Best Insurance Underwriter programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Review individual applications for insurance to evaluate degree of risk involved and determine acceptance of.
13 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 161 people a year. The job pays a median of $89,620 in Illinois across about — jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in Illinois that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Illinois page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 52.1304In Illinois → | 99 | 61.5% | 10 | $62,069 | $23,500 |
| 2 | Insurancemain feeder CIP 52.1701In Illinois → | 62 | 38.5% | 3 | $56,988 | $22,500 |
Top 13 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 6 of the 13 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 71 | Actuarial Science | $72,527 | 85% | — | 42% |
| 2 | William Rainey Harper College Palatine, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 33 | Insurance | — | 48% | — | — |
| 3 | Illinois State University Normal, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Insurance | $51,499 | 65% | — | 88% |
| 4 | DePaul University Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Actuarial Science | $51,522 | 68% | $28,141 | 76% |
| 5 | Danville Area Community College Danville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Insurance | — | 45% | — | — |
| 6 | North Central College Naperville, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Actuarial Science | $85,168 | 64% | $20,052 | 77% |
| 7 | Aurora University Aurora, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Actuarial Science | — | 60% | $18,431 | 81% |
| 8 | Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Actuarial Science | — | 61% | $20,903 | 56% |
| 9 | Illinois College Jacksonville, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Actuarial Science | — | 64% | $15,786 | 78% |
| 10 | Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Actuarial Science | $51,128 | 49% | — | 70% |
| 11 | Roosevelt University Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Actuarial Science | $48,715 | 35% | $21,085 | 97% |
| 12 | Bradley University Peoria, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Actuarial Science | — | 76% | $21,768 | 77% |
| 13 | Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Actuarial Science | — | 70% | $20,794 | 74% |
All 13 schools in Illinois
Every school in Illinois with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign | Champaign | Public | 71 | 1 |
| William Rainey Harper College | Palatine | Public | 33 | 1 |
| Illinois State University | Normal | Public | 22 | 1 |
| DePaul University | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| Danville Area Community College | Danville | Public | 7 | 1 |
| North Central College | Naperville | Private not-for-profit | 5 | 1 |
| Aurora University | Aurora | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | Bourbonnais | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| Illinois College | Jacksonville | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
| Northern Illinois University | Dekalb | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Roosevelt University | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
| Bradley University | Peoria | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
| Elmhurst University | Elmhurst | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
What insurance underwriters earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $81,370. Illinois pays above the national figure.
Metro areas in Illinois
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Insurance Underwriters page.
How to become a Insurance Underwriter
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Illinois
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 4 majors mapped to Insurance Underwriters4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 52.0215Risk Management
- 52.0810Financial Risk Management
- 52.1304Actuarial Science
- 52.1701Insurance
Common questions
Answers for people weighing insurance underwriters programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become an Insurance Underwriter?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Actuarial Science, which awarded 99 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 61.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Insurance Underwriter?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Insurance. Together they graduate about 161 people a year in Illinois.
How much do insurance underwriters earn in Illinois?+
The median is $89,620 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.1% above the U.S. median of $81,370. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for insurance underwriters growing?+
BLS projects a -2.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 8,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
13 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do insurance underwriters work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Underwriter, Life Underwriter, Account Underwriter, Personal Lines Underwriter among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-2053.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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