How To Become A General Adjuster: What It Is and Career Path

What is a general adjuster and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

General adjusters are the unsung heroes of the insurance industry but, unfortunately, are under tremendous stress and pressure. A general adjuster is an insurance professional responsible for analyzing incidents to determine the insurance company's financial liability.

A public adjuster's duties revolve around researching the property or physical damage related to insurance claims. Since they have to investigate insurance, the extent of ensuring companies liabilities, they must possess analytical, math, and communication skills of the highest order.

Most of the general adjusters have a college degree. Regardless, they can become one with only a high school degree or GED. The average property general adjuster salary in the United States is $62,844 as of December 28, 2020. Still, the salary range typically falls between $55,953 and $70,669; although, compensation may vary according to skills and education.

ScoreGeneral AdjusterUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $62,495

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%

Asian 5.33%

Black or African American 12.16%

Hispanic or Latino 16.63%

Unknown 4.42%

White 60.97%

Gender

female 27.01%

male 72.99%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a general adjuster

Explore general adjuster education requirements

Most common general adjuster degrees

Bachelor's

76.0 %

Associate

10.0 %

Master's

6.9 %

Start to develop specific general adjuster skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	18.58%
Xactimate	16.67%
Claims Handling	11.33%
Litigation	9.95%
Commercial Property	8.87%

Complete relevant general adjuster training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New general adjusters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a general adjuster based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real general adjuster resumes.

Research general adjuster duties and responsibilities

Apply strong customer service, organizational and multitasking skills to efficiently manage auto insurance claims.
Investigate and evaluate bodily injury and property damage automobile and homeowner claims.
Respond to arbitration responses when need.
Investigate, inspect, scoped and estimate in Xactimate every loss assign.

Prepare your general adjuster resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your general adjuster resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a general adjuster resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable general adjuster resume templates

Build a professional general adjuster resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your general adjuster resume.