South Dakota·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2054

Best Financial Risk Specialist programs in South Dakota, ranked by enrollment

Analyze and measure exposure to credit and market risk threatening the assets, earning capacity, or economic state of an organization.

14 schools in South Dakota run programs that feed this job, graduating 393 people a year. The job pays a median of $78,960 in South Dakota across about 130 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAnalystRisk AnalystRisk SpecialistSecurities AnalystBond AnalystRisk ManagerEstate ExecutorModel Risk Manager
Graduates / yr
393
in South Dakota
Median pay · South Dakota
$78,960
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
130
people employed
Schools
14
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
50%
across those schools
Median net price
$22,086
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in South Dakota that lead to this job

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

6 programs in South Dakota that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in South Dakota (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 South Dakota page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1201
51.1%
12$51,824$24,433
2103
26.2%
1$53,269$21,962
358
14.8%
3$53,572$23,672
422
5.6%
3$51,824$24,433
58
2.0%
1$60,930$21,143
61
0.3%
1$51,824$24,433

Top 14 schools in South Dakota

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 7 of the 14 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 South Dakota
Vermillion, SD Public · 2 feeder programs
123Accounting$57,23460%99%
2South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD Public · 2 feeder programs
106Business/Managerial Economics$45,12362%98%
3Augustana University
Sioux Falls, SD Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
37Accounting73%$23,01168%
4Southeast Technical College
Sioux Falls, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
28Accounting$44,85059%
5Northern State University
Aberdeen, SD Public · 3 feeder programs
26Accounting$51,23949%93%
6Mount Marty University
Yankton, SD Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
13Accounting52%$22,97243%
7University of Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls, SD Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Accounting and Business/Management$49,32563%$19,43983%
8Black Hills State University
Spearfish, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
10Accounting43%96%
9Western Dakota Technical College
Rapid City, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
10Accounting54%
10Dakota State University
Madison, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
7Accounting51%88%
11Mitchell Technical College
Mitchell, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
7Accounting$40,47576%
12Dakota Wesleyan University
Mitchell, SD Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
5Accounting48%$17,60873%
13National American University - Rapid City
Rapid City, SD Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs
4Accounting$32,5460%$22,086
14Sinte Gleska University
Mission, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
4Accounting and Business/Management15%

All 14 schools in South Dakota

Every school in South Dakota 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 South Dakota that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of South DakotaVermillionPublic1232
South Dakota State UniversityBrookingsPublic1062
Augustana UniversitySioux FallsPrivate not-for-profit372
Southeast Technical CollegeSioux FallsPublic281
Northern State UniversityAberdeenPublic263
Mount Marty UniversityYanktonPrivate not-for-profit132
University of Sioux FallsSioux FallsPrivate not-for-profit131
Black Hills State UniversitySpearfishPublic101
Western Dakota Technical CollegeRapid CityPublic101
Dakota State UniversityMadisonPublic71
Mitchell Technical CollegeMitchellPublic71
Dakota Wesleyan UniversityMitchellPrivate not-for-profit51
National American University - Rapid CityRapid CityPrivate for-profit42
Sinte Gleska UniversityMissionPublic41

What financial risk specialists earn in South Dakota

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

Median annual in South Dakota
$78,960
Mean annual
$95,530
Jobs in state
130
What the range looks like
10th pct$70,310Median$78,96090th pct$148,750
Versus the national median
-32.7%

U.S. median $117,330. South Dakota pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.67×

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

Metro areas in South Dakota

Sioux Falls, SD-MN
$80,360median
80 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+6.5%
Faster than average
Openings per year
4,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
3,900
60,500 → 64,400
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 Financial Risk Specialists page.

How to become a Financial Risk Specialist

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.

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in South Dakota

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 12 majors mapped to Financial Risk Specialists12 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 27.0305Financial Mathematics
  • 52.0215Risk Management
  • 52.0301Accounting
  • 52.0304Accounting and Finance
  • 52.0305Accounting and Business/Management
  • 52.0601Business/Managerial Economics
  • 52.0801Finance, General
  • 52.0806International Finance
  • 52.0807Investments and Securities
  • 52.0808Public Finance
  • 52.0810Financial Risk Management
  • 52.1304Actuarial Science

Common questions

Answers for people weighing financial risk specialists programs in South Dakota.

What degree do you need to become a Financial Risk Specialist?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Accounting, which awarded 201 degrees in South Dakota in 2024-25, 51.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Financial Risk Specialist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 6 programs to this occupation. The largest are Accounting and Related Services, Business/Managerial Economics, Finance and Financial Management Services, Applied Mathematics. Together they graduate about 393 people a year in South Dakota.

How much do financial risk specialists earn in South Dakota?+

The median is $78,960 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 32.7% below the U.S. median of $117,330. 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 financial risk specialists growing?+

BLS projects a +6.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 4,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in South Dakota?+

14 institutions in South Dakota reported graduates from at least one of the 6 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 financial risk specialists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Analyst, Risk Analyst, Risk Specialist, Securities Analyst among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-2054.

Financial Risk Specialists in other statesTexasNew YorkFloridaPennsylvaniaOhioNorth CarolinaIllinoisUtah

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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