Actuary: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of actuaries earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $78,570
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of actuaries earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $97,680
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of actuaries earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $130,000
- Hourly
- $62.50
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of actuaries earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $170,650
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of actuaries earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $215,100
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
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. The median pay is $130,000 a year ($62.50 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).
- Median pay
- $130,000
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 26,670
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
Data Government data groups this job as Actuaries (O*NET-SOC 15-2011.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Every page for Actuaries
What actuaries do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Analyze data to determine premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.
- 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.
- 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.
- Provide advice to clients on a contract basis, working as a consultant.
- 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.
- Determine equitable basis for distributing surplus earnings under participating insurance and annuity contracts in mutual companies.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Mathematics, Economics and Accounting, Computers and Electronics, English Language, Administration and Management.
Software actuaries use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- SASAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- IBM SPSS StatisticsAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
- Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
- ARMON Technologies XLActuaryFinancial analysis software
- Appraisal softwareFinancial analysis software
- Cash flow softwareFinancial analysis software
- Compliance testing softwareCompliance software
- GGY AXISFinancial analysis software
- Insightful S-PLUSAnalytical or scientific software
- Insureware ICRFS-ELRFFinancial analysis software
- Lewis & Ellis LEAPPSFinancial analysis software
- Microsoft Visual FoxProObject oriented data base management software
Also called: Actuarial Analyst, Actuarial Associate, Actuarial Consultant, Consulting Actuary, Health Actuary.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).