Actuary
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Actuary calculates the financial costs of risk and uncertainty. Uses findings from statistical analysis and mathematical modeling to help businesses and clients minimize the cost of risk and develop business and investment strategies. Uses actuarial analysis of the probability and cost of natural disasters or accidents to develop insurance policies.
Job Outlook
There were 444 Actuary job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 15597 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Actuary industry, which includes the Actuary career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Actuary jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $129,056.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $137,432.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Actuary postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $102,668.
Education and Experience
Posted Actuary jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 78.08% |
| Master's Degree | 12.55% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.5% |
| Other | 2.1% |
Posted Actuary jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 18.58% |
| 3 to 5 years | 44.96% |
| 6 to 8 years | 22.52% |
| 9+ years | 13.94% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Actuary positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Management (45.6%)
- Communication (44.93%)
- Leadership (36.49%)
- Mathematics (35.99%)
- Problem Solving (26.79%)
- Forecasting (22.46%)
- Microsoft Excel (20.97%)
- Presentations (20.47%)
- Writing (19.85%)
- Innovation (17.61%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Actuarial Science (25.76%)
- Annuities (9.73%)
- Underwriting (29.91%)
- R (Programming Language) (21.42%)
- Economics (27.83%)
- Finance (35.98%)
- Python (Programming Language) (22.44%)
- SAS (Software) (21.41%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (39.5%)
- Reinsurance (16.89%)
- Statistics (36.32%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Medicare Part C (7.49%)
- Advanced Mathematics (15.23%)
- Data Analysis (13.73%)
- Microsoft Access (4.79%)
- Peer Review (4.33%)
- Accounting (12.44%)
- Financial Forecasting (8.97%)
- Auditing (11.06%)
- Fundraising (10.19%)
- Investments (2.98%)
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (8.68%)
- Medicare (11.33%)
- Financial Analysis (10.92%)
- Financial Statements (13.91%)
- Marketing (6.5%)
- Risk Management (16.62%)
- International Financial Reporting Standards (1.42%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (7.51%)
- Predictive Modeling (7.24%)
- Project Management (16.12%)
- Medicaid (9.39%)
- Visual Basic For Applications (18.09%)
- New Product Development (18.49%)
- Service-Oriented Architecture (3.73%)
- Process Improvement (8.74%)
- Power BI (5.57%)
- Pricing Strategies (8.82%)
- Programming Languages (5.23%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Loss Reserving (4.2%)
- Asset Liability Management (2.67%)
- Economic Capital (3.38%)
- General Insurance (2.73%)
- IBNR (5.71%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Loss Reserving (7.42%)
- Actuarial Science (45.48%)
- Asset Liability Management (4.72%)
- Underwriting (52.81%)
- General Insurance (4.81%)
- Reinsurance (29.83%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Actuary skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Actuarial Analyst
- Actuarial Analyst/Associate Actuary
- Pricing Actuary
- Actuarial Consultant
- Actuarial Associate
- Life Actuary
- Health Actuary
- Actuarial Intern
- Director of Actuarial Services
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Financial Quantitative Analyst
- Pricing Analyst
- Economist
- Healthcare Analyst
- Decision Support Analyst
- Pricing Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Actuary jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Lincoln Financial Group (1652)
- Humana (1062)
- Prime Therapeutics (645)
- Elevance Health (505)
- Deloitte (379)
- Marsh McLennan (365)
- USAA (362)
- CVS Health (344)
- Molina Healthcare (312)
- Zurich Insurance (306)
North Carolina
- Lincoln Financial Group (85)
- Brighthouse Financial (33)
- USAA (27)
- Scor (24)
- Blue Cross Nc (16)
- Equitable (15)
- Prime Therapeutics (15)
- Elevance Health (14)
- Blue Cross Blue Shield (13)
- Marsh McLennan (13)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.