Actuaries salary

SOC 15-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$130,000

per year, nationally

Middle half

$97,680–$170,650

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

26,670

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+21.8%

2,400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$78,570$215,100

10th: $78,570
25th: $97,680
Median: $130,000
75th: $170,650
90th: $215,100

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where actuaries earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Connecticut	$166,800	103.6	1,380	4.76×
2	District of Columbia	$166,230	109.9	160	1.29×
3	New York	$156,480	107.9	2,630	1.58×
4	New Jersey	$142,800	108.8	1,260	1.72×
5	Alabama	$136,950	88.8	190	0.51×
6	Arizona	$135,870	100.7	200	0.35×
7	Washington	$134,720	107.0	360	0.59×
8	Utah	$132,720	98.9	180	0.60×
9	Nevada	$132,370	100.0	120	0.45×
10	Florida	$132,110	103.4	1,300	0.76×
11	Virginia	$131,900	101.1	440	0.62×
12	Wisconsin	$131,640	94.1	890	1.76×
13	California	$130,510	110.7	1,280	0.41×
14	Oregon	$130,380	103.4	210	0.63×
15	Missouri	$129,220	90.8	390	0.78×
16	North Carolina	$128,730	94.3	610	0.72×
17	Iowa	$128,690	87.8	530	1.97×
18	Minnesota	$128,100	98.6	1,170	2.32×
19	Maryland	$126,950	105.0	580	1.22×
20	Massachusetts	$126,040	105.8	—	—
21	Pennsylvania	$125,040	97.6	1,710	1.64×
22	Kansas	$125,010	90.1	180	0.72×
23	Colorado	$120,440	103.1	500	1.01×
24	Kentucky	$120,400	90.2	70	0.21×
25	Maine	$119,620	97.0	80	0.72×
26	Illinois	$115,430	100.0	2,280	2.18×
27	Rhode Island	$111,090	102.3	100	1.21×
28	Ohio	$110,980	92.8	1,090	1.14×
29	Oklahoma	$109,760	87.8	70	0.24×
30	Tennessee	$108,930	91.9	300	0.53×
31	Mississippi	$106,210	87.0	40	0.21×
32	Texas	$105,020	97.1	1,750	0.72×
33	Nebraska	$102,790	90.1	270	1.51×
34	Indiana	$100,690	93.3	780	1.42×
35	Michigan	$100,640	96.2	570	0.75×
36	Louisiana	$80,860	88.2	40	0.11×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where actuaries wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for actuaries

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$194,130	106.9	220	3.21×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$175,330	115.6	220	0.55×
3	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$166,800	102.7	960	9.29×
4	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$163,350	100.2	80	0.39×
5	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$161,460	112.6	2,780	1.71×
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$144,680	108.9	520	0.97×
7	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$143,430	99.8	30	1.16×
8	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$142,180	98.2	120	0.91×
9	New Haven, CT	$141,020	104.6	40	0.80×
10	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$139,810	114.2	310	0.63×
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$138,570	103.3	170	0.41×
12	Portland-South Portland, ME	$138,220	101.9	50	1.08×
13	Madison, WI	$135,330	97.3	170	2.43×
14	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$134,720	111.1	230	0.63×
15	Columbia, SC	$133,060	93.7	80	1.12×
16	Birmingham, AL	$132,840	91.6	130	1.41×
17	Jacksonville, FL	$132,830	99.5	130	1.02×
18	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$132,720	100.9	150	1.07×
19	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$132,010	96.9	310	2.19×
20	Richmond, VA	$131,900	97.9	120	1.03×
21	Kansas City, MO-KS	$131,680	92.5	180	0.98×
22	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$131,040	110.4	120	0.59×
23	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	$130,540	91.7	400	5.79×
24	Rochester, NY	$130,220	97.0	70	0.80×
25	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$129,590	108.3	—	—
26	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$129,540	103.2	110	2.59×
27	St. Louis, MO-IL	$129,360	95.1	250	1.08×
28	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$129,100	105.4	130	0.61×
29	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$128,730	97.3	280	1.20×
30	Fort Wayne, IN	$128,290	92.6	60	1.57×
31	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$127,970	113.6	380	0.35×
32	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$127,770	102.6	780	1.57×
33	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$127,690	103.1	510	0.73×
34	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$126,950	104.5	340	1.44×
35	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$125,960	104.8	1,020	3.05×
36	Tallahassee, FL	$125,670	93.9	40	1.16×
37	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$124,140	106.4	40	0.13×
38	Worcester, MA	$123,170	102.5	80	1.39×
39	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$122,550	98.1	150	0.70×
40	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$122,250	101.4	—	—

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where actuaries wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Data Scientists$120,230
Operations Research Analysts$88,940
Statisticians$105,650
Mathematical Science Occupations, All Other$81,490
Mathematicians$126,710