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The differences between insurance underwriters and brokers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, 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 a broker are brokerage, financial services, and insurance products.
| Insurance Underwriter | Broker | |
| Yearly salary | $64,163 | $124,861 |
| Hourly rate | $30.85 | $60.03 |
| Growth rate | -4% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 39,026 | 2,770 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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.
Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.
Insurance underwriters and brokers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Insurance Underwriter | Broker | |
| Average salary | $64,163 | $124,861 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $116,000 | Between $68,000 And $227,000 |
| Highest paying City | Hartford, CT | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | New York |
| Best paying company | Citi | Child Guidance & Family Solutions |
| Best paying industry | - | Insurance |
There are a few differences between an insurance underwriter and a broker in terms of educational background:
| Insurance Underwriter | Broker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between insurance underwriters' and brokers' demographics:
| Insurance Underwriter | Broker | |
| Average age | 44 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 33.4% Female, 66.6% | Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2% |
| 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, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 13% |