Data Science and Analytics

Data science programmes teach how to get a defensible answer out of data — statistics and study design, programming, machine learning, and handling data at a scale that breaks a spreadsheet. It is among the newest programmes in the Florida catalogue, and it is still settling: the same subject is awarded under two federal codes and a range of names.

The degrees this program covers

Florida awards these credentials at associate, bachelor’s and master’s level, plus short certificates, and the level varies between institutions far more than in older programmes — several state colleges award an associate degree in it while several universities start at master’s. ⚠ Two codes share the field, Data Science and Data Analytics, each awarded by ten Florida public institutions; the names are not a reliable guide to what is taught, so read both catalogues. There is no licence and no accreditation requirement here — what an employer looks at is the work you can show.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Data Scientist

Data scientists turn messy data into decisions — cleaning and preparing it, building and validating statistical and machine-learning models, and explaining the result to people who will act on it. ⚠ There is no licence, no entrance examination and, for most people now working in the field, no data science degree: the occupation is older than the major.

Financial Analyst

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.

Marketing Manager and Sales Professional

⚠⚠⚠ $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.

Software Developer

Software developers design, build and maintain the systems everything else runs on. ⚠ A median of $135,980 nationally and $130,980 in Florida, on a bachelor's degree, and among the highest-paid on this site — above every two-year route and behind only computer hardware engineering. ⚠⚠ It is a CHOICE path: no single major owns it. Counted degrees show computing majors supplying under a third of working developers and ENGINEERING supplying nearly as many. ⚠⚠⚠ And it is the only career here you can enter with no degree at all — about one developer in five has none.

Systems Analyst and IT Manager

⚠⚠⚠ 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.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Database Administrator and Database Architect

⚠ The adjacent destination rather than a route in. A data scientist builds models from the data; an architect builds what the data lives in. They share SQL, mining and warehousing, and diverge on statistics.

Environmental Scientist and Specialist

⚠ Named for the skill that most changes employability here: monitoring produces large spatial and time-series datasets, GIS2040 and STA2023 are the shared courses, and environmental data work is paid closer to the computing market than the environmental one.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Computer Science 16 Florida schools

The larger and older programme, available at far more institutions — 41 award computing credentials against thirteen here. ⚠ If no data degree is near you, a computing degree with statistics coursework is the standard route into this work, and it is more portable.

Statistics 6 Florida schools

⚠ The foundation this programme is built on. Statistics goes deeper into inference and study design and travels further into research, biostatistics and government; data science trades some of that for programming and machine learning.

Finance 14 Florida schools

⚠ The overlap with modern finance is large and growing — pricing, risk models and portfolio analytics are data work. Florida even carries a statewide course number for AI-enhanced business statistics. ⚠⚠ If you find the modelling more interesting than the markets, read this programme before committing to finance.

Marketing 21 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Where marketing has actually gone. Market research analysts and marketing specialists number 941,700 with 87,200 annual openings, and the work is increasingly measurement, segmentation and attribution. ⚠ MAR4613 Marketing Research and Information Systems is carried by 13 Florida institutions, and a quantitative background is the clearest way to stand out in a 2,302-bachelor's-a-year field.

Database and Data Management 5 Florida schools

⚠ The adjacent destination, and the boundary is real: a data scientist builds models from data, a database architect builds the thing the data lives in. ⚠⚠ They share the SQL and the warehousing courses — CAP4770 Data Mining is carried by 9 Florida institutions and CAP4774 Data Warehousing by 3 — and diverge on statistics.

Environmental Science and Studies 19 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the skill that most changes an environmental graduate's employability: monitoring programmes generate large time-series and spatial datasets, and GIS2040 plus STA2023 are the two courses this field and that one actually share. ⚠⚠ Environmental data work pays closer to the computing market than to the environmental one.

Management Information Systems 13 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Where the analytical end of MIS has gone. ISM4545 Advanced Machine Learning for Business is already carried by 6 Florida institutions, inside the business prefix. ⚠ If the analytical work is the draw rather than the management, look at data science before committing to MIS.

Florida public institutions offering this program

13 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Master's, Postbaccalaureate certificate. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Broward College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida Atlantic University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida Polytechnic University

Associate · Bachelor's · Master's

Florida SouthWestern State College

Associate

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years)

Florida State University

Master's

Hillsborough Community College

Associate

Miami Dade College

Associate · Bachelor's

Pensacola State College

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Saint Johns River State College

Associate

St Petersburg College

Associate

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of North Florida

Bachelor's · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 21 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.