Insurance underwriter vs actuary

The differences between insurance underwriters and actuaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an actuary has an average salary of $88,255, which is higher than the $64,163 average annual salary of an insurance underwriter.

The top three skills for an insurance underwriter include health insurance, insurance underwriting and insurance coverage. The most important skills for an actuary are risk management, VBA, and GAAP.

Insurance underwriter vs actuary overview

	Insurance Underwriter	Actuary
Yearly salary	$64,163	$88,255
Hourly rate	$30.85	$42.43
Growth rate	-4%	21%
Number of jobs	39,026	13,566
Job satisfaction	3	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Average age	44	39
Years of experience	-	-

What does an insurance underwriter do?

An insurance underwriter specializes in identifying and assessing financial risks in insurance policies. It is their duty to gather and review insurance applications, understand the coverage of policies and claims, determine a client's ability to uphold financial obligations by studying their personal information, and develop strategies to prevent the impact of risks and financial losses. They may also negotiate with external parties while adhering to the company's rules and regulations. Moreover, there are instances when an insurance underwriter must produce progress reports and presentations for managers and executives.

What does an actuary do?

An actuary specializes in performing research and analysis to assess risks and help companies prepare for any financial disadvantages or impact it may bring. Their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with different departments to gather accurate data, maintain records of all transactions, evaluate the data through various processes, and develop new strategies to cut down costs and risks. An actuary is also responsible for performing clerical tasks such as producing reports through graphs and charts, preparing presentations, answering inquiries and concern, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.

Insurance underwriter vs actuary salary

Insurance underwriters and actuaries have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Insurance Underwriter	Actuary
Average salary	$64,163	$88,255
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $116,000	Between $52,000 And $147,000
Highest paying City	Hartford, CT	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Connecticut	New York
Best paying company	Citi	PayPal
Best paying industry	-	Professional

Differences between insurance underwriter and actuary education

There are a few differences between an insurance underwriter and an actuary in terms of educational background:

	Insurance Underwriter	Actuary
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Most common major	Business	Mathematics
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Notre Dame

Insurance underwriter vs actuary demographics

Here are the differences between insurance underwriters' and actuaries' demographics:

	Insurance Underwriter	Actuary
Average age	44	39
Gender ratio	Male, 33.4% Female, 66.6%	Male, 74.3% Female, 25.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 2.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 5.7% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 3.0% Hispanic or Latino, 5.1% Asian, 17.3% White, 71.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.0%
LGBT Percentage	9%	18%

Differences between insurance underwriter and actuary duties and responsibilities

Insurance underwriter example responsibilities.

Manage patient's records, appointments, and account balances while adhering to HIPPA standards.
Manage A/R, A/P, credentialing, surgery scheduling, and coordinate patient referrals to other physicians.
Manage operating procedure and accounting systems for payroll, operating expenses, supplies and inventory management and commercial accounts.
Prepare all HCFA billing with proper ICD-9 codes and CPT codes for accurate turn around time on payments.
Follow up with insurance carriers and patients to expedite the recovery of payment obligations
File insurance and process billing and payments, coordinate patients financial arrangements, present treatment plans, verify insurance coverage.

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Actuary example responsibilities.

Support the development and implementation of manually-rate renewal strategies, lead by a season FSA.
Manage the design, implementation and oversight of all insurance and reinsurancepricing functions and processes for corporation.
Complete several health and group annuities projects.
Administer payroll, conduct accounts reconciliations, and track all A/R and A/P.
Update duration calculation formula to deliver more reasonable behavior of A/E ratio in Alteryx.
Extract and analyze data by state using SAS in order to analyze and project Medicaid costs.

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Insurance underwriter vs actuary skills

Common insurance underwriter skills

Health Insurance, 11%
Insurance Underwriting, 8%
Insurance Coverage, 8%
Customer Service, 8%
Underwriting Guidelines, 7%
Insurance Products, 6%

Common actuary skills

Risk Management, 13%
VBA, 9%
GAAP, 5%
SAS, 5%
Health Insurance, 5%
Financial Reports, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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