Data Analyst Salary in Des Moines (May 2025 BLS)

Data Analyst Jobs and Salaries in Des Moines (May 2025 BLS Data)

Dan Patiño

· AI Strategy & Innovation at Coderhouse

Des Moines shows up on most lists of US tech markets, but lists do not tell you whether the local market is deep enough to break into. The BLS counts about 1,240 data scientist roles in this metro, paying a median of $103,030, with the bottom decile at $65,480 and a location quotient of 1.82. Everything below comes from the BLS OEWS May 2025 release.

Median salary

$103,030

Entry level (10th pct)

$65,480

Concentration (LQ)

1.82

How big is the data job market in Des Moines?

Roughly 1,240 people work in this occupation across the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA area, placing it 24th among the 25 metros here and accounting for 0.4% of the national total of 275,600. The occupation is projected to grow 35%.

What do data analysts earn in Des Moines?

Half of data scientists in Des Moines earn more than $103,030 and half earn less, 14% below the national median. The interquartile range runs $80,360 to $133,460, with the top decile at $150,190. The reported mean, $104,930, is the less useful number here because a handful of very high salaries distort it.

What can you expect to earn starting out in Des Moines?

BLS does not break wages out by experience, so the closest available proxy for a first job in Des Moines is the 10th percentile: $65,480, against $67,240 nationally. Anchoring on the median instead sets expectations about $37,550 too high.

Is Des Moines actually a data hub?

The location quotient for data scientists in Des Moines is 1.82, meaning the occupation is noticeably more concentrated here than nationally. In practice, this is a genuine hub, not just a large city with a lot of jobs in it. This is the number most salary sites leave out, and it is often more decisive than pay: a metro can post a high median while employing very few people in the role, which means strong salaries and a thin job market.

What about AI engineering roles in Des Moines?

The BLS has no occupation code for AI engineer. The closest published proxy is Software Developers (15-1252), which in Des Moines employs about 4,240 people at a median of $126,460, 7% below the national median of $135,980. The 10th percentile is $79,170 and the 90th is $168,180. Read it as the surrounding band for applied AI work rather than as a figure for the role itself, since AI engineers are distributed across several codes.

10th percentile

$65,480

25th percentile

$80,360

Median

$103,030

Mean

$104,930

75th percentile

$133,460

90th percentile

$150,190

vs national median

14% below the national median

Software developers · median

$126,460

How to get started from Des Moines

Location does not constrain the training, only the job search. The Coderhouse Data Analytics course is live online over 11 weeks, $595 at launch price, covering SQL, Python, statistics and experiment design, with a curriculum reviewed by Google, Microsoft and MongoDB. What it does not include is career services, which matters if the Des Moines market is thin.

AI Engineering

8 weeks · live online

Build AI systems you can explain, evaluate, and improve—not just demos that happen to call an LLM. Work hands-on with retrieval, RAG, tool use, agents, evals, observability, and deployment while learning the engineering judgment behind reliable AI applications.

See Dates

$595

Data Analytics

11 weeks · live online

Learn to turn data into decisions—not just dashboards. Build practical skills in SQL, Python, metrics, statistics, experimentation, visualization, and AI-assisted analysis, with live feedback from practitioners who do this work professionally.

See dates

$595

Frequently asked questions

How much do data analysts make in Des Moines?

The median for the closest BLS occupation, data scientists, is $103,030 a year in the Des Moines metro area as of May 2025. The range runs from $65,480 at the 10th percentile to $150,190 at the 90th.

How many data jobs are there in Des Moines?

About 1,240 positions under SOC 15-2051, which is 1.82 times the national concentration per worker. That ratio tells you whether the market is deep or just large.

Is Des Moines a good place to start a data career?

On the data: pay is 14% below the national median and the occupation is noticeably more concentrated here than nationally. The entry reference point is $65,480. Weigh both together, since a high median in a thin market is harder to break into than a moderate median in a dense one.

What is the entry-level data analyst salary in Des Moines?

BLS does not publish by experience level. The 10th percentile, $65,480, is the best available proxy for early-career pay, against $67,240 nationally.

Do I need to live in Des Moines to work in data?

Not necessarily, and remote roles widen the market considerably. These figures measure where the job is located rather than where the worker lives, so a remote role at a Des Moines employer would still appear in this metro's count.

Where these numbers come from

All figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 release, for the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metropolitan Statistical Area. BLS does not publish a 'data analyst' occupation; the figures above use Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051), the closest published match, and Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) as the proxy for AI engineering roles. OEWS estimates are built from six semiannual panels collected over three years, so they are stable but lag fast-moving pay changes. Wages cover base pay and exclude equity and bonuses, which understates total compensation at large technology employers.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025