Skills
What skills do data analyst jobs ask for?
On this page
Short answer
SQL comes first. Of 934 live data analyst roles on realanalystjobs.com on 11 October 2026, 640 name the tools they want, and the most common are SQL (88%), Python (65%) and Tableau (43%). Power BI and Tableau: Tableau leads (43% against 36% for Power BI).
What data analyst postings ask for
Every role on the board whose title contains data analyst was counted, worldwide. A tool counts when the listing names it; the table also shows the share for all 5,737 analyst roles, so you can see what is specific to this job.
| Tool | Roles | Share | All analyst roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQL | 562 | 88% | 74% |
| Python | 419 | 65% | 56% |
| Tableau | 274 | 43% | 31% |
| Power BI | 228 | 36% | 27% |
| Looker | 170 | 27% | 16% |
| R | 153 | 24% | 14% |
| dbt | 128 | 20% | 10% |
Tools named in data analyst roles (640 roles that list tools). Shares are of roles whose listing names at least one tool. Excel is left out because the board's Excel tag overcounted until October 2026.
How data analyst jobs differ from other analyst jobs
SQL shows up more often: 88% of data analyst roles against 74% of analyst roles overall.
Tableau shows up more often: 43% of data analyst roles against 31% of analyst roles overall.
Looker shows up more often: 27% of data analyst roles against 16% of analyst roles overall.
What to learn first
SQL first: in our October 2026 research across the US, India, the UK and Canada, more postings named SQL than any BI tool.
Then one BI tool (Tableau or Power BI, by market) and enough Python to clean data and automate a report.
Statistics and clear writing are asked for in the text even when no tool list mentions them.
Where these jobs are
The countries with the most data analyst roles are United States (232), India (100), United Kingdom (83) and France (60). Employers with the most open: Wal-Mart.com USA (22), USM2 (20), capco (17), NielsenIQ (16) and DeliveryHero (15).
11% are entry level and 8% are remote.
Where the numbers come from
Every number on this page is computed from the live analyst roles on realanalystjobs.com on 11 October 2026, read from the employers' own career pages and re-checked daily, and it updates as roles open and close. H-1B figures come from the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub (data as of 2026-06-30). Nothing is estimated or projected.
Frequently asked
Do data analysts need Python?
Python is named in 65% of data analyst listings that name tools, against 56% across all analyst roles. SQL is named in 88%.
Is Power BI or Tableau more common in data analyst jobs?
Tableau leads (43% against 36% for Power BI), counted across 640 data analyst roles that name tools.
How many data analyst jobs are open?
934 live roles at 450 companies on realanalystjobs.com on 11 October 2026, 149 of them first seen in the last 7 days.
See the roles
Browse every live analyst role.
Pulled from company career pages, re-checked daily. Free to browse.
