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The differences between insurance brokers and underwriters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an insurance broker has an average salary of $94,006, which is higher than the $61,751 average annual salary of an underwriter.
The top three skills for an insurance broker include customer service, life insurance products and lead generation. The most important skills for an underwriter are customer service, investor guidelines, and mortgage loans.
| Insurance Broker | Underwriter | |
| Yearly salary | $94,006 | $61,751 |
| Hourly rate | $45.20 | $29.69 |
| Growth rate | 6% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 38,403 | 8,510 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Insurance brokers are responsible for assisting clients to determine their liability risks and in selecting the appropriate policies for their family, home, business, or automobile to ensure their protection. They direct clients in creating a sound decision and supply them with a variety of quotes that best suit their needs. Their duties include demonstrating the benefits, terms, conditions, and suspension for a number of participating insurance policies. Also, they may negotiate lesser rates for their clients and continue in guiding these clients in technical issues like filing a claim or changing their insurance coverage.
An underwriter's duties depend on the line of work or industry involved, such as mortgage companies, insurance, or lending firms. However, an Underwriter's responsibility will mainly revolve around using their extensive expertise on how a company will achieve financial gains, and assessing the possible financial risks of a client by reviewing various aspects to determine their capacity to uphold monetary obligations. Most of the time, the Underwriter's tasks will also involve evaluating a client's credit history, health, assets, overall financial history.
Insurance brokers and underwriters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Insurance Broker | Underwriter | |
| Average salary | $94,006 | $61,751 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $141,000 | Between $39,000 And $96,000 |
| Highest paying City | Birmingham, AL | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Liberty Mutual Insurance | |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between an insurance broker and an underwriter in terms of educational background:
| Insurance Broker | Underwriter | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between insurance brokers' and underwriters' demographics:
| Insurance Broker | Underwriter | |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 4.9% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 2.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 5.6% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 9% |