The Actuarial Pay Index

Actuary salary in Chicago

What actuarial roles pay in Chicago in 2026: student, ASA and FSA base salary by experience and sector, adjusted for Chicago, plus the local market.

Median base salary, FSA with 6 to 9 years, life & annuity, Chicago

$186k

Updated 6 October 2026 in the CTS Actuarial Pay Index.

Actuary base salary in Chicago by experience

At life and annuity insurers, with the Chicago adjustment of +2% against the national figure.

Fellows (FSA)

3 to 5 years: $148k median base, typically $129k to $169k
6 to 9 years: $186k median base, typically $161k to $212k
10 to 14 years: $212k median base, typically $184k to $242k
15+ years: $242k median base, typically $209k to $276k

Associates (ASA)

3 to 5 years: $128k median base, typically $114k to $140k
6 to 9 years: $152k median base, typically $136k to $166k
10 to 14 years: $169k median base, typically $151k to $185k
15+ years: $189k median base, typically $168k to $206k

Students

0 to 2 years: $101k median base, typically $90k to $114k
3 to 5 years: $114k median base, typically $102k to $129k
6 to 9 years: $128k median base, typically $113k to $144k
10 to 14 years: $137k median base, typically $122k to $155k

Chicago by sector

For a Fellow with 6 to 9 years:

Life & annuity insurers: $186k median base
Reinsurers: $198k median base
Consulting firms: $192k median base
Health insurers: $191k median base
P&C insurers (FCAS): $187k median base

How the Chicago adjustment works

Employers that hire actuaries across the US set separate pay ranges for the same role in different locations. Compared like for like, Chicago sits about 6% above their standard US range. Standard sits about 4% below the national figure, because the national figure also includes higher-paying cities, so Chicago works out at about +2% against it.

The local market

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 1,560 actuaries in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, with a median wage of $113,730, against $130,000 nationally, and the middle half earning between $95,970 and $163,690 (May 2025).

Those figures cover every actuary at every level, so they reflect the local mix of senior and junior roles as well as pay. That is why they differ from the like-for-like figures above.

Open Chicago in the Actuarial Pay Index → You can switch market, experience and sector, and unlock where your own salary sits and what it takes to move.

How these figures are built

The Actuarial Pay Index is our view of what actuarial roles pay, built from the offers, counteroffers and pay conversations in our own search work, the pay ranges in the actuarial roles advertised over the last 12 months, and government wage data. Every figure is reviewed by our team against what we see in the market. Figures are base salary for new hires, before any bonus; lower and upper figures are the lower and upper quartiles. Location adjustments use the pay differences employers set for the same role in different locations. Bonus targets come from the offers we see. No individual salaries are ever published. How the index is built.