Massachusetts·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2031

Best Budget Analyst programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Examine budget estimates for completeness, accuracy, and conformance with procedures and regulations.

41 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 3,170 people a year. The job pays a median of $92,260 in Massachusetts across about 1,280 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledBudget AnalystBudget OfficerBudget Planning AnalystBudget and Policy AnalystCost AnalystFiscal AgentFiscal AnalystFiscal Officer
Graduates / yr
3,170
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$92,260
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
1,280
people employed
Schools
41
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
56%
across those schools
Median net price
$26,273
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Massachusetts page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
11,736
54.8%
27$53,572$23,672
21,266
39.9%
37$51,824$24,433
3168
5.3%
4$51,824$24,433

Top 25 schools in Massachusetts

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 15 of the 41 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
657Finance, General$68,92083%60%
2Bentley University
Waltham, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
548Finance, General$72,30987%$31,67745%
3Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
412Finance, General$82,49591%$21,12616%
4Suffolk University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
134Accounting$59,70461%$28,89582%
5Harvard University
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
128Finance, General98%$15,0134%
6University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
125Accounting$48,58552%91%
7Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
100Accounting and Finance$54,22153%88%
8Stonehill College
Easton, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
91Finance, General$58,83276%$24,00066%
9Merrimack College
North Andover, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
90Accounting70%$33,87770%
10Fitchburg State University
Fitchburg, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
83Accounting55%87%
11Northeastern University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
82Accounting91%$18,9255%
12Salem State University
Salem, MA Public · 3 feeder programs
73Accounting50%96%
13Hult International Business School
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
68Finance, General67%$42,98160%
14Western New England University
Springfield, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
60Finance, General$54,47464%$29,32783%
15Nichols College
Dudley, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
55Accounting$53,76163%$29,71881%
16Northeastern University Professional Programs
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
46Finance, General
17Westfield State University
Westfield, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
45Accounting54%81%
18Endicott College
Beverly, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
43Finance, General$62,87876%$34,19571%
19Bunker Hill Community College
Boston, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
40Finance, General13%
20College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
31Accounting$73,23487%$24,53318%
21Assumption University
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
29Finance, General75%$24,20683%
22University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
29Accounting65%83%
23Framingham State University
Framingham, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
27Accounting$49,83048%84%
24Emmanuel College
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
23Accounting$63,59568%$29,72376%
25Springfield College
Springfield, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
20Finance, General74%$26,29072%

All 41 schools in Massachusetts

Every school in Massachusetts with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Massachusetts that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of Massachusetts - AmherstAmherstPublic6572
Bentley UniversityWalthamPrivate not-for-profit5483
Boston CollegeChestnut HillPrivate not-for-profit4122
Suffolk UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit1342
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate not-for-profit1281
University of Massachusetts - DartmouthNorth DartmouthPublic1252
Bridgewater State UniversityBridgewaterPublic1002
Stonehill CollegeEastonPrivate not-for-profit912
Merrimack CollegeNorth AndoverPrivate not-for-profit902
Fitchburg State UniversityFitchburgPublic832
Northeastern UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit822
Salem State UniversitySalemPublic733
Hult International Business SchoolCambridgePrivate not-for-profit681
Western New England UniversitySpringfieldPrivate not-for-profit602
Nichols CollegeDudleyPrivate not-for-profit552

What budget analysts earn in Massachusetts

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Massachusetts
$92,260
Mean annual
$97,340
Jobs in state
1,280
What the range looks like
10th pct$67,860Median$92,26090th pct$131,770
Versus the national median
+0.7%

U.S. median $91,640. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.16×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$98,330median
930 jobs
Worcester, MA
$87,210median
60 jobs
Springfield, MA
$81,360median
70 jobs
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
$81,100median
100 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.0%
Little or no change
Openings per year
3,100
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
500
50,400 → 51,000
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Budget Analysts page.

How to become a Budget Analyst

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingMathematicsReading ComprehensionSpeakingActive ListeningActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Massachusetts

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 4 majors mapped to Budget Analysts4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0301Accounting
  • 52.0304Accounting and Finance
  • 52.0801Finance, General
  • 52.0808Public Finance

Common questions

Answers for people weighing budget analysts programs in Massachusetts.

What degree do you need to become a Budget Analyst?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Finance, General, which awarded 1,736 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 54.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Budget Analyst?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Finance and Financial Management Services, Accounting and Related Services. Together they graduate about 3,170 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do budget analysts earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $92,260 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% above the U.S. median of $91,640. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for budget analysts growing?+

BLS projects a +1.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 3,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Massachusetts?+

41 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do budget analysts work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Budget Analyst, Budget Officer, Budget Planning Analyst, Budget and Policy Analyst among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-2031.

Programs in MassachusettsFinance, GeneralAccounting

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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