Underwriter Overview
Underwriter Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an underwriter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.8 an hour? That's $68,217 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Underwriter Do
There are certain skills that many underwriters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed initiative, detail oriented and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an underwriter, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.5% of underwriters included loan portfolio, while 10.7% of resumes included underwriting guidelines, and 9.8% of resumes included customer service. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the underwriter job title. But what industry to start with? Most underwriters actually find jobs in the finance and insurance industries.
How To Become an Underwriter
If you're interested in becoming an underwriter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 50.2% of underwriters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.0% of underwriters have master's degrees. Even though most underwriters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an underwriter. When we researched the most common majors for an underwriter, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on underwriter resumes include associate degree degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an underwriter. In fact, many underwriter jobs require experience in a role such as senior underwriter. Meanwhile, many underwriters also have previous career experience in roles such as customer service representative or loan processor.
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Underwriter Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of mortgage underwriter you might progress to a role such as senior underwriter eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title underwriting manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for an Underwriter
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
"Bank of The West" SME Underwriter #053818 SME Underwriter #053818 | "Bank of The West" "Bank of The West" | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $70,00003/31/2021 $70,000 |
Richmond American Homes Underwriter-Remote Underwriter-Remote | Richmond American Homes Richmond American Homes | 03/28/2021 03/28/2021 | $85,00003/28/2021 $85,000 |
Randstad Underwriter Underwriter | Randstad Randstad | 03/27/2021 03/27/2021 | $37,56603/27/2021 $37,566 |
Randstad Credit Underwriter Credit Underwriter | Randstad Randstad | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $41,74003/26/2021 $41,740 |
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Credit Underwriter Credit Underwriter | Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores | 03/26/2021 03/26/2021 | $100,00003/26/2021 $100,000 |
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Underwriter Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Underwriter. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Underwriter Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Underwriter resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Underwriters
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
4. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
7. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Public
8. Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL • Public
9. Butler University
Indianapolis, IN • Private
10. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Public
Top Skills For an Underwriter
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.5% of underwriters listed loan portfolio on their resume, but soft skills such as initiative and detail oriented are important as well.
- Loan Portfolio, 12.5%
- Underwriting Guidelines, 10.7%
- Customer Service, 9.8%
- Credit Reports, 8.7%
- Financial Statements, 7.6%
- Other Skills, 50.7% See All Underwriter Skills
Best States For an Underwriter
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an underwriter. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, New York, California, and Oklahoma. Underwriters make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $82,198. Whereas in New York and California, they would average $79,996 and $79,753, respectively. While underwriters would only make an average of $78,774 in Oklahoma, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Kansas
$78,043
Avg. Salary
2. Michigan
$74,576
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$79,996
Avg. Salary
How Do Underwriter Rate Their Jobs?
Top Underwriter Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ underwriters and discovered their number of underwriter opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Wells Fargo was the best, especially with an average salary of $58,931. Bank of America follows up with an average salary of $58,434, and then comes JPMorgan Chase with an average of $64,550. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an underwriter. The employers include Freedom Mortgage, Realogy, and Fairway Independent Mortgage
Underwriter Videos
