Computer systems analysts: pay, outlook and skills
Analyze science, engineering, business, and other data processing problems to develop and implement solutions to complex applications problems, system administration issues, or network concerns. Perform systems management and integration functions, improve existing computer systems, and review computer system capabilities, workflow, and schedule limitations. May analyze or recommend commercially available software.
Pay distribution and location comparison
These are published pay distribution points for everyone working in this occupation, not pay levels for junior, mid, or senior roles. Location figures are pay as published; no cost-of-living adjustment is applied.
United States, all industries
| Pay point | United States | Selected area |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $67,340 | - |
| 25th percentile | $82,860 | - |
| Median | $105,850 | - |
| 75th percentile | $134,110 | - |
| 90th percentile | $167,710 | - |
| People employed | 519,530 | - |
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Reference period: OEWS May 2025.
Long-term outlook
Official ten-year projection for 2025 to 2035. Projected annual openings are an average per year over the decade, including openings from workers leaving the occupation. They are not a count of jobs open today.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Employment is published in thousands of jobs and converted here to people.
OptimizeResume analysis using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This is not a BLS statistic or a prediction that an individual will be hired.
Score trend
Historical scores may be restated when BLS revises underlying data. The chart uses the latest restated values.
Confidence
- At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.
How this score is built
Monthly industry demand is mapped to this occupation using official occupation-industry relationships, then combined with occupation fundamentals and long-term projections.
Read Methodology v1.0Skills, software, and day-to-day work
Skill values are O*NET importance ratings on a 1-5 scale for the occupation itself. They describe what the work requires, not how much employers are hiring right now.
Analyze science, engineering, business, and other data processing problems to develop and implement solutions to complex applications problems, system administration issues, or network concerns. Perform systems management and integration functions, improve existing computer systems, and review computer system capabilities, workflow, and schedule limitations. May analyze or recommend commercially available software.
Most important skills
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Active Listening3.8 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
- Systems Analysis3.8 / 5
- Systems Evaluation3.8 / 5
- Active Learning3.6 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.6 / 5
- Complex Problem Solving3.4 / 5
- Monitoring3.4 / 5
- Writing3.4 / 5
- Programming3.3 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Object or component oriented development softwarePython (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), C# (hot technology), C++ (hot technology), jQuery (hot technology), Oracle Java (hot technology), Perl (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query softwareServiceNow (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Structured query language SQL (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 (hot technology), Amazon Redshift (hot technology), Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology), IBM DB2 (hot technology)
- Enterprise resource planning ERP softwareSAP software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Oracle PeopleSoft (hot technology), SAP ERP (hot technology), Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics GP, NetSuite ERP
- Business intelligence and data analysis softwareMicrosoft Power BI (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Apache Spark (hot technology), Tableau (hot technology), Business intelligence system software, IBM Cognos Impromptu, MicroStrategy
- Document management softwareMicrosoft SharePoint (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Adobe Acrobat (hot technology)
- Content workflow softwareAtlassian JIRA (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Spreadsheet softwareMicrosoft Excel (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Office suite softwareMicrosoft Office software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Presentation softwareMicrosoft PowerPoint (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Development environment softwareApache Kafka (hot technology), Apache Maven (hot technology), C (hot technology), Eclipse IDE (hot technology), Go (hot technology), Microsoft .NET Framework (hot technology)
- Web platform development softwareAJAX (hot technology), Apache Tomcat (hot technology), Cascading style sheets CSS (hot technology), Django (hot technology), Google Angular (hot technology), Hypertext markup language HTML (hot technology)
- Data base management system softwareAmazon DynamoDB (hot technology), Apache Cassandra (hot technology), Apache Hadoop (hot technology), Apache Hive (hot technology), Elasticsearch (hot technology), MongoDB (hot technology)
O*NET marks individual examples only. “Hot technology” means the tool is frequently named across job postings generally; “in demand for this occupation” means O*NET recorded it as required by employers for this occupation. Unmarked examples are still commonly used.
Typical tasks
- Troubleshoot program and system malfunctions to restore normal functioning.
- Provide staff and users with assistance solving computer-related problems, such as malfunctions and program problems.
- Test, maintain, and monitor computer programs and systems, including coordinating the installation of computer programs and systems.
- Use the computer in the analysis and solution of business problems, such as development of integrated production and inventory control and cost analysis systems.
- Coordinate and link the computer systems within an organization to increase compatibility so that information can be shared.
- Use object-oriented programming languages, as well as client and server applications development processes and multimedia and Internet technology.
- Analyze information processing or computation needs and plan and design computer systems, using techniques such as structured analysis, data modeling, and information engineering.
- Consult with management to ensure agreement on system principles.
- Specify inputs accessed by the system and plan the distribution and use of the results.
- Expand or modify system to serve new purposes or improve work flow.
Also advertised as: Applications Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, Computer Analyst, Computer Systems Analyst, Computer Systems Consultant, Information Systems Analyst (ISA), IT Analyst (Information Technology Analyst), IT Systems Analyst (Information Technology Systems Analyst).
Check your resume against a real job posting
This page describes the occupation in general. A free scan compares your own resume with the specific job description you are applying to, requirement by requirement, and shows where your real experience is already strong and where it is simply not documented yet. Only experience you actually have should ever be added.
Scan my resume freeSource: O*NET Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under CC BY 4.0. OptimizeResume has modified the data for display only: selected the most important rated skills, grouped software examples by category while keeping each example’s official flags, and shortened the task list.
Guides for applying to this work
Sources and how to read this page
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
O*NET 31.0 Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0 and modified for display on this page. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
How each number should be read
- Pay percentiles describe the spread of pay across everyone in the occupation, not experience levels.
- Employment counts are jobs, not people hired during the year.
- Projected annual openings are a decade average from the official projection, not current vacancies.
- O*NET skill ratings describe the work, not employer hiring demand.
- Values BLS did not publish, suppressed, or top-coded are shown as such and never treated as zero.