Pennsylvania·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2053

Best Insurance Underwriter programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

Review individual applications for insurance to evaluate degree of risk involved and determine acceptance of.

14 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 803 people a year. The job pays a median of $78,950 in Pennsylvania across about 5,160 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledUnderwriterLife UnderwriterAccount UnderwriterPersonal Lines UnderwriterBond UnderwriterInsurance WriterField UnderwriterInsurance Analyst
Graduates / yr
803
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$78,950
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
5,160
people employed
Schools
14
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
68%
across those schools
Median net price
$24,175
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (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 Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
Insurancemain feeder
532
66.3%
3$56,988$22,500
2162
20.2%
3$43,506$25,000
3109
13.6%
11$62,069$23,500

Top 14 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 14 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1American College of Financial Services
King of Prussia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
494Insurance
2Temple University
Philadelphia, PA Public · 2 feeder programs
159Risk Management$58,30775%80%
3Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
45Insurance$66,52379%$34,41889%
4Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus
University Park, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
37Actuarial Science$58,14086%61%
5Robert Morris University
Moon Township, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
28Risk Management$46,58966%$24,17590%
6Lebanon Valley College
Annville, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
16Actuarial Science$73,49765%$24,92584%
7Seton Hill University
Greensburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
7Risk Management67%$19,88780%
8Arcadia University
Glenside, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Actuarial Science67%$23,79680%
9Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Actuarial Science88%$26,91226%
10Lycoming College
Williamsport, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Actuarial Science60%$17,92474%
11Messiah University
Mechanicsburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Actuarial Science75%$25,67579%
12Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Actuarial Science76%$22,90778%
13Gannon University
Erie, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Insurance66%$21,40974%
14Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona
Altoona, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
1Actuarial Science17%98%

All 14 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania 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.

All schools in Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
American College of Financial ServicesKing of PrussiaPrivate not-for-profit4941
Temple UniversityPhiladelphiaPublic1592
Saint Joseph's University - PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaPrivate not-for-profit452
Pennsylvania State University - Main CampusUniversity ParkPublic371
Robert Morris UniversityMoon TownshipPrivate not-for-profit282
Lebanon Valley CollegeAnnvillePrivate not-for-profit161
Seton Hill UniversityGreensburgPrivate not-for-profit71
Arcadia UniversityGlensidePrivate not-for-profit61
Lehigh UniversityBethlehemPrivate not-for-profit41
Lycoming CollegeWilliamsportPrivate not-for-profit21
Messiah UniversityMechanicsburgPrivate not-for-profit21
Elizabethtown CollegeElizabethtownPrivate not-for-profit11
Gannon UniversityEriePrivate not-for-profit11
Pennsylvania State University - Penn State AltoonaAltoonaPublic11

What insurance underwriters earn in Pennsylvania

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$78,950
Mean annual
$90,490
Jobs in state
5,160
What the range looks like
10th pct$50,310Median$78,95090th pct$135,600
Versus the national median
-3.0%

U.S. median $81,370. Pennsylvania pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.25×

Concentrated here: Pennsylvania employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
$84,580median
2,590 jobs
Pittsburgh, PA
$77,760median
500 jobs
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
$80,690median
130 jobs
Lancaster, PA
$75,380median
160 jobs
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
$77,890median
320 jobs
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA
$47,840median
250 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-2.6%
Decline
Openings per year
8,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-3,300
127,000 → 123,700
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

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

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingSpeakingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania.

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 Insurance, which awarded 532 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 66.3% 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 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Insurance, Business Administration, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. Together they graduate about 803 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do insurance underwriters earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $78,950 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.0% below 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 Pennsylvania?+

14 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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