Best degree programs for Actuaries, ranked by enrollment
9 college programs and 474 schools train Actuaries. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $130,000 median wage, 26,670 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
9 college programs at 474 schools train actuaries, graduating 16,009 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Statistics, General. The job pays a median of $130,000 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About actuaries
Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits. May ascertain insurance rates required and cash reserves necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
9 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 27.0501 | 7,215 | 45.1% | 200 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 2 | CIP 27.0301 | 3,917 | 24.5% | 224 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 3 | CIP 52.1304 | 1,289 | 8.1% | 122 | $62,069 | $23,500 |
| 4 | CIP 27.0503 | 956 | 6.0% | 38 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 5 | CIP 27.0304 | 815 | 5.1% | 45 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 6 | CIP 27.0601 | 562 | 3.5% | 38 | — | — |
| 7 | CIP 27.0599 | 543 | 3.4% | 30 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 8 | CIP 27.0502 | 476 | 3.0% | 15 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 9 | CIP 52.0215 | 236 | 1.5% | 17 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 632 | Statistics, General | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 2 | University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 5 feeder programs | 571 | Statistics, General | 93% | — | 9% |
| 3 | University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 549 | Statistics, General | 83% | — | 33% |
| 4 | University of North Texas Denton, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 512 | Mathematics and Statistics | 61% | — | 72% |
| 5 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 4 feeder programs | 507 | Statistics, General | 85% | — | 42% |
| 6 | University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 395 | Applied Mathematics, General | 93% | — | 11% |
| 7 | Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN Public · 4 feeder programs | 385 | Mathematical Statistics and Probability | 83% | — | 50% |
| 8 | University of California - Davis Davis, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 362 | Statistics, General | 86% | — | 42% |
| 9 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 354 | Statistics, General | 94% | $11,888 | 6% |
| 10 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 3 feeder programs | 301 | Applied Mathematics, General | 85% | — | 39% |
| 11 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 285 | Applied Mathematics, General | 98% | $15,013 | 4% |
| 12 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 274 | Applied Mathematics, General | 76% | — | 49% |
| 13 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 269 | Applied Mathematics, General | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 14 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Public · 4 feeder programs | 257 | Statistics, General | 93% | — | 16% |
| 15 | Brown University Providence, RI Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 219 | Applied Mathematics, General | 96% | $14,644 | 5% |
| 16 | Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX Public · 2 feeder programs | 216 | Statistics, General | 84% | — | 57% |
| 17 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 200 | Statistics, General | 85% | — | 42% |
| 18 | Temple University Philadelphia, PA Public · 4 feeder programs | 185 | Risk Management | 75% | — | 80% |
| 19 | Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Harrisburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 184 | Computational and Applied Mathematics | 34% | $14,140 | 87% |
| 20 | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Public · 2 feeder programs | 181 | Statistics, General | 89% | — | 27% |
| 21 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 177 | Applied Mathematics, General | 91% | — | 15% |
| 22 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT Public · 3 feeder programs | 166 | Statistics, General | 83% | — | 52% |
| 23 | University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI Public · 3 feeder programs | 166 | Statistics, General | 90% | — | 45% |
| 24 | Emory University Atlanta, GA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 165 | Statistics, General | 91% | $20,586 | 11% |
| 25 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 160 | Statistics, General | 94% | $23,803 | 12% |
| 26 | Brigham Young University Provo, UT Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 159 | Statistics, Other | 81% | $13,712 | 68% |
| 27 | University of Virginia - Main Campus Charlottesville, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 156 | Statistics, General | 96% | — | 17% |
| 28 | Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs | 148 | Statistics, General | 84% | — | 58% |
| 29 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 145 | Statistics, General | 96% | $13,333 | 4% |
| 30 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 144 | Statistics, General | 95% | $17,613 | 9% |
| 31 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 139 | Statistics, General | 91% | — | 24% |
| 32 | Florida State University Tallahassee, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 133 | Statistics, General | 86% | — | 24% |
| 33 | University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 132 | Applied Mathematics, General | 86% | — | 27% |
| 34 | Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 2 feeder programs | 129 | Statistics, General | 88% | — | 61% |
| 35 | Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus University Park, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 127 | Statistics, General | 86% | — | 61% |
| 36 | Yale University New Haven, CT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 121 | Statistics, General | 96% | $27,025 | 4% |
| 37 | Rice University Houston, TX Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 113 | Statistics, General | 95% | $13,264 | 8% |
| 38 | Stanford University Stanford, CA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 113 | Statistics, General | 92% | $12,032 | 4% |
| 39 | University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN Public · 1 feeder programs | 113 | Statistics, General | 85% | — | 80% |
| 40 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 110 | Computational and Applied Mathematics | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 41 | Duke University Durham, NC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 99 | Statistics, General | 97% | $16,260 | 6% |
| 42 | San Diego State University San Diego, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 97 | Statistics, General | 76% | — | 36% |
| 43 | University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO Public · 2 feeder programs | 97 | Applied Mathematics, General | 74% | — | 78% |
| 44 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 97 | Statistics, General | 97% | $22,055 | 5% |
| 45 | Miami University - Oxford Oxford, OH Public · 3 feeder programs | 93 | Statistics, Other | 80% | — | 75% |
| 46 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ Public · 4 feeder programs | 92 | Applied Mathematics, General | 68% | — | 90% |
| 47 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 89 | Statistics, General | 95% | $14,799 | 8% |
| 48 | University of Central Florida Orlando, FL Public · 3 feeder programs | 84 | Statistics, General | 78% | — | 40% |
| 49 | University of Georgia Athens, GA Public · 2 feeder programs | 80 | Statistics, General | 90% | — | 38% |
| 50 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA Public · 2 feeder programs | 77 | Statistics, General | 86% | — | 55% |
What actuaries earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $130,510 | 1,280 | 0.41× | 31 | 2,857 |
| New York | $156,480 | 2,630 | 1.58× | 42 | 1,792 |
| Texas | $105,020 | 1,750 | 0.72× | 20 | 1,408 |
| Pennsylvania | $125,040 | 1,710 | 1.64× | 30 | 1,101 |
| Illinois | $115,430 | 2,280 | 2.18× | 18 | 914 |
| Michigan | $100,640 | 570 | 0.75× | 18 | 582 |
| North Carolina | $128,730 | 610 | 0.72× | 11 | 564 |
| Florida | $132,110 | 1,300 | 0.76× | 21 | 529 |
| Massachusetts | $126,040 | — | — | 20 | 518 |
| Indiana | $100,690 | 780 | 1.42× | 20 | 495 |
| Maryland | $126,950 | 580 | 1.22× | 10 | 453 |
| Washington | $134,720 | 360 | 0.59× | 12 | 421 |
| Ohio | $110,980 | 1,090 | 1.14× | 21 | 374 |
| Virginia | $131,900 | 440 | 0.62× | 12 | 348 |
| Connecticut | $166,800 | 1,380 | 4.76× | 8 | 311 |
| Georgia | — | 1,470 | 1.76× | 7 | 304 |
| Wisconsin | $131,640 | 890 | 1.76× | 10 | 279 |
| Colorado | $120,440 | 500 | 1.01× | 7 | 263 |
| Rhode Island | $111,090 | 100 | 1.21× | 5 | 244 |
| Utah | $132,720 | 180 | 0.60× | 6 | 244 |
| Arizona | $135,870 | 200 | 0.35× | 5 | 240 |
| Minnesota | $128,100 | 1,170 | 2.32× | 15 | 237 |
| New Jersey | $142,800 | 1,260 | 1.72× | 11 | 218 |
| Iowa | $128,690 | 530 | 1.97× | 14 | 160 |
| Missouri | $129,220 | 390 | 0.78× | 11 | 155 |
| District of Columbiamoderate | $166,230 | 160 | 1.29× | 3 | 93 |
| Kansas | $125,010 | 180 | 0.72× | 5 | 86 |
| Alabama | $136,950 | 190 | 0.51× | 11 | 71 |
| Oklahoma | $109,760 | 70 | 0.24× | 5 | 68 |
| South Carolina | — | 140 | 0.36× | 6 | 55 |
| Oregonmoderate | $130,380 | 210 | 0.63× | 4 | 50 |
| Nebraskalimited | $102,790 | 270 | 1.51× | 1 | 43 |
| Kentucky | $120,400 | 70 | 0.21× | 5 | 41 |
| Tennesseemoderate | $108,930 | 300 | 0.53× | 3 | 37 |
| Mississippimoderate | $106,210 | 40 | 0.21× | 3 | 17 |
| Mainemoderate | $119,620 | 80 | 0.72× | 4 | 12 |
| Louisianamoderate | $80,860 | 40 | 0.11× | 3 | 11 |
| Nevadalimited | $132,370 | 120 | 0.45× | 1 | 7 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.
- Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accounts, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvements to existing business.
- Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates.
- Design, review, and help administer insurance, annuity and pension plans, determining financial soundness and calculating premiums.
- Determine, or help determine, company policy, and explain complex technical matters to company executives, government officials, shareholders, policyholders, or the public.
- Construct probability tables for events such as fires, natural disasters, and unemployment, based on analysis of statistical data and other pertinent information.
- Provide advice to clients on a contract basis, working as a consultant.
- Determine equitable basis for distributing surplus earnings under participating insurance and annuity contracts in mutual companies.
Skills
- Reading Comprehension4.3
- Critical Thinking4.3
- Mathematics4.3
- Active Listening4.0
- Speaking3.9
- Writing3.5
- Active Learning3.3
- Monitoring3.1
Knowledge areas
- Mathematics4.9
- Computers and Electronics4.0
- Economics and Accounting3.8
- English Language3.7
- Law and Government3.0
- Administration and Management2.9
Abilities
- Mathematical Reasoning4.6
- Number Facility4.1
- Inductive Reasoning4.1
- Category Flexibility4.0
- Deductive Reasoning4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
Core activities
- Analyzing Data or Information4.8
- Processing Information4.7
- Working with Computers4.7
- Getting Information4.5
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.5
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.4
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Actuary
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Long-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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 9 majors mapped to Actuaries9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 27.0301Applied Mathematics, General
- 27.0304Computational and Applied Mathematics
- 27.0501Statistics, General
- 27.0502Mathematical Statistics and Probability
- 27.0503Mathematics and Statistics
- 27.0599Statistics, Other
- 27.0601Applied Statistics, General
- 52.0215Risk Management
- 52.1304Actuarial Science
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an Actuary?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Statistics, General, which awarded 7,215 degrees in 2024-25, 45.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Actuary?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Applied Statistics, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 16,009 people a year.
How much do actuaries earn?+
The median is $130,000 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $78,570 at the 10th percentile to $215,100 at the 90th. 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 actuaries growing?+
BLS projects a +21.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 2,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
474 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 9 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 actuaries work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Actuary, Pricing Actuary, Actuarial Analyst, Consulting Actuary among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-2011.
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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