Research Assistant, Housing Policy Data Analytics

Urban Institute; Washington; Hybrid; USD 53,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

Medical insurance

Dental and vision insurance

Transit benefits

403(b) retirement plan

Paid time off + holidays

Educational assistance

Job summary

Urban Institute in Washington, DC is seeking a DC-based Research Assistant (Step 1 / Research track) to join the Housing and Communities Division. You will manage and analyze data, write reproducible code in R, Stata, SAS, or Python, and produce clear tables and summaries for research teams.

You will work in a hybrid schedule (two or more days in the office) and contribute to multiple practice areas, including authoring literature reviews and supporting project management and events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or associate degree in Public Policy, Urban Studies, Data Science, Sociology, Economics, or related field.
• Experience with descriptive statistics, data cleaning, and basic data analysis.
• Experience managing, cleaning, merging, documenting, and analyzing large datasets.
• Experience writing, running, documenting, and reviewing code in R, Stata, SAS, and/or Python; willingness to learn new tools.
• Ability to produce clear tables, charts, maps, and other data summaries for nontechnical audiences.
• Strong judgment with AI tools to support coding while protecting confidentiality.

Responsibilities

• Collect, clean, manage, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Write, run, document, and review reproducible code in R, Stata, SAS, or Python.
• Use AI tools responsibly to support coding and efficiency.
• Produce tables, charts, maps, and descriptive statistics; summarize patterns for research teams.
• Support QA by checking code and documenting analytic decisions.
• Contribute to literature reviews, site visits, publications, and research management.
• Complete logistical tasks for proposals and events.
• Track timelines, reporting, and meeting minutes; manage multiple tasks.

Skills

Quantitative research

Data analysis

Time management

Independent work

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s or associate degree

Tools

R

Stata

SAS

Python

Job description

Urban Institute in Washington, DC is seeking a DC-based Research Assistant (Step 1 / Research track) to join the Housing and Communities Division. You will manage and analyze data, write reproducible code in R, Stata, SAS, or Python, and produce clear tables and summaries for research teams.

You will work in a hybrid schedule (two or more days in the office) and contribute to multiple practice areas, including authoring literature reviews and supporting project management and events.