%)
Project Management (10.29%)
SAP Applications (4.74%)
Process Improvement (6.71%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Financial Analysis (100%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Budget Analyst skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Budget Specialist
Budget Manager
Supervisory Budget Analyst
Budget Coordinator
Lead Budget Analyst
Budget Administrator
Automotive Technician
Budget Management Analyst
Capital Budget Analyst

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Budget Analyst jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

United States Department of Defense (159)
GPAC (138)
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (108)
United States Department of the Treasury (105)
Robert Half (82)
State of Washington (77)
United States Air Force (70)
City of New York (69)
United States Department of Justice (69)
Dha Group (68)

North Carolina

State of North Carolina (26)
University of North Carolina (17)
North Carolina State University (12)
North Carolina State Of (12)
Wake County Public Schools (11)
United States Department of Defense (11)
Business Integra (10)
U.S Special Operations Command (9)
Allegis Group (6)
Joint Activities (5)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Accounting Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

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