Actuary Salary in 2026: Hourly Pay, Take-Home and Pay by State

Data as of: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, the most recent release. Take-home figures use 2026 federal tax rules. Updated October 2026.

Most careers pay you for years on the job. Actuaries also get paid for passing exams. A new analyst might start with one or two of the professional exams done, and the BLS says it can take up to seven years to earn the first associate-level credential. Each step up the exam ladder tends to come with a raise.

The result: the median actuary earns $130,000 a year, or $62.50 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The bottom 10% earn under $78,570, and the top 10% earn more than $215,100.

The median is the middle: half of actuaries earn more and half earn less. The average is higher because top earners pull it up. Figures are for wage and salary workers and don’t include self-employed actuaries, tips, overtime premiums or benefits. About 26,670 actuaries were on payrolls in May 2025.

Want to see the same math for any pay rate? Our hourly to salary chart converts every rate from $7.25 to $100 an hour, and $62 an hour a year and $100,000 a year an hour break down the numbers closest to this job.

Actuaries price risk for insurers, pension plans and companies. To get credentialed, you pass a series of exams from the Society of Actuaries (life, health, pensions) or the Casualty Actuarial Society (property and casualty insurance). Many employers expect new hires to have passed one or two exams before graduation, according to the BLS, and many give study time and a raise for each exam passed.

That’s why pay is so spread out. The bottom 10% earn under $78,570, a range that includes many analysts still working through exams. Fully credentialed fellows and actuaries in management push the top 10% above $215,100.

At this income, a 401(k) matters more than for most workers. Each dollar you contribute cuts your tax at a 24% federal rate. Here’s how much you should have in your 401(k) at each age.

A $130,000 salary doesn’t land in your checking account as $130,000. Here’s what a single filer at the median keeps after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, using 2026 tax brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction.

That’s an all-in federal rate of about 23.0%, with each extra dollar taxed at 24% plus 7.65% FICA. State income tax comes out on top of this, from 0% in states like Texas, Florida and Washington to more than 5% of income in high-tax states. Pre-tax 401(k) and health insurance contributions lower your tax bill but also your paycheck.

Median pay by state, highest to lowest. State medians reflect local demand and cost of living, so a higher number doesn’t always mean more money left over. The BLS doesn’t publish a actuary median for 15 states, usually because too few work there to report reliably.

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, median pay in the top industries employing actuaries, May 2025.

Start with the take-home number, not the salary. At the median, that’s about $8,343 a month. A simple 50/30/20 split looks like this:

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Saving that 20% is what turns a good salary into wealth. To see where you stand, compare yourself with the median net worth by age and the average 401(k) balance by age.

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The median actuary earns $62.50 an hour, based on May 2025 BLS data. The middle half earn between $46.96 and $82.04 an hour.

The BLS doesn’t track starting pay directly. The bottom 10% of actuaries earn under $78,570 and the bottom 25% earn under $97,680, which is a reasonable range for new actuaries.

Connecticut has the highest median at $166,800, followed by Washington, D.C. ($166,230) and New York ($156,480). Louisiana has the lowest at $80,860. High-paying states often have a higher cost of living, so compare pay to rent before you move.

A single filer earning the $130,000 median takes home about $100,121 a year, or $8,343 a month, after federal income tax and FICA in 2026, before any state income tax or pre-tax deductions.

By the numbers, yes: a $130,000 median, 9% projected job growth from 2025 to 2035, and mostly full-time office work. The tradeoff is years of studying for exams while you work.

The BLS projects employment of actuaries to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3% for all occupations. That’s about 1,500 openings a year.

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