What this occupation does
Credit analysts analyse credit data and financial statements of individuals or firms to determine the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money. The role spans financial-ratio analysis, risk scoring, loan-application review, credit-report writing, and recommendations to loan committees across commercial and consumer lending.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places credit analysts in the high exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places credit analysts in the high exposure gradient. Structured credit-data analysis, financial-ratio generation, and standard risk-report drafting are technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI plus long-established automated credit-scoring models; the durable tasks are relationship lending, non-standard and distressed-credit judgement, and the accountability that sits behind a lending decision.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 2413 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Changing: Analyse credit data and financial statements to determine the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money. AI accelerates credit-data analysis and risk assessment; final risk judgement and accountability remain analyst-led.
- Displaceable: Generate financial ratios, using computer programs, to evaluate customers' financial status. Programmatic ratio generation is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI and is already automated in most lending stacks.
- Displaceable: Prepare reports that include the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money. Standard-form credit-risk report drafting is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Changing: Complete loan applications, including credit analyses and summaries of loan requests, and submit to loan committees for approval. Application assembly and summary drafting are heavily AI-augmented; committee-facing accountability remains human.
- Growing: Analyse financial data, such as income growth, quality of management, and market share, to determine expected profitability of loans. Qualitative judgement on management quality and forward profitability is augmentation-prone and grows as AI handles the routine data assembly.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034 outlook for credit analysts is slower than average. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: AI and big data, Analytical thinking, Technological literacy. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 places credit analysis among the more-exposed financial functions: routine analysis and report writing are exposed, while distressed-credit judgement, relationship lending, and lending accountability are augmentation-prone.
Credit analysts and the shift to automated credit decisioning
Credit analysis is among the most structured knowledge tasks in finance: the core work turns financial statements and credit data into ratios, risk grades, and a standard-form recommendation. That structure is exactly what current generative AI plus long-established automated credit-scoring models handle well, which is why the top O*NET tasks for the role skew displaceable and changing rather than growing.
The BLS does not cover credit analysts in detail in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, but the underlying employment data classifies the outlook as below average, and O*NET reports a median annual wage of $83,510 for the occupation (2024). The durable part of the job is the judgement automated scoring cannot own: distressed and non-standard credits, relationship and covenant negotiation, and the accountability a named analyst carries when a lending decision is challenged.
Sources: O*NET OnLine 13-2041.00 (Credit Analysts); My Next Move / O*NET (median wage and outlook, 2024).
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Financial Analysts
- Loan Officers
- Insurance Underwriters
- Accountants and Auditors
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Finance industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2024-2034 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.