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What is a life underwriter and how to become one
A life underwriter is an insurance underwriter that specializes in life insurance. An underwriter evaluates applications for insurance coverage and determines how much risk a company would take by covering a client. Life underwriters analyze the risk in covering someone for life insurance by looking at their job, family history, or medical history. They present their analysis to the company, which determines if they will cover someone and for how much. Life underwriters need strong investigative skills to determine risk from someone's medical records and interviews. They also need strong writing skills in order to present those findings in a coherent report.
Most life underwriters need to have a bachelor's degree in business or a related field. Some life underwriters only have an associate's, but they need to work harder to break into the field.
Life underwriters need a few years of underwriting experience before they can specialize in life insurance. Once they do, they can expect an average salary of $148,244 a year.
Avg. Salary $78,633
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth Rate -4%
Growth Rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%
Asian 5.64%
Black or African American 8.82%
Hispanic or Latino 9.64%
Unknown 2.48%
White 73.05%
Genderfemale 58.26%
male 41.74%
Age - 43American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 43Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity Level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work Life balance is fair
6.4 - fair
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Life Underwriter career paths
Key steps to become a life underwriter
Explore life underwriter education requirements
Start to develop specific life underwriter skills
Skills 
Percentages Underwriting Decisions 9.47% Risk Selection 7.93% Health Insurance 7.85% Medical History 5.78% Strong Analytical 5.52% Complete relevant life underwriter training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New life underwriters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a life underwriter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real life underwriter resumes.Research life underwriter duties and responsibilities
- Review individual mortgage origination/post origination documentation and perform database research.
- Review individual mortgage origination/post origination documentation and perform database research.
Prepare your life underwriter resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your life underwriter resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a life underwriter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Life Underwriter Resume templates
Build a professional Life Underwriter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Life Underwriter resume.
Apply for life underwriter jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a life underwriter job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How Did You Land Your First Life Underwriter Job
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Average life underwriter salary
The average Life Underwriter salary in the United States is $78,633 per year or $38 per hour. Life underwriter salaries range between $53,000 and $116,000 per year.
What Am I Worth?
How do life underwriters rate their job?
Life Underwriter reviews
Remote work, banking hours and benefits
Remote work opportunity
High pressure environment, constant scrutiny of job performance
I was fortunate to start via an underwriting training program with a large insurance company. These are difficult to get into now and companies aren't as committed to training. The training offered me a great overview of the industry & various product lines. This offered me flexibility as I learned new products and specialty programs. I enjoy a 9-5 role, great benefits, good bonuses and travel. You also meet many people with variety of education and professional backgrounds and interests and make great long term friendships. The industry welcomes and needs people with many talents. I've enjoyed working remote and with small teams in the office.
Industry goes through high & low pricing cycles with, making lots of money or struggling to make budget. This puts direct pressure on underwriters to produce new business in a crowded space promoting the same basic products. I see younger underwriters now with business degrees, advanced degrees & industry certifications promoted quickly with little experience. Underwriting/computer systems are often dated and inefficient. We spend too much time sitting and looking at double monitors with lots of eye strain.
Updated January 8, 2025
