How Much Do Actuaries Make? A Data-Driven Guide for HR and Compensation Teams

Introduction

How much do actuaries make? For HR leaders and compensation professionals responsible for budgeting, benchmarking, and defending pay decisions, this question requires more than a single number—it demands a clear understanding of the factors that drive actuarial salaries across experience levels, credentials, industries, and geographic locations. This article provides the data-driven framework you need to price actuarial roles accurately and competitively.

This guide focuses exclusively on U.S. actuary compensation, covering base salary, bonuses, and total cash compensation. We exclude detailed global comparisons and individual career advice; instead, the content is designed for total rewards teams, HR leaders, and compensation analysts who need to build defensible pay ranges for actuarial positions. If you’re evaluating offers, setting salary bands, or conducting retention reviews for actuarial talent, this resource is for you.

Direct answer: Most full-time actuaries in the U.S. earn roughly $90,000–$200,000+ in total compensation, with a national median around $125,000 annually as of 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Getting actuarial pay right matters. Actuaries represent a scarce, high-demand talent pool with specialized credentials and rigorous exam requirements. Mispricing these roles leads to failed offers, costly turnover, and internal equity issues that can expose your organization to risk under emerging salary transparency laws.

By the end of this article, you will understand:

Typical actuary salary ranges by career stage and job level
How professional credentials (ASA, FSA, ACAS, FCAS) directly impact pay
Salary differences across industries like P&C insurance, health insurance, pensions, and consulting firms
Geographic location effects on actuarial salaries
How to use real-time data tools like SalaryCube to benchmark actuarial roles accurately

Understanding Actuarial Compensation

Actuarial compensation refers to the total pay package offered to professionals in the actuarial field, including base salary, annual bonuses, long-term incentives, and exam support benefits. Unlike many other analytical roles, actuarial pay is structurally tied to professional exam progress and credential attainment—factors that most employers account for explicitly in their compensation policies.

The actuarial science profession requires candidates to pass a series of rigorous actuarial exams administered by bodies like the Society of Actuaries (SOA) or the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). As candidates gain experience and pass more exams, their earning potential increases substantially. Risk-bearing responsibilities—such as pricing sign-off authority, reserve certification, or enterprise risk oversight—also drive compensation upward.

The following subsections unpack the core drivers of actuarial salaries: role seniority and job level, plus credential status and exam progress.

How Actuary Job Levels Translate into Pay

Actuarial careers follow a structured progression, and each level corresponds to distinct salary expectations. For HR teams, understanding these levels is essential to building accurate pay bands.

Common career stages and approximate 2024 U.S. base salary ranges:

Actuarial Analyst / Student: Entry level actuaries with 1–3 exams passed typically earn $70,000–$90,000 in base salary. Responsibilities focus on data analysis, model support, and learning under supervision.
Associate-Level Actuary (ASA or ACAS): After attaining Associate status, total compensation typically rises to $100,000–$140,000. Responsibilities expand to model ownership, project leadership, and technical review.
Fully Credentialed Actuary (FSA or FCAS): Experienced actuaries with Fellowship credentials often earn $150,000–$200,000+ in total cash. They hold pricing sign-off authority, lead teams, and influence business strategy.
Manager / Senior Manager: Actuaries in leadership roles managing teams and cross-functional projects can expect $175,000–$250,000+, depending on industry and company size.
Director / VP / Chief Actuary: Executive-level actuarial leaders may earn $250,000–$400,000+ in total compensation, with significant bonus and long-term incentive components.

As responsibilities escalate—from supporting models to owning pricing decisions to signing off on reserves—compensation grows accordingly. However, job level is only one dimension. Professional credentials are an equally important driver of how much actuaries make.

How Professional Credentials Impact Actuary Salaries

The main credentialing bodies—the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS)—administer the actuarial exams that determine credential status. SOA actuaries pursue the ASA (Associate) and FSA (Fellow) designations, while CAS actuaries earn the ACAS and FCAS credentials. For HR readers unfamiliar with these distinctions, think of Associate status as the first major professional milestone (typically after 7 exams) and Fellowship as the terminal credential (after 10+ exams).

Salary lift at key milestones:

Per-exam raises: Most employers offer $2,000–$5,000 per exam passed, providing steady wage increases as candidates progress through the exam process.
ASA / ACAS attainment: Achieving Associate status often triggers a 15–25% increase in base salary and expands access to higher-level roles.
FSA / FCAS attainment: Fellows represent the top of the credential hierarchy. Mid-career FCAS actuaries and FSA actuaries typically earn $160,000–$250,000+ in total cash, depending on role and location.

Exam credentials also influence benefits: passing exams often comes with bonuses, study time allowances, and reimbursement for exam fees. Compensation policies should reflect these elements consistently to remain competitive with other companies pursuing the same scarce talent.

Beyond level and credentials, industry, function, and geographic location substantially change how much actuaries make. The next section explores these factors.

Key Drivers of How Much Actuaries Make

Building on job level and credential status, this section dives into the market factors that further differentiate actuarial salaries: industry and practice area, geography, and total compensation design. HR teams need to account for all these drivers simultaneously when constructing pay ranges and evaluating offers.

Industry and Practice Area (P&C, Life, Health, Pension, Consulting)

Actuarial salaries vary significantly depending on industry and specialty. Here’s how major practice areas compare:

Property & Casualty (P&C) Insurance: P&C actuaries, often credentialed through CAS, work on pricing, reserving, and risk modeling for auto, home, and commercial lines. Salaries tend to be at or above the 75th percentile for actuaries overall, with high demand driven by factors like extreme weather events and regulatory changes.
Life Insurance: Life actuaries (SOA-credentialed) focus on mortality, morbidity, and product pricing. Compensation is competitive, with mid-career FSA professionals earning $150,000–$220,000+ depending on company and location.
Health Insurance: Health insurance actuaries work in group and individual health, Medicare, and Medicaid. Health insurance actuaries are in high demand due to healthcare reform complexity, and salaries often match or exceed life insurance levels.
Pension and Retirement: Pension actuaries specialize in retirement plan funding and compliance. Pay tends to cluster closer to the national median, though consulting roles in this area can command premium compensation.
Consulting Firms: Consulting actuaries often earn higher salaries than their peers at insurance companies, reflecting client-facing demands, travel, and variable hours. Consulting roles frequently pay at or above the 75th percentile.
Reinsurance and Insurtech: Reinsurance and emerging insurtech companies often offer competitive base salaries plus equity or performance-based incentives.

Example: A mid-level FCAS actuary in P&C insurance may earn $180,000–$220,000, while an FSA in group health at a similar career stage might earn $160,000–$200,000—a difference attributable to market demand and industry dynamics.

Location and Cost-of-Labor Impacts on Actuary Pay

Geographic location has a measurable effect on actuarial salaries. Major insurance hubs—New York, Chicago, Boston, Hartford, Atlanta—typically pay 20–40% above the national median due to higher cost of labor and concentrated employer demand. Secondary markets and fully remote roles may offer lower base salaries, though some companies use “national plus” pricing for scarce actuarial skills.

For HR professionals, it’s critical to distinguish between cost-of-living and cost-of-labor. Cost-of-labor data reflects what employers actually pay in a given market, which is the appropriate basis for benchmarking. Cost-of-living adjustments, by contrast, may not align with what the labor market requires.

Real-time tools like SalaryCube’s Bigfoot Live capture fast shifts in hub vs. remote compensation for niche actuarial skills, updated daily using U.S.-only data. This enables compensation teams to respond to market changes without waiting for annual survey cycles.

Total Compensation: Base, Bonus, and Long-Term Incentives

When answering “how much do actuaries make,” it’s essential to look beyond base salary. Total compensation for actuaries typically includes:

Base Salary: The fixed annual pay, which forms the foundation of the compensation package.
Annual Bonus: Typically 5–10% of base for actuarial students, 10–20% for mid-level credentialed actuaries, and 20–40%+ for senior leaders. Bonuses often depend on individual performance, line-of-business profitability, and company results.
Exam Bonuses: One-time payments for passing exams, often $2,000–$5,000 per exam, plus study time and fee reimbursement.
Long-Term Incentives (LTIs): For senior actuaries—directors, VPs, chief actuaries—equity grants or deferred compensation may be significant, especially at public companies or fintechs.

Performance, role type (pricing vs. capital modeling vs. enterprise risk), and industry all influence actual bonus payouts. HR teams should benchmark not just base salary but also bonus targets and total cash when evaluating competitiveness.

With these drivers established, the next section explains how HR teams can apply this knowledge in a structured market-pricing workflow.

Applying Market Data: How HR Can Benchmark Actuary Pay Accurately

Actuary roles are notoriously difficult to benchmark using generic salary sites. Niche skills, credential tiers, and hybrid responsibilities (e.g., actuary + data science) mean that broad averages often miss the mark. This section provides a practical, step-by-step approach to pricing actuarial jobs using real-time data and clear methodology.

Step-by-Step Process to Market-Price Actuarial Roles

Use this process when creating new actuarial positions, conducting annual merit cycles, or reviewing retention offers:

Define the role precisely: Specify line of business (P&C, life, health, pension), function (reserving, pricing, capital modeling), and key models or tools used.
Align internal job level and job family: Determine whether the role is analyst, associate, fellow-level, or leadership—and which job family it belongs to.
Specify required credential status and years post-credential: For example, “ACAS with 2–4 years post-credential experience” provides a clear benchmark target.
Select target geography or geo strategy: Decide whether the role is local, national, or location-flexible, and apply appropriate differentials.
Pull market data from a real-time tool: Use SalaryCube’s DataDive Pro or a similar platform, rather than relying solely on annual survey data.
Normalize ranges for your pay philosophy: Target the 50th, 60th, or 75th percentile based on your compensation strategy and role scarcity.
Document methodology and assumptions: Record your approach in your compensation system for auditability, compliance, and internal equity reviews.

This process supports defensibility in audits, employee conversations, and compliance with salary transparency laws.

Comparing Traditional Surveys vs Real-Time Salary Data for Actuaries

Actuarial roles are particularly sensitive to data lag. The talent pool is small, competition is fierce, and offers move quickly. Here’s how traditional surveys compare to real-time data platforms:

Factor	Traditional Surveys	Real-Time Data (e.g., SalaryCube)
Data freshness	Annual or biannual	Updated daily (Bigfoot Live)
Coverage of hybrid roles	Limited; rigid job codes	Flexible; prices blended/hybrid roles
Workflow speed	Weeks to request and analyze	Minutes in a self-service platform
Participation burden	Survey participation required	No participation required
Traditional surveys still have a role—especially for broad benchmarking or when required by company policy. However, integrating them into a modern platform like SalaryCube enables faster, more defensible workflows for actuarial and other analytics-heavy roles.

Even with solid data, HR teams face recurring challenges when answering “how much should we pay our actuaries?” The next section addresses those obstacles directly.

Common Challenges and Solutions in Pricing Actuary Compensation

Pricing actuary pay creates unique friction. Scarce talent, opaque external offers, heavy influence of exam progress, and remote work complications all contribute to the difficulty. Each subsection below names a practical problem HR teams face and provides a concrete, actionable solution.

Problem 1: Misaligning Pay with Exam Progress and Credentials

The issue: Many organizations apply inconsistent per-exam raises, maintain outdated exam bonus policies, or fail to adjust salary ranges when an employee attains Associate or Fellowship status. This leads to pay compression, internal equity issues, and attrition.

Solution: Standardize exam and credential pay policies tied to specific market data points. Maintain salary ranges in a tool like SalaryCube so updates ripple across similar roles automatically. Communicate these policies clearly to candidates and employees to reinforce trust and transparency.

Problem 2: Underpricing Hybrid and Non-Traditional Actuarial Roles

The issue: Hybrid roles—actuary + data science, actuarial product manager, risk analytics lead—often don’t match legacy survey job codes. This leads to underpricing, failed offers, and difficulty attracting candidates with blended skill sets.

Solution: Use a real-time benchmarking tool capable of pricing blended roles. Build job descriptions with SalaryCube’s Job Description Studio to clarify required skills and level before benchmarking. This ensures your job architecture and market pricing align.

Problem 3: Managing Geo-Distributed Actuary Teams and Remote Work

The issue: Actuarial teams are often spread across high-cost cities and lower-cost states, with some fully remote actuaries expecting “national plus” pay. Inconsistent geo strategies create internal equity problems and complicate retention.

Solution: Define a clear geo-pay strategy and use Bigfoot Live to pull differentials for each market. Maintain geo-adjusted bands with documented rationale for transparency and defensibility. This approach supports compliance with salary transparency laws and internal equity audits.

With these challenges addressed, the next section summarizes key insights and offers concrete next steps for HR and compensation teams.

Conclusion and Next Steps

How much do actuaries make? In the U.S., actuarial salaries range from approximately $70,000 for entry level actuaries to well over $250,000 for experienced actuaries in leadership roles, with a national median around $125,000. The primary drivers are job level, professional credentials (ASA, ACAS, FSA, FCAS), industry and practice area, geographic location, and total compensation design—including bonuses and long-term incentives.

Immediate actions for HR and compensation teams:

Audit existing actuarial ranges against current market data using a real-time benchmarking tool.
Update exam and credential-related pay policies to reflect market standards and internal equity.
Clarify your geo strategy for remote and hub actuaries, documenting rationale for transparency.
Centralize market-pricing workflows in a compensation intelligence platform for speed and auditability.

Related topics to explore next:

Pay equity analysis for actuarial populations—ensuring fairness across demographics and job levels
Building salary bands and pay grades for actuarial job families
Compa-ratio tracking for critical, high-demand roles like actuaries

If you want real-time, defensible salary data that HR and compensation teams can actually use to price actuarial roles, book a demo with SalaryCube.

Additional Resources for Benchmarking Actuary Salaries

For readers who want to go deeper into data sources and tools, the following SalaryCube resources support actuarial compensation benchmarking:

Salary Benchmarking Product: Ongoing actuarial market pricing workflows with real-time data and unlimited reporting.
Bigfoot Live (Real-Time Salary Data): Updated daily across U.S. locations, capturing fast shifts in hub vs. remote compensation for niche actuarial skills.
Free Tools: Compa-ratio calculator, salary-to-hourly converter, and wage raise calculator to support program-level decisions.
Methodology & Security: Understand SalaryCube’s data quality, defensibility, and compliance approach.
About SalaryCube: Learn more about SalaryCube’s mission to make fair pay accessible for HR teams of all sizes.

If you’re evaluating compensation intelligence platforms for actuarial and other analytics-heavy roles, watch interactive demos or request a quote.