Career Explorer Business and finance
Changing shape
Insurance underwriters
Review individual applications for insurance to evaluate degree of risk involved and determine acceptance of applications.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 5% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -3.8% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $81,370
- Job growth to 2035
- -3.8%
- Openings a year
- 6,800
- People doing it (2025)
- 126,000
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Explain regulations, policies, or procedures
- Analyze health or medical data
- Evaluate the quality or accuracy of data
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Authorize business activities or transactions
- Evaluate condition of financial assets, property, or other resources
- Analyze business or financial risks
What the work looks like
- Examine documents to determine degree of risk from factors such as applicant health, financial standing and value, and condition of property.
- Decline excessive risks.
- Write to field representatives, medical personnel, or others to obtain further information, quote rates, or explain company underwriting policies.
- Evaluate possibility of losses due to catastrophe or excessive insurance.
- Review company records to determine amount of insurance in force on single risk or group of closely related risks.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as automated underwriting systems will allow more applications to be handled by computer processing, reducing the needed number of insurance underwriters.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Accountants and auditorsGrows with AI, Index 14, +5.0%
- Loan officersChanging shape, Index 6, +1.1%
- Financial examinersGrows with AI, Index 30, +9.3%
- Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialistsGrows with AI, Index 27, +6.0%
Also known as: Account Underwriter, Life Underwriter, Personal Lines Underwriter, Underwriter, Automobile and Property Underwriter, Commercial Lines Underwriter, Health Underwriter, Underwriting Consultant.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.