Reading the Actuary Wage Distribution

Half of workers earn between $97,680 and $170,650. This band captures the middle half of the actuary wage distribution, with one quarter of workers below it and one quarter above it. The distance between its boundaries gives a practical sense of how broadly earnings are spread across the center of the profession.

For an individual actuary, the distribution’s midpoint offers a reference point for comparing wages with the occupation overall. A wage near either boundary still falls within the central half, while wages outside the band occupy the lower or upper portions of the distribution. These positions help frame how an individual wage compares with the profession overall, while leaving room for differences between workers. The distribution offers context for expectations without assigning a particular wage to any one actuary.

How Actuary Pay Patterns Tend to Emerge

Wage estimates for actuaries offer an occupational reference point for setting compensation expectations. They summarize pay across the occupation and provide context for individual actuaries. For an individual, the estimate is most useful as a broad benchmark when weighing pay information.

Actuary pay should be considered as a distribution, with each position describing where wages fall across the occupation. This gives a more useful picture than treating one estimate as the expected outcome for every actuary. The estimates can inform compensation discussions, while the amount offered to a particular actuary remains an individual figure.

Geography and Actuary Pay Positioning

Pay differs somewhat between states: among available estimates for U.S. states and Washington, D.C., median pay is highest in Connecticut at $166,800 and lowest in Louisiana at $80,860; the highest is about 2.1 times the lowest. For actuaries, this makes location a meaningful reference point when comparing median pay across places. These state figures describe the midpoint of each location’s wage distribution, giving a geographic frame for understanding compensation.

A state median can help put an actuary salary discussion in local context, while the highest and lowest estimates mark the observed endpoints among available locations. Those endpoints do not predict an individual actuary’s pay, which may differ from a state median. Use the comparison as a broad geographic benchmark when weighing pay information for actuarial work.