Executive Summary
About the Survey:
This survey was administered in January and February 2021 to progressive and Democratic data, analytics, and technology staff, largely reflecting respondents’ 2020 employment and salaries. Thanks to everyone who participated and/or shared the survey! This was the largest sample yet.
How to use the results
There were 608 respondents recruited using snowball sampling. The survey was announced on a few major progressive and Democratic political and/or data email listservs and Slack channels, and readers were encouraged to share the survey around their offices and networks. This should not be considered a representative sample of all people working in the industry. The n-size and results as compared to previous year surveys’ offer some consistency, particularly at the aggregate level, but some experiences may not be represented.
This survey may be useful in evaluating salaries and roles of individuals or workplaces, but a survey of this kind should be used with care – your experience may be different.
Early salary surveys had heavy response rates among certain demographics, while more recent years have seen some notable shifts. We should be cautious in making assumptions about these demographic shifts. The survey is anonymous, and we are not able to make assessments about non-respondents. Some data has been obscured in this report due to small n-sizes to protect anonymization (such as among certain demographic categories).
Finally, although useful to benchmark, employers should NOT determine a role’s salary based on this survey alone.
We’ve highlighted some findings of interest, but strongly encourage you to review the full analysis.
About Respondents:
Gender: About half of respondents were cis women (49%). 43% were cis men. Seven percent were trans or non-binary.
Respondents were 64% white. This is a notable change from the last survey (2018) where 76% of respondents were white.
The median age was 30, while 36% were between ages 25 and 29.
Slightly fewer than half of respondents’ (47%) families have been in the United States for fewer than three generations.
62% of respondents identified as heterosexual/straight.
57% of respondents have a bachelor’s degree; 39% reported a degree higher than a bachelor’s.
15% report having a disability (defined as “a physical or mental impairment or medical condition that substantially limits a major life activity”).
35% of respondents live in the DC area, followed by New York metro area at 8% and Chicago metro area at 6%.
Nearly all respondents (96%) were fully employed during the 2020 election cycle.
Salary: The median salary was $88,000 and the average salary was $94,571.
The 2020 salary survey reflects the first notable increase in both median and average salaries since the start of this survey in 2014. The five past salary surveys have had a median salary of ~$75,000, +/- $5,000. There are likely multiple factors at play, however this survey did not aim to identify the causes.
Compared to non-managers, managers with 1-4 staffers had a median salary of ~$20K more and managers with 5+ staff had a median salary of ~$40K more.
People of color have a median salary of $85K versus white people’s median salary of $90K. This racial salary gap is notably smaller than in previous surveys.
Cis men and cis women had similar median salaries ($90K and $88K respectively). Trans and nonbinary people had a lower median salary ($72,250) than their cis colleagues, but we do not have enough disaggregated data from past surveys to make any comparisons.
Heterosexual people have a median salary of $90K and queer people have a median of $85K, however average salaries across respondents is essentially the same.
People with disabilities have median salaries of $15K less than non-disabled people, consistent with previous years.
Entry-level employees had a median salary of $68,000 (approximately $9K higher compared to 2018); mid-level employees $82,000 (~$8K higher); and senior / department-head employees $110,000 (~$10K higher).
Skills + Tools:
Within the last year, a majority of respondents have either transformed data/generated reports with SQL (74%), managed and reviewed others’ analysis or work (70%), created voter contact universes (59%), or presented the results of an analysis for non-technical leadership (59%).
Almost 80% of respondents learned the skills and tools they use weekly at their current and/or previous job.
A majority of respondents consider themselves to be either “intermediate” or “advanced” with Excel/Google spreadsheets (93%), SQL (73%), and voter file management (65%).
Job Characteristics:
Among respondents, 48% said the primary focus of their organization was data, analytics, or technology. This jumped to 92% for their team and 95% for their role.
Respondents work at a variety of organizations, with analytics/polling firms (18%), issue or advocacy organizations (17%), vendors (13%), and political campaigns (9%) making a majority of the organizations represented.
A majority of respondents’ primary job function or primary function of their team was general analytics or data science (22%), general data management and reporting (19%), or field/grassroots-focused data (11%).
39% of respondents are managers. The likelihood of being a manager did not meaningfully vary by race and/or gender.
Other Findings:
If respondents were to leave the progressive/Democratic data space, the top reasons were: for a better-paying job (39%); for a better work/life balance (27%); because they feel stagnated or that there isn’t a clear next step in their career (26%); for better opportunities to learn and grow in other fields (24%); or due to burn out (22%).
59% of respondents worked somewhere that provided additional benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
26% respondents work in a unionized workplace or have a recognized bargaining unit. Among those respondents, a large plurality (47%) work someplace that has unionized within the past two years.
Notes:
- People of Color (POC) include those who identified as Black, Latinx, Hispanic, Asian, Native, and people who selected multiple race categories. We report differences between POC and White respondents here to preserve anonymity.
- We use gender bins of Cis Man, Cis Woman, and Trans/Nonbinary in order to surface the areas where Trans respondents are underpaid relative to Cisgender respondents of the same gender.
Respondent Charateristics
Education
What is the highest level of education that you have completed?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
High School Diploma or GED
|
3%
|
17
|
|
Associate’s Degree
|
1%
|
4
|
|
Bachelor’s Degree
|
57%
|
344
|
|
Post-bachelor’s Work, no Higher Degree
|
7%
|
45
|
|
Master’s or Professional Degree (MA, MPP, JD, etc.)
|
28%
|
172
|
|
Doctoral Degree (PhD)
|
4%
|
23
|
|
Other
|
0%
|
2
|
|
Prefer not to answer
|
0%
|
1
|
Geography
Country
What country do you live in?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
United States
|
99%
|
603
|
|
Australia
|
0%
|
1
|
|
Canada
|
0%
|
1
|
|
France
|
0%
|
1
|
|
Spain
|
0%
|
1
|
|
Turkey
|
0%
|
1
|
Area
What’s your zip code? [only asked to US respondents, responses coded to Census metropolitan areas]
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
|
35%
|
214
|
|
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
|
8%
|
51
|
|
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
|
6%
|
39
|
|
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
|
4%
|
26
|
|
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
|
3%
|
21
|
|
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
|
3%
|
20
|
|
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
|
2%
|
14
|
|
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
|
2%
|
13
|
|
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
|
2%
|
11
|
|
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA
|
2%
|
10
|
|
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
|
1%
|
9
|
|
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
|
1%
|
8
|
|
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
|
1%
|
8
|
|
Raleigh-Cary, NC
|
1%
|
8
|
|
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
|
1%
|
6
|
|
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
|
1%
|
5
|
|
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
|
1%
|
5
|
|
Other (less than 5 people in metro area)
|
20%
|
122
|
|
Missing
|
3%
|
18
|
Work Experience
Politics & Data
How many years of work experience do you have in progressive politics and in data, analytics, and technology (i.e., how many years have you been a progressive data, analytics, or technology practitioner)?
Politics, Not Data
How many years of work experience do you have in progressive politics but not in data, analytics, and technology (i.e., exclude any years worked in data, analytics, and technology)?
Data, Not Politics
How many years of work experience do you have in data, analytics, and technology but not in progressive politics (i.e., exclude any years worked in progressive politics)? 
Total
Employment Status
Current Status
What is your current employment status (as of January 2021)? Select all that apply.
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Full-time at one or more jobs
|
82%
|
500
|
|
Unemployed
|
11%
|
64
|
|
Freelance / contracting / self-employed
|
8%
|
49
|
|
In school
|
1%
|
8
|
|
Part-time at one or more jobs
|
1%
|
5
|
|
Other
|
0%
|
0
|
During 2020 election cycle
What was your employment status during the 2020 election cycle? Select all that apply.
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Full-time at one or more jobs
|
96%
|
585
|
|
Freelance / contracting / self-employed
|
7%
|
41
|
|
In school
|
2%
|
13
|
|
Part-time at one or more jobs
|
1%
|
8
|
|
Other
|
0%
|
1
|
|
Unemployed
|
0%
|
0
|
Involvement in Data/Analytics/Tech
- Is the primary focus (>40% of resources) of your organization data, analytics, or technology?
- Is the primary focus (>40% of resources) of your team data, analytics, or technology?
- Is the primary focus (>40% of time) of your role data, analytics or technology?
Job Characteristics
Organization Type
How would you describe the organization?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Analytics / Polling firm
|
18%
|
110
|
|
Issue or advocacy organization
|
17%
|
101
|
|
Vendor (i.e. technology vendor)
|
13%
|
82
|
|
Political campaign
|
9%
|
57
|
|
Non-issue-specific Independent Expenditure group (i.e. Super PAC or c4 organization)
|
9%
|
56
|
|
Party committee
|
8%
|
49
|
|
Labor union
|
7%
|
44
|
|
Other consulting firm (media, field, digital, etc.)
|
7%
|
42
|
|
Government agency, contractor, or related employer
|
4%
|
25
|
|
Other
|
7%
|
42
|
Primary Job Function
What is your primary job function? If in management, please indicate the primary job function of your team.
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
General analytics or data science
|
22%
|
135
|
|
General data management and reporting
|
19%
|
114
|
|
Field / grassroots-focused data (e.g. VAN admin)
|
11%
|
68
|
|
Data infrastructure and processing
|
10%
|
59
|
|
Engineering / software development
|
9%
|
54
|
|
Polling and Research
|
7%
|
42
|
|
Consulting / client relations
|
7%
|
40
|
|
Product / Project management
|
6%
|
37
|
|
Digital data and analytics
|
3%
|
19
|
|
Development / fundraising-focused data
|
2%
|
11
|
|
Other
|
5%
|
29
|
Seniority
How would you describe your level of seniority within the organization?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Entry-Level
|
15%
|
90
|
|
Mid-Level
|
41%
|
249
|
|
Senior-Level, but not Department Head
|
21%
|
129
|
|
Department Head
|
16%
|
98
|
|
Organization Head, President or C-Level
|
5%
|
29
|
|
Other
|
0%
|
2
|
|
Freelance
|
2%
|
11
|
In the appendix, you can view seniority by gender and race.
Management
How many staffers do you manage? Please include everyone who reports “up the chain” to you, both directly or through layer(s) of management.
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
0 staffers
|
61%
|
370
|
|
1-4 staffers
|
26%
|
156
|
|
5-9 staffers
|
8%
|
46
|
|
10-14 staffers
|
2%
|
14
|
|
More than 15 staffers
|
4%
|
22
|
In the appendix, you can view management by gender and race.
Time Writing Code
What percentage of your time do you spend directly conducting analysis or writing code - as opposed to other work such as communicating with external partners or managing staff?
Overall
By Seniority
By Job Type
Salary Overview
In US Dollars, what is your total expected annual pre-tax income, including bonuses or commissions? This figure may be salaried or unsalaried.
|
Category
|
N
|
Mean
|
Median
|
|
All
|
608
|
$94,571
|
$88,000
|
Salary Distribution
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Under $45,000
|
3%
|
16
|
|
$45,000 to $49,999
|
1%
|
9
|
|
$50,000 to $54,999
|
4%
|
25
|
|
$55,000 to $59,999
|
3%
|
21
|
|
$60,000 to $64,999
|
6%
|
35
|
|
$65,000 to $69,999
|
6%
|
34
|
|
$70,000 to $74,999
|
7%
|
44
|
|
$75,000 to $79,999
|
6%
|
36
|
|
$80,000 to $84,999
|
6%
|
37
|
|
$85,000 to $89,999
|
9%
|
56
|
|
$90,000 to $94,999
|
6%
|
37
|
|
$95,000 to $99,999
|
5%
|
31
|
|
$100,000 to $104,999
|
6%
|
34
|
|
$105,000 to $109,999
|
4%
|
26
|
|
$110,000 to $114,999
|
4%
|
22
|
|
$115,000 to $119,999
|
3%
|
17
|
|
$120,000 to $124,999
|
3%
|
21
|
|
$125,000 to $129,999
|
2%
|
15
|
|
$130,000 to $134,999
|
2%
|
13
|
|
$135,000 to $139,999
|
1%
|
5
|
|
$140,000 to $144,999
|
2%
|
10
|
|
$145,000 to $149,999
|
2%
|
11
|
|
$150,000 to $154,999
|
2%
|
11
|
|
$155,000 to $159,999
|
1%
|
6
|
|
$160,000 to $164,999
|
1%
|
8
|
|
$165,000 to $169,999
|
1%
|
4
|
|
$170,000 to $174,999
|
1%
|
4
|
|
$175,000 to $179,999
|
1%
|
4
|
|
$180,000 to $184,999
|
0%
|
1
|
|
$185,000 to $189,999
|
0%
|
1
|
|
$190,000 to $194,999
|
0%
|
1
|
|
$200,000+
|
2%
|
13
|
Benefits
Which of the following benefits are you personally eligible for? Select all that apply.
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Health insurance
|
92%
|
557
|
|
Paid vacation days
|
90%
|
550
|
|
Paid sick days
|
87%
|
528
|
|
Retirement plan (401(k), 403(b), IRA, etc.)
|
75%
|
456
|
|
Paid parental leave
|
60%
|
362
|
|
Ability to work remotely (pre pandemic)
|
50%
|
304
|
|
Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement
|
49%
|
296
|
|
Continuing education / professional development
|
45%
|
274
|
|
Other
|
14%
|
83
|
|
Pension
|
10%
|
58
|
|
Stock / Equity in organization
|
6%
|
36
|
|
Day care
|
3%
|
21
|
|
None of the above
|
3%
|
17
|
Negotiation
Try Negotiate
During your last job offer or performance review, did you try to negotiate your salary?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Yes
|
36%
|
219
|
|
No
|
51%
|
310
|
|
Not applicable (union, freelancer, etc.)
|
13%
|
79
|
In the appendix, you can view negotiation outcomes by gender and race.
Negotiation Successful
Was your negotiation successful? Please select all that apply. [only asked to respondents who attempted a negotiation]
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Yes, I increased my benefits
|
6%
|
14
|
|
Yes, I increased my compensation
|
74%
|
161
|
|
Yes, I improved my title
|
18%
|
39
|
|
No, I did not gain improved compensation, benefits or title
|
24%
|
52
|
In the appendix, you can view negotiation outcomes by gender and race.
Professional Development
Opportunity
Does your employer offer any career development opportunities?
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Yes
|
50%
|
302
|
|
Yes, but I am not eligible
|
3%
|
16
|
|
No
|
23%
|
140
|
|
Not sure
|
25%
|
150
|
Available
What types of employer-funded professional development opportunities are available to you? Please select all that apply. [only asked to respondents who are offered career development opportunities]
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Attending a conference or similar event
|
81%
|
244
|
|
Attending off-site trainings
|
67%
|
202
|
|
Buying books or other training materials
|
62%
|
187
|
|
Presenting on a work project at a conference or similar event
|
56%
|
170
|
|
One-on-one or small group training on work time
|
49%
|
148
|
|
Receiving a professional certification
|
44%
|
132
|
|
Other professional development resources not mentioned above
|
30%
|
92
|
|
Tuition reimbursement
|
27%
|
81
|
Used
Which of these professional development opportunities have you used? Please select all that apply. [only asked to respondents who are offered career development opportunities]
|
|
Proportion
|
N
|
|
Attending a conference or similar event
|
56%
|
166
|
|
Attending off-site trainings
|
34%
|
100
|
|
Buying books or other training materials
|
33%
|
99
|
|
Presenting on a work project at a conference or similar event
|
27%
|
79
|
|
One-on-one or small group training on work time
|
27%
|
79
|
|
Haven’t used any
|
16%
|
49
|
|
Other professional development resources not mentioned above
|
14%
|
41
|
|
Receiving a professional certification
|
11%
|
32
|
|
Tuition reimbursement
|
6%
|
18
|
Open-Ended
Thinking about your career path and focus, which one specific skill or tool do you most want to learn?
Responses to this question included data visualization, GIS/mapping, working with APIs, management, modeling, and python.
Salary Crosstabs
In all of the following crosstabs, salary information is excluded for groups with fewer than 5 people.
Respondent Characteristics
Gender
|
Category
|
N
|
Mean
|
Median
|
|
Cis Woman
|
297
|
$94,844
|
$88,000
|
|
Cis Man
|
259
|
$96,093
|
$90,000
|
|
Trans or Nonbinary
|
44
|
$79,712
|
$72,250
|
|
Prefer not to answer
|
8
|
$116,920
|
$112,500
|
