How much does a actuarie make?

The median pay is $62.50 per hour — roughly $130,000 a year, with the real range running from about $37.77/hr (10th percentile) to $103.41/hr (90th percentile). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Do you need a degree to be a actuarie?

The typical entry-level education is: Bachelor's degree. Overall preparation level: considerable preparation (Job Zone 4 of 5).

What does a actuarie actually do all day?

Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits. Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accounts, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvements to existing business. Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates.

Computing & IT

Actuaries

Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits. May ascertain insurance rates required and cash reserves necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.

What it pays
Actuaries earn a median of $62.50/hr — about $130,000 a year. The lowest-paid 10% earn $37.77/hr; the top 10% earn $103.41/hr. (Annual figures are approximate: hourly × 2,080.)

What you'd actually do

Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.
Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accounts, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvements to existing business.
Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates.
Design, review, and help administer insurance, annuity and pension plans, determining financial soundness and calculating premiums.
Determine, or help determine, company policy, and explain complex technical matters to company executives, government officials, shareholders, policyholders, or the public.
Construct probability tables for events such as fires, natural disasters, and unemployment, based on analysis of statistical data and other pertinent information.

How you get there

Typical entry-level education: Bachelor's degree. Overall preparation: considerable preparation (Job Zone 4 of 5).

The feel of the work

The work is mostly indoors; much of the day is spent working solo. (Compared against the other 818 careers in the guide.)

Working for yourself

About 0% of actuaries are self-employed.

Who it tends to fit

This work tends to fit people who are organized and detail-focused, analytical and take-charge.

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Quick questions

How much does a actuarie make?: The median pay is $62.50 per hour — roughly $130,000 a year, with the real range running from about $37.77/hr (10th percentile) to $103.41/hr (90th percentile). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Do you need a degree to be a actuarie?: The typical entry-level education is: Bachelor's degree. Overall preparation level: considerable preparation (Job Zone 4 of 5).
What does a actuarie actually do all day?: Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits. Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accounts, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvements to existing business. Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS. Tasks & interests: O*NET. Career pathways shown in the app are draft archetypes — verify before relying on them. Trailhead is a free career guide for students — honest numbers, no hype.

Trailhead is operated by FLEXVermont LLC. It is intended for high-school students age 13 and older, and the educators and families who support them, and is not directed to children under 13. Trailhead is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not offer professional, financial, or career advice, and its wage figures and pathways are estimates that may not fit your situation — they should not be relied on as the sole basis for any decision.