Data Journalist, Economics & Research Group

Compass • Boston, MA

8d • $125,500 - $139,400

About The Position

At Compass, our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world. Founded in 2012, we’re revolutionizing the real estate industry with our end-to-end platform that empowers residential real estate agents to deliver exceptional service to seller and buyer clients.
About the Role:
The CIH Data & Analytics organization produces data-driven research and content that help agents, consumers, and the media understand what's happening in housing markets. We are looking for a Data Journalist to help us find the story in the data and bring it to life for a broad audience.
You will work directly with the Chief Economist to turn housing market analysis into editorial content — reports, commentaries, social media, and visualizations — that is accurate, engaging, and built on rigorous data.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a data journalist, business reporter, analyst, writer, or editor in online media or print journalism
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Journalism, Communications, Economics, or a related field.
• Proven track record of published work translating data or economic topics for general audiences.
• Experience working directly with data — pulling, cleaning, and analyzing datasets to find the story. Experience with tools such as Excel, Python, or R.
• Experience producing graphics for publication using tools such as Flourish, Datawrapper, or similar.
• Strong understanding of economics, financial markets, and real estate.
• Graduate degree in Economics, Applied Economics, Real Estate, Statistics, or a related quantitative field preferred.
• Strong understanding of macroeconomics with knowledge of housing markets, mortgage finance, Fed policy, labor markets, and consumer economics.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain economic concepts to non-expert audiences.
• Experience producing charts and graphics for research or media; familiarity with tools such as Flourish or Datawrapper.
• Experience producing published research, market reports, or economic commentary.

Nice To Haves

• Background in business, financial, or economic journalism.
• Experience at a media outlet, research firm, or within a chief economist's team.
• Familiarity with real estate data sources such as MLS, Census, or BLS.
• Experience producing content for both editorial and brand publishing contexts.
• Experience in real estate economics, housing finance, or urban economics.
• Background at a research institution, think tank, bank, or government agency.
• Experience collaborating with editorial or communications teams on consumer-facing content.

Responsibilities

• Write and edit market reports, economic commentaries, and narrative summaries of housing data for agents, consumers, and media.
• Translate findings from quantitative analysis into stories that are accessible to non-expert audiences.
• Edit and refine content from the economics team for clarity, structure, and narrative coherence.
• Contribute to regular publications including market outlooks, regional reports, and luxury market coverage.
• Work with housing and economic datasets to identify trends, anomalies, and narratives worth telling.
• Collaborate with the Chief Economist to develop story angles and frame data findings as editorial content.
• Fact-check data claims and ensure accuracy and consistency across all published content.
• Produce charts, graphics, and interactive visualizations that communicate data findings effectively.
• Develop a consistent visual style for Compass research output across reports, presentations, and social media.
• Work with tools such as Flourish, Datawrapper, or similar platforms.
• Adapt research content for different formats and channels, including social media, email, press releases, and agent-facing materials.
• Support media and PR efforts by preparing data summaries and backgrounders for journalists.
• Monitor and synthesize macroeconomic trends, including Fed policy, labor markets, consumer sentiment, inflation, and interest rates, and translate their implications for residential real estate markets.
• Produce regional and local market analyses that bring national macro insights down to the metro, neighborhood, and price-tier level.
• Contribute research on topics such as luxury market dynamics, the impact of AI on labor markets and housing demand, and geographic market segmentation.
• Write research reports, market commentaries, and data-driven narratives for agents, consumers, journalists, and institutional partners.
• Contribute analysis and writing to Compass market intelligence publications, including luxury and high-end market reporting.
• Prepare data summaries, charts, and talking points for media and PR efforts.
• Produce data visualizations that make economic and housing data accessible and engaging.
• Build presentation materials for agents, sales meetings, and leadership briefings.
• Build and maintain housing market forecasting models incorporating macroeconomic inputs such as mortgage rates, employment, and GDP.
• Apply econometric techniques including regression analysis and time series modeling to support market outlooks.

Benefits

• Participation in our incentive programs (which may include eligible cash, equity, or commissions). Plus paid vacation, holidays, sick time, parental leave, and recharge leave; medical, tele-health, dental and vision benefits; 401(k) plan; flexible spending accounts (FSAs); commuter program; life and disability insurance; Maven (a support system for new parents); Carrot (fertility benefits); UrbanSitter (caregiver referral network); Employee Assistance Program; and pet insurance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees