Financial Analyst

52.08 Finance and Financial Management Services · SOC 13-2051

Financial analysts value companies and securities, build the models firms decide by, and measure the risk of being wrong. ⚠ A median of $103,570 with 7% growth. ⚠⚠ It is a CHOICE path, but a concentrated one: counted degrees put business at about half of working analysts, with the social sciences — economics among them — the next largest block. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding that should redirect some readers: the ANALYTICAL roles in this family are growing at 7% while the ADVISORY ones grow at 1%, despite paying the same or more. This page covers four roles.

Licensure and accreditation

⚠ No degree-level licence, no board, and no equivalent of accounting's 150-hour rule. What governs this field is examinations and registration obtained AFTER you are hired, and one voluntary credential that matters before. ⚠⚠ The most useful correction the federal handbook offers: some analyst positions require licensure, but MOST OF THOSE LICENCES REQUIRE SPONSORSHIP BY AN EMPLOYER, and companies do not expect individuals to hold them before starting a job. Students routinely believe they must arrive with a Series 7; they must not, and generally cannot. ⚠ Where registration does bite is on the ADVISORY side. Florida registers investment adviser representatives under Chapter 517: you file a Form U4 through FINRA's Central Registration Depository and must have passed the Series 65, or both the Series 7 and Series 66, within two years, plus the Securities Industry Essentials examination within four. ⚠⚠ Florida does NOT require the Series 63. Advisers at small firms register with the state; those at large firms register with the SEC. ⚠⚠⚠ The credential that distinguishes candidates before hiring is the CFA charter — a multi-year, three-examination commitment taken alongside full-time work, not during a degree. Decide about it after you are employed, not instead of being employed.

Four roles, and the growth is not where people expect

This page covers the financial analysis family, because the degrees and the first jobs are shared. The pattern in the outlook column is the most useful thing on this page.

Role	SOC	2025 median	Jobs	Outlook 2025–35
Budget analyst	13-2031	$91,640	50,400	⚠ 2% slower than average
Financial and investment analyst	13-2051	$103,570	443,100	✅ 7% much faster
Personal financial advisor	13-2052	$105,070	299,400	⚠⚠ 1% slower than average
Financial risk specialist	13-2054	$117,330	60,500	✅ 7% or higher

⚠⚠⚠ The two ANALYTICAL roles are growing and the two ADVISORY and BUDGET roles are almost flat — and the flat ones pay as much or more. That is the opposite of the common assumption, which is that an ageing population must mean rapid growth in financial advice. It does not, on the federal projections: personal financial advising adds 4,100 jobs over a decade against financial analysis adding 32,000.

⚠ Read it as a steer, not a prohibition. Advising is a relationship business where earnings depend far more on the book you build than on the median, and $105,070 is the middle of a very wide distribution. But if you are choosing where to aim and the wage is similar, the analytical side is where the hiring is.

What the work actually is

O*NET, on financial and investment analysts: advise clients on aspects of capitalization, such as amounts, sources, or timing; analyze financial or operational performance of companies facing financial difficulties; assess companies as investments for clients by examining company facilities; employ financial models to develop solutions to financial problems; recommend investments and investment timing to companies, investment firm staff.

⚠ Most of it is building and defending a model. The model is a set of assumptions about a future nobody knows, and the skill being paid for is judgement about which assumptions matter — not spreadsheet mechanics, which are assumed.

⚠⚠ O*NET and the BLS differ mildly and both are positive: O*NET puts growth at faster than average (5% to 6%) on 2024–34 with 368,500 employed and 25,100 annual openings; the BLS at 7%, much faster than average on 2025–35 with 443,100 jobs. Different decades and different bands; the direction agrees.

⚠⚠ The major question, and this is a narrower CHOICE than most

Census American Community Survey microdata, reported through Data USA for 2024, counts degrees held by people employed as financial analysts — 346,451 of them:

Field of degree	People	Roughly
Business	170,562	49%
Social sciences (economics is classified here)	41,484	12%
Engineering	14,327	4%

⚠ Compare that with software development, where computing supplied under a third. Here one field supplies about half, so the “any major can do this” framing is weaker: a business degree is close to the default, and finance or accounting within it is the straight line.

⚠⚠ But note what the second row means. Economics sits inside the social-sciences category in this classification, so a substantial part of that 12% is economists — and an economics degree is a genuinely strong route into analysis, often stronger than a general business degree for the quantitative roles. Engineering and mathematics appear too, in the modelling and risk corners.

⚠ The source's own caution: Data USA notes these count all academic degrees rather than one per person, and ACS records a field of degree only for bachelor's holders. Read the proportions, not the head counts.

⚠⚠ And the graduate share is high: of the same population, 189,508 hold a bachelor's as their highest degree and 116,146 hold a graduate degree — about a third. This is a field where a master's is common and is often taken after several years of work.

⚠⚠ What to do about licences, which students consistently get wrong

You do not need a Series 7 to apply for an analyst job. The BLS is explicit that most of these licences require employer sponsorship and that “companies do not expect individuals to have these licenses before starting a job”. Spending money on examination preparation before you are hired is, for most people, the wrong purchase.

⚠ Where registration genuinely applies is advising. To be an investment adviser representative in Florida you register under Chapter 517 by filing Form U4 through FINRA's Central Registration Depository, having passed either the Series 65, or both the Series 7 and the Series 66, within two years — plus the Securities Industry Essentials examination within four. ⚠⚠ Florida does not require the Series 63, which a good deal of national advice assumes it does. Small-firm advisers register with the state; large-firm advisers register with the SEC.

⚠⚠⚠ The credential worth planning for is the CFA — three examinations and several years, taken alongside full-time work. It is the closest thing this field has to a professional licence and it is what distinguishes candidates in investment roles. It is not a student credential; the sensible order is job first, charter second.

⚠ Two Florida course traps

The good news first: the lower-division business core travels as well here as it does for accounting — ECO 2023 at 39 of 39 institutions, ECO 2013 at 38 (with the GE CORE marker), ACG 2021 at 32, ACG 2071 at 37, STA 2023 at 39, and MAC 2233 Calculus for Business at 36.

⚠⚠ Trap one: the core finance course has two numbers, split by sector. FIN 3403 Financial Management is carried by 19 institutions, predominantly the universities; FIN 3400 Financial Management by 14, almost entirely state colleges. Same subject, both upper division, and only three institutions carry both. Ask your target university which one it accepts before you take the college version.

⚠ Trap two: the intermediate economics wall. ECO 3101 and ECO 3203 are each carried by exactly 11 institutions — all universities. Principles of micro and macro are everywhere; the intermediate versions that a finance or economics degree requires exist nowhere in the state-college system. Plan to take them after transfer, and expect a step change in mathematical content.

⚠ Worth knowing: Florida now carries QMB 3250 AI-Enhanced Business Statistics and Analysis at 8 institutions — a statewide course number, which means the state has formally recognised this as part of the business curriculum. If your programme offers it, take it.

Necessary skills

Financial modelling. Building a three-statement model from scratch, and knowing which line items the answer is actually sensitive to.
Accounting, read sceptically. You cannot value a company whose statements you cannot interrogate, which is why finance degrees require accounting.
Statistics and probability, increasingly with code. The risk specialist role is statistics applied to money, and it pays the most in this family.
Writing a recommendation. An analyst's output is a view, argued in a page, with the reasoning visible enough to be attacked.
Comfort with being wrong in public. Forecasts are checkable, and the job involves defending judgement that events will sometimes disprove.

Advice

⚠⚠ Do not buy licence preparation before you are hired. The federal handbook says employers sponsor these and do not expect them in advance. Put that money and time into modelling skill and internships, which are what actually get the first job.

⚠ If the quantitative side appeals, aim at risk rather than advising. Financial risk specialists have the highest median in this family ($117,330) and the strongest growth, and statistics plus finance is the combination those roles describe.

⚠ Plan for transfer around intermediate economics and FIN 3403. The lower division is safe at any Florida state college; the two upper-division pinch points are not, and one of them has two competing numbers.

And treat internships as the real credential. Finance recruits early and heavily from internships, more so than any other path on this site. A relevant summer in your penultimate year is worth more than any certificate you can buy as a student.

Where people come from

There is no single required programme for this path. These are the fields students actually arrive from — each is a place in the catalog you can browse.

52.03Accounting and Related Services

Accounting — the sibling degree, and a genuine feeder: the two share most of a first two years, and the counted degree data puts business fields at about half of working financial analysts. 50 Florida public institutions once bookkeeping certificates are counted.

45.06Economics

⚠ Economics. The counted data places social sciences second among financial analysts' degree fields at about 12%, and economics is classified within that category — so this is the largest non-business feeder and a strong route into the quantitative roles.

27.05Statistics

Statistics — the smallest of the named feeders but the best-aimed at the highest-paid role in this family. Financial risk specialists earn a median of $117,330 and the work is statistical modelling.

Programs that lead here

A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that awarded a credential in the field in 2023; it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different from the course-based list further down.

Finance 14 Florida schools

The straight line into this work, and the degree the job titles describe — but note it is taught at only 12 Florida public institutions and almost entirely at universities, so a state-college start means transferring in. ⚠ Read its degrees note on licences: they come after hiring, with employer sponsorship.

Accounting 50 Florida schools

⚠ A real route rather than a near-miss: the degrees share most of a first two years, and you cannot value a company whose statements you cannot interrogate. ⚠⚠ Accounting is also available at far more Florida institutions and starts cleanly at a state college, so for many students it is the more practical way into financial analysis — and it keeps the CPA option open.

Statistics 6 Florida schools

⚠ The route aimed at the best-paid corner of this family. Financial risk specialists have the highest median here ($117,330) and the strongest growth, and the work is statistical modelling rather than company analysis. ⚠⚠ Statistics plus finance coursework beats either alone for those roles.

Data Science and Analytics 13 Florida schools

⚠ A route into the modelling and quantitative side rather than the whole field. Pricing, risk and portfolio analytics are data work, and Florida now carries a statewide course number for AI-enhanced business statistics. ⚠⚠ Narrower than finance — if you are unsure, the business degree keeps more of this family open.

Careers similar to this one

Careers filed under the same broad field in the federal classification (BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES) — often they share early coursework, and each row says which group it is filed in. ⚠ Worth reading BEFORE you commit: switching between neighbours is cheap early and expensive late.

Accountant and CPA Accounting and Related Services

Accountants and auditors prepare, examine and attest to the financial records organisations run and are judged on — statements, tax, controls and the audits that make the numbers credible. ⚠ A median of $83,680 with 124,200 openings a year, one of the largest steady hiring markets on this site. ⚠⚠⚠ And the fact that should shape a Florida student's plan: Florida still requires 150 SEMESTER HOURS for a CPA licence while other states have moved, and bills to change it have passed the Florida Senate unanimously TWICE and died in the House both times. This page covers three related roles.

Construction Manager Construction Management

Construction managers plan, price, schedule and deliver building projects — coordinating trades, controlling cost, enforcing code and safety, and answering for the programme. ⚠ A median of $114,990 with 9% growth, on a route with no licence gate at entry — compare architecture at $99,280 after an accredited degree, 3,740 supervised hours and a six-division exam. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding that matters most in Florida: a construction degree is worth THREE YEARS of site experience toward a contractor licence under s. 489.111. This page covers three related roles, and two routes that look alike and end in different places.

Hospitality, Restaurant and Event Manager Hospitality Administration/Management

⚠⚠⚠ Lodging managers earn $69,250 and food service managers $69,390 — $140 apart — but 72% of employers want a bachelor's for the first and 30% will take a high school diploma for the second. ⚠⚠ And food service management is SEVEN TIMES the occupation: 352,800 jobs against 52,000, with 42,000 annual openings against 5,400. In the industry Florida is built on, the degree buys you the smaller half at the same money.

Human Resources Specialist Human Resources Management and Services

Human resources specialists recruit and hire, administer pay and benefits, interpret employment law and policy, and handle the disputes and complaints that come with employing people. ⚠ A median of $75,940 across 939,700 jobs, all of it growing. ⚠⚠ It is the most open CHOICE path on this site: business supplies only about a quarter of HR workers, PSYCHOLOGY is the second largest feeder, and 16% have no degree beyond some college. ⚠⚠⚠ And the money is in progression, not credentials — the step to HR manager is worth $73,340 and asks for experience, not another degree.

Logistics and Supply Chain Analyst Business Administration, Management and Operations

Logisticians decide where goods sit, how they move and what it costs — purchasing, inventory, transportation and network design. ⚠ It is the fastest-growing and best-paid occupation in this cluster (a median of $82,320, growth of 18% on the latest federal projection), and there is no single required major: 75% hold a bachelor's, and business, supply chain and engineering all lead here. So does the military.

Marketing Manager and Sales Professional Marketing

⚠⚠⚠ $166,790, among the highest medians of any bachelor's-entry occupation on this site — beside computer and information systems management at $175,140 and computer hardware engineering at $161,740 — and 80% of employers report a bachelor's rather than a master's. ⚠⚠ The way in is the other half of this page: market research and marketing specialist roles number 941,700 with 87,200 openings a year, and sales representatives 1,571,400 with 123,400.

Real Estate Agent, Broker and Analyst Real Estate

⚠⚠⚠ The licence to sell property in Florida is 63 classroom hours — about a week and a half — and employers report 52% accepting a high school diploma and 22% less than that. ⚠⚠ Meanwhile Florida's universities award 408 real estate credentials a year, 138 of them MASTER'S. Those two facts describe different jobs that share a word, and choosing between them is what this page is for.

Small Business Owner and Entrepreneur Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations

⚠⚠⚠ Half of new US businesses are gone in five years and two-thirds in ten — BLS tracks it, and the rate barely moves between cohorts: 79.6% survive year one, 50.2% survive five, 34.7% survive ten. ⚠⚠ Every entrepreneurship page should open with that and almost none does. ⚠ Florida's own answer is a cheap certificate rather than a degree: 86% of the 2,102 credentials in this field are certificates of under a year.

Systems Analyst and IT Manager Management Information Systems and Services

⚠⚠⚠ Computer and information systems managers earn $175,140 with 55,600 openings a year — and 26% of them report reaching it with SOME COLLEGE AND NO DEGREE, against 48% with a bachelor's and 14% with a master's. ⚠⚠ The rung below, computer systems analyst, is $105,850 across 521,100 jobs. This is the best-paid management occupation on the site and one of the most credential-loose.

See every career in BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES →

Courses along this path

Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on. A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.

ECO2023 —Principles of Microeconomics Guide

Principles of Microeconomics — 39 of 39 institutions. Universal in Florida, required by every business degree, and the foundation for how prices and markets are reasoned about.

⚠ ✅ Carried by every single Florida public institution offering the prefix. Take it anywhere.

ECO2013 —Principles of Macroeconomics Guide

Principles of Macroeconomics — 38 institutions, and it carries the (GE CORE) marker, so it satisfies its general-education area at every Florida public college and university.

⚠ ✅ GE Core status means the AREA credit travels, not just the hours.

ACG2021 —Financial Accounting Guide

Financial Accounting — 32 institutions. You cannot analyse a company whose statements you cannot read, which is why every finance degree requires this.

⚠ ⚠ Nine colleges instead run ACG2001 and ACG2011 as a two-course sequence. Check which your target university expects.

ACG2071 —Managerial Accounting Request a guide

Managerial Accounting — 37 of its prefix's 38 carriers (97%), one of the best-travelling courses in Florida. Costing and internal reporting, which is what corporate financial analysis actually works with.

⚠ ✅ Take at a state college with complete confidence.

MAC2233 —Survey of Calculus Request a guide

Calculus for Business and Social Science — 36 institutions. The mathematics requirement of most Florida business degrees, and enough calculus for the finance sequence.

⚠ ⚠⚠ If you may go toward risk, quantitative finance or a master's, take MAC2311 Calculus I (39 institutions) instead — the business calculus often does not substitute for it, and that closes doors quietly.

STA2023 —Elementary Statistics Guide

Elementary Statistics — 39 institutions. The basis of everything in risk, and the course the highest-paid role in this family is built on.

FIN3403 —Business Finance Guide

Financial Management — 19 institutions, predominantly the universities. The core finance course: time value of money, valuation, capital budgeting and cost of capital.

⚠ ⚠⚠ Florida numbers this subject TWICE, split by sector: FIN3403 at 19 institutions (mostly universities) and FIN3400 at 14 (almost entirely state colleges), with only three carrying both. Same subject, both upper division. ⚠ Ask your target university which it accepts BEFORE taking the college version.

FIN3400 —Financial Management Guide

Financial Management — 14 institutions, almost all state colleges. The same core subject under the number the college sector uses.

⚠ ⚠ Listed so the sector split is visible from both sides. It is not a lesser course; it is a different number, and requirement checks match on numbers.

FIN4504 —Investments Guide

Investments — 9 institutions. Securities, portfolio theory, risk and return: the course closest to what an investment analyst does daily, and the foundation of CFA Level I material.

FIN4414 —Financial Management Guide

Financial Management II — 7 institutions. Advanced corporate finance: capital structure, dividend policy, valuation of the firm and merger analysis.

ECO3101 —Intermediate Microeconomics Guide

Intermediate Microeconomics — 11 institutions, ⚠ all universities. Where economics becomes mathematical, and a requirement of both finance and economics degrees.

⚠ ⚠⚠ Carried by NO Florida state college. Principles of micro is everywhere and its intermediate version is nowhere below the university level, so plan to take it after transfer and expect a step change in mathematical content.

ECO3203 —Intermediate Macroeconomics Guide

Intermediate Macroeconomics — 11 institutions, also all universities. Growth, monetary policy and the models used to reason about the environment firms operate in.

⚠ ⚠ Same pinch point as intermediate micro: university-only, and it lands immediately after transfer.

QMB3250 —Quantitative Methods for Business Decisions Request a guide

AI-Enhanced Business Statistics and Analysis — 8 institutions. ⚠ Notable in itself: Florida has created a statewide course number for this, which means the state has formally recognised it as part of the business curriculum.

⚠ ⚠⚠ If your programme offers it, take it. The analytical roles in this family are the ones growing, and this is the course aimed squarely at them.

BUL2241 —Business Law I Guide

Business Law I — 25 institutions. Contracts, agency and securities regulation touch everything in this field, and the advisory side is registration-governed.

GEB3213 —Business Writing Guide

Advanced Business Communication — 28 institutions. An analyst's output is a written recommendation that has to survive being argued with; this is the only course in the degree that teaches it.

FIN2100 —Personal Finance Request a guide

Personal Finance — 15 institutions. Not a major requirement, but the closest course to what a personal financial advisor actually does, and a cheap way to test whether the advisory side of this family appeals.

⚠ ⚠ Also carried as FIN1100 at 13 institutions. ⚠⚠ Usually a general-education elective rather than part of the finance major — check before assuming it counts.

Where you can take these courses in Florida

39 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is how many of the 16 listed courses each one carries — it shows where the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.

FAMU

Florida A & M University

13 of 16

SPC

St. Petersburg College

12 of 16

University of Florida

12 of 16

USF

University of South Florida

12 of 16

UWF

University of West Florida

12 of 16

Broward College

11 of 16

FAU

Florida Atlantic University

11 of 16

FSU

Florida State University

11 of 16

MDC

Miami Dade College

11 of 16

UCF

University of Central Florida

11 of 16

UNF

University of North Florida

11 of 16

FGCU

Florida Gulf Coast University

10 of 16

FIU

Florida International University

10 of 16

FLPOLY

Florida Polytechnic University

10 of 16

FSCJ

Florida State College at Jacksonville

10 of 16

NWFSC

Northwest Florida State College

10 of 16

PESC

Pensacola State College

10 of 16

SSCF

Seminole State College of Florida

10 of 16

TSC

Tallahassee State College

10 of 16

DSC

Daytona State College

9 of 16

EFSC

Eastern Florida State College

9 of 16

FGC

Florida Gateway College

9 of 16

FSWSC

Florida Southwestern State College

9 of 16

LSSC

Lake-Sumter State College

9 of 16

PBSC

Palm Beach State College

9 of 16

PHSC

Pasco-Hernando State College

9 of 16

PSC

Polk State College

9 of 16

SFC

Santa FE College

9 of 16

SCFMS

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

9 of 16

CFK

The College of the Florida Keys

9 of 16

College of Central Florida

8 of 16

GCSC

Gulf Coast State College

8 of 16

IRSC

Indian River State College

8 of 16

NFC

North Florida College

8 of 16

SFSC

South Florida State College

8 of 16

SJRSC

St. Johns River State College

7 of 16

Valencia College

7 of 16

Hillsborough College

6 of 16

NCF

New College of Florida

2 of 16

Sources

Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before committing to a route.

O*NET — Financial and Investment Analysts (13-2051.00) — Task statements, 368,500 employed (2024), growth faster than average (5% to 6%) on the 2024–34 projections, 25,100 annual openings, median wages $102,740 (2025). Job Zone Four — most positions need a four-year degree.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Financial Analysts — 443,100 jobs (2025), 7% growth 2025–35 (much faster than average), +32,000, median $103,570, entry a bachelor's in finance or a related field. ⚠⚠ The correction this page leads with on licences: most require sponsorship by an employer, and companies do not expect individuals to have them before starting a job.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Personal Financial Advisors — ⚠⚠ The contrast that shapes this page: $105,070 median — slightly ABOVE analysts — but 299,400 jobs growing only 1% (slower than average), +4,100 over the decade. Small-firm advisers register with state regulators; large-firm advisers with the SEC.
O*NET — Financial Risk Specialists (13-2054.00) and BLS — Budget Analysts — The other two roles covered here. Risk specialists: 60,500 employed, growth 7% or higher through 2034, 4,800 annual openings, median $117,330 — ✅ the highest in this family. Budget analysts: 50,400 jobs, 2% growth (slower than average), +1,000, median $91,640, with 26% in federal government.
Data USA — Financial Analysts, degree fields (US Census ACS PUMS, 2024) — ⚠⚠ The counted entrant-major evidence: of 346,451 employed, business 170,562 (about 49%), social sciences 41,484 (about 12%, economics classified within it), engineering 14,327. By highest degree: bachelor's 189,508, graduate 116,146 — about a third hold a graduate degree. ⚠ The source's caution: all academic degrees are counted, not one per person, and ACS records a field only for bachelor's holders.
Chapter 517, Florida Statutes, and Fla. Admin. Code 69W-600.0024 — investment adviser representatives — ⚠ Florida registration for the advisory side: Form U4 through FINRA's Central Registration Depository, with the Series 65 OR both the Series 7 and Series 66 passed within two years, plus the Securities Industry Essentials examination within four. ⚠⚠ Florida does NOT require the Series 63, which national advice frequently assumes.
IPEDS Completions 2023 (C2023_A) — CIP 52.08 — Finance and financial management: 2,968 credentials at 12 Florida public institutions on the general finance code, plus small programmes in banking and financial support services and financial planning. ⚠ Unlike accounting, finance is taught almost entirely at the universities.
SCNS statewide course file and flat file — ✅ The lower division travels: ECO2023 at 39 of 39, ECO2013 at 38, ACG2071 at 37, MAC2233 at 36, STA2023 at 39. ⚠⚠ Two upper-division pinch points: FIN3403 (19 institutions, mostly universities) and FIN3400 (14, almost all state colleges) are the same subject under two numbers with only three carrying both; and ECO3101 and ECO3203 are carried by exactly 11 institutions each, ALL universities.

Last updated 23 September 2026.