For agency owners, MGAs and carrier HR teams

Insurance compensation survey and insurance industry salary survey prices compared

An insurance compensation survey costs anywhere from $79.95 to $17,160. Agencies can buy the Insurance Journal agency report for $79.95 or the CompData insurance survey for $995 as a participant. Carriers pay more: $2,450 to $11,000 for the NAMIC and Aon module and $5,200 to $16,640 for a LOMA report. In every case, submitting your own data is the biggest discount on offer.

Hiring a CSR or an account manager before next year's survey ships? Price the role on the right and get a band and a range you can paste into the posting today.

Pay band builder U.S. BLS OES, May 2025

Role

Market

Seniority

Company stage

Agencies and brokerages

$79.95 to $3,500

Insurance Journal, CompData insurance and MarshBerry. Built around producers, account managers and CSRs, which are 82 percent of the agents and most of the service staff in the industry.

Carriers and health plans

$2,450 to $17,160

NAMIC and Aon for property and casualty, LOMA and LIMRA for life and group, Mercer IHP for health plans. Home office jobs: underwriting, claims, actuarial, IT and compliance, priced per report.

The answer

Which insurance salary survey to buy depends on which side of the policy you sit

An independent agency under 50 people should start with the Insurance Journal report ($79.95) and add CompData insurance at $995 by submitting data. A P&C mutual that belongs to NAMIC should take part in the Aon module, which costs $2,450 under $50 million of premium. A life or group carrier buys LOMA or LIMRA, and participation cuts the bill by $8,320 or more.

Insurance pay data splits cleanly in two. Agency surveys price the people who sell and service policies: producers, account managers, CSRs, marketing reps. Carrier surveys price the home office: underwriters, adjusters, actuaries, product and IT. Buying the wrong side is the most common waste. A 30-person agency does not need 250 home office jobs, and a regional carrier gets nothing from a producer split table.

The second waste is paying the non-participant price. Every carrier survey on this page charges at least twice as much if you skip the questionnaire, and NAMIC will not sell you the results at all without it. Put the survey calendar on the HR plan in January and most of the price difference disappears.

Quick guide

Agency under 50 staff: Insurance Journal $79.95
Agency, benchmarking 30+ jobs: CompData $995 as participant
Agency planning a sale or merger: MarshBerry $3,500
P&C mutual, NAMIC member: NAMIC and Aon from $2,450
Life or health carrier: LOMA from $5,200
One job, posting this month: Local market data

Published prices from each publisher

The same report can cost three times as much if you skip the questionnaire

Each bar runs from the cheapest published route (member, participant, smallest premium tier) to the most expensive one for the same report. Scale $0 to $17,500, so the agency reports barely leave the left edge.

Insurance Journal Agency Salary Survey 2026

$79.95 sale price, $127.95 list

CompData Insurance (Salary.com)

Participant $995, non-participant $3,495

NAMIC and Aon insurance module

Small member $2,450 up to non-member $11,000

Mercer IHP operations module

Participant $3,200, non-participant $9,600

MarshBerry Agency and Brokerage Report

One price, $3,500

LOMA Non-Executive (US)

Participating member $5,200 up to $16,640

LIMRA Group or Wholesaler (US)

Participating member $6,240 up to $17,160

Sources are the publisher product pages, order forms and association pricing tables listed in the next section.

Compared

Insurance industry salary survey prices and coverage by publisher

Every price below comes from the publisher's own product page, order form or association pricing table. Where a publisher quotes by phone, the table says so rather than guessing.

US insurance compensation surveys compared by published price, coverage and sample
Survey	Published price	Covers	Sample	Best for
Insurance Journal Agency Salary Survey Results 2026	$79.95 (list $127.95); taking the survey is open to any agency employee	Owners, producers, CSRs and support staff at retail agencies, plus raises and satisfaction	Nearly 500 responses, collected January 2026	Small agencies wanting a directional read
CompData Insurance Survey (Salary.com)	$995 participant, $3,495 non-participant; 10 to 40 percent off for 2 to 5 year terms	1,939 jobs across agents, brokers and service companies, 285 geographies	305 organizations, 277,419 incumbents	Agencies and MGAs pricing 20+ distinct jobs
MarshBerry Insurance Agency and Brokerage Compensation Report 2025	$3,500 including a data supplement	38 agency and broker roles: executives, producers, service and support, benefits trends	Not published on the product page	Larger agencies, perpetuation and M&A planning
ERI Insurance Salary Survey	Quoted by phone (800-627-3697)	202 benchmark jobs: 16 executive, 186 non-management, salary and incentive	Public sources, ERI Assessor data and participants	Firms already on an ERI subscription
NAMIC and Aon Compensation Survey and Module 2026	Members under $50M DWP $2,450, over $50M $3,900, non-members $7,000 to $11,000; peer groups +$2,100	Hundreds of P&C carrier roles, entry level to executive, mutual vs stock, base, incentive and LTI	Inside the Radford McLagan database; data due April 24, 2026, results in September	Property and casualty mutuals
NAMIC and Aon bundle with executive and infrastructure module	$3,675, $6,300 or $11,000 to $21,000 on the same tiers	Adds executives plus IT, finance, HR and other support functions	Same database	Carriers pricing the whole home office
LOMA Non-Executive Compensation (US) 2026	$5,200 member participant, $8,320 non-member participant, $13,520 member, $16,640 non-member	250+ home office positions, entry level to AVP, actuarial student programs	Life, health and financial services companies	Life and annuity carriers
LOMA Executive Compensation (US) 2026	$5,720 member participant, then $8,320, $13,520, $16,640	About 50 positions, CEO and direct reports, long-term incentive design	Same participant base	Board compensation committees
LIMRA Group or Wholesaler Compensation (US) 2026	$6,240 member participant, $8,840, $14,040, $17,160	Group sales and service reps, wholesalers, their managers, productivity	Fielded for 20 to 25 years	Group benefits and annuity distribution
Mercer US IHP Health Insurance Compensation Survey	Executives $3,700 / $11,100; Operations $3,200 / $9,600; Sales and Marketing $3,200 / $9,600 (participant / non-participant)	143 executive, 406 operations and 121 sales positions	135 health insurance and managed care organizations	Health plans and BCBS licensees
BDO Health Insurance Sales Force Compensation Survey	Not published; participation through BDO	Health insurer sales reps: pay levels, incentive plan design, pay for performance	Participating health insurers, annual	Health plan sales comp design

Sources: insurancejournal.com research store; store.salary.com insurance product page (cart price for each package); events.marshberry.com 2025 report page; erieri.com insurance survey page; namic.org compensation survey page (2026 pricing table); LOMA 2026 Compensation Study Order Form; imercer.com IHP product page; bdo.com 2024 survey findings.

Federal data

What carriers and agencies actually pay the same jobs

BLS publishes wages separately for insurance carriers and for agencies, brokerages and related firms, and the gap is not where most owners expect it. For back office and service jobs, agencies pay within a few percent of carriers. The real gap is the producer: agents employed by carriers earn a median $72,350, against $61,620 at agencies, a 14.8 percent difference.

Median annual wages in May 2025 for insurance roles at all employers, insurance carriers and insurance agencies
Role	All industries	Insurance carriers	Agencies and brokerages	Agency vs all
Insurance sales agents	$62,280	$72,350	$61,620	-1.1%
Customer service representatives	$44,770	$47,170	$46,240	+3.3%
Claims and policy processing clerks	$49,230	$50,800	$48,930	-0.6%
Claims adjusters and examiners	$78,000	$77,780	$76,130	-2.4%
Insurance underwriters	$81,370	$81,520	$81,060	-0.4%
HR specialists	$75,940	$82,500	$77,450	+2%
Actuaries	$130,000	$129,230	$141,200	+8.6%
Financial managers	$166,570	$174,530	$173,000	+3.9%

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national estimates for NAICS 524100 (insurance carriers) and 524200 (agencies, brokerages and other insurance related activities), median annual wage.

Agencies already pay service staff at the market

A CSR at an agency earns a median $46,240, 3.3 percent above the median for the job across all employers. Your account managers are not competing with other agencies for pay. They are competing with the carrier service center and every bank and utility call center in town, and federal data shows the carrier pays $47,170. That is the comparison to make before you lose a licensed CSR over $1,000 a year.

Read the producer number with care

The federal wage survey counts commissions and production bonuses as wages. The $61,620 agency median for insurance sales agents is base plus commission, not a base salary. If you post it as a base range, you overstate the guaranteed pay and invite the wrong applicants. Post the base, describe the commission. The insurance producer compensation plan guide works through the split, the overtime trap for inside producers and the posting wording.

Spread

Why one producer median tells you so little

Each row shows the 25th percentile, the median and the 75th percentile at agencies and brokerages in May 2025. Service jobs sit in a tight band. Producers do not: the 75th percentile agent earns more than twice the 25th percentile, because commission income, not a pay grade, decides where an agent lands.

Insurance sales agents

378,790 jobs at agencies

$46,350 · $61,620 · $95,120 (105 percent from p25 to p75)

Claims adjusters and examiners

109,500 jobs at agencies

$59,990 · $76,130 · $95,690 (60 percent from p25 to p75)

Claims and policy processing clerks

95,260 jobs at agencies

$43,670 · $48,930 · $60,960 (40 percent from p25 to p75)

Customer service representatives

172,880 jobs at agencies

$38,620 · $46,240 · $57,890 (50 percent from p25 to p75)

$30,000$65,000$100,000

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, NAICS 524200, annual 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile wages and employment. Agencies employ 378,790 of the 459,420 insurance sales agents counted at carriers and agencies combined, 82 percent.

Worked orders

What three insurance employers would actually spend

25-person P&C agency, Ohio

Insurance Journal report $79.95, plus CompData insurance as a participant at $995. Total $1,074.95. Skipping the CompData questionnaire would make it $3,574.95. MarshBerry's $3,500 report makes sense only once the owner is planning perpetuation or an acquisition.

Regional mutual, $40M premium, 140 staff

NAMIC member under $50 million of direct written premium. Insurance module $2,450, plus peer group capability at $2,100 to compare against similar mutuals. Total $4,550, but only if the data is in by the April deadline. Miss it and there is no price at all, because participation is required.

Small life carrier, LOMA member, 180 staff

Non-executive report $5,200 plus executive report $5,720 as a participating member. Total $10,920. Buying both without participating costs $27,040, so the questionnaire is worth $16,120 to this company, roughly a week of an HR analyst's time well spent.

If you are comparing these against surveys outside insurance, the full list of national publishers is on salary survey providers, and the bank and credit union options many carriers also buy for finance roles are in the bank compensation survey comparison.

Rules

Pay rules that decide how you structure insurance jobs

Claims adjusters are usually exempt

29 CFR 541.203(a) says adjusters generally meet the administrative exemption duties test, at a carrier or anywhere else, when they inspect damage, evaluate coverage and negotiate settlements. They still need the salary in the exempt salary threshold.

Selling is not an administrative duty

29 CFR 541.203(b) covers financial services staff who analyze and advise, but adds that an employee whose primary duty is selling financial products does not qualify. A producer needs a different exemption or gets overtime.

Phone selling is not outside sales

29 CFR 541.502 treats any fixed site used for telephone solicitation, home or office, as the employer's place of business. An inside producer quoting by phone is usually non-exempt. See exempt vs non-exempt.

Commission-only ads in New York

Labor Law 194-b lets a job paid solely on commission comply with a general statement that pay is based on commission. A base plus commission role still needs the base range.

Colorado asks for the commission too

Colorado postings need the pay range and a general description of bonuses, commissions and other compensation, from the first employee. The pay transparency laws by state guide covers the rest.

Overtime on commission weeks

For a non-exempt CSR or inside producer, commissions go into the regular rate, so overtime is owed on them too. The FLSA overtime page shows the calculation.

Where we fit

Four agency jobs an annual insurance survey prices badly

Insurance surveys are built for the structure you set once a year. A posting law asks for something else: a good faith range for one job, in one place, on the day you post it. That gap is widest for the jobs an agency shares with every other office employer in town.

Bookkeeper and agency accountant. Trust account reconciliation and direct-bill commission statements, priced against every small business in the metro.
Marketing or social media coordinator. Rarely in an insurance survey at all.
IT and agency management system admin. Competes with every employer running a CRM.
Office manager. The job that holds a 15-person agency together and the one most often underpaid.

WageList for insurance employers

A band and a postable range for any agency or carrier job, by metro, in under a minute

Built on the latest federal wage data with the source and date attached, adjusted for your market tier. Starter is $99 a month or $588 a year on the pricing page, less than one CompData non-participant license.

Get started

Who it is for

Who buys insurance salary data and what they need from it

Agency owner or principal

Setting CSR and account manager pay, deciding a producer base and split, and posting ads in states that require a range. See WageList for small businesses.

Operations or HR manager at an MGA

Pricing underwriting assistants, processors and claims staff while growing headcount fast, often across several states.

HR lead at a small carrier

Running the NAMIC or LOMA submission, then turning percentiles into a salary structure the board approves.

Questions

Insurance compensation survey questions HR teams ask

How much does the LOMA compensation survey cost?

The 2026 LOMA Non-Executive Compensation report for the US costs $5,200 for a participating member, $8,320 for a participating non-member, $13,520 for a member that skips the survey and $16,640 for a non-member that skips it. The US Executive report is $5,720 for participating members and the same $8,320 to $16,640 otherwise.

How much is the NAMIC compensation survey?

In 2026 the NAMIC and Aon insurance module costs $2,450 for NAMIC members under $50 million in direct written premium, $3,900 for larger members and $7,000 to $11,000 for non-members. The bundle with the executive and infrastructure module is $3,675, $6,300 or $11,000 to $21,000. Participation is required to buy.

How much does the MarshBerry compensation report cost?

MarshBerry sells its 2025 Insurance Agency and Brokerage Compensation Report for $3,500. The price includes the PDF report and a data supplement in table form covering 38 roles at agencies and brokers, from executives and producers to service and support staff, with no company identified.

Is there an insurance agency salary survey for small agencies?

Yes. Insurance Journal runs an annual Agency Salary Survey that any agency employee can take part in, and sells the results for $79.95 (list $127.95). The 2026 edition drew nearly 500 responses from agency owners and staff. Salary.com also sells a CompData insurance survey for $995 to participants and $3,495 to everyone else.

How much do insurance agency CSRs make?

Customer service representatives at insurance agencies and brokerages earned a median of $46,240 in May 2025, with the middle half between $38,620 and $57,890, according to BLS. That is 3.3 percent above the all-industry median for the job, and 2 percent below what insurance carriers pay the same role.

Does BLS wage data include commissions for insurance agents?

Yes. The federal wage survey counts commissions and production bonuses as part of an employee's wage, but excludes overtime premiums and nonproduction bonuses. So the $61,620 median for insurance sales agents at agencies is base plus commission, not a base salary, and it should not be posted as a base range.

Do insurance agencies have to post salary ranges?

In covered states, yes, and the thresholds are low. Colorado applies from the first employee, New York from four and California and Washington from 15. New York lets a job paid solely on commission say so in a general statement, but a producer role with a base salary still needs the base range in the ad.

Which insurance compensation survey is best for a small carrier?

For a property and casualty mutual, the NAMIC and Aon module is the cheapest carrier-specific data if you are a member and submit data by the April deadline. For a life or health company, LOMA covers more than 250 home office jobs. Health plans usually buy Mercer IHP, priced from $3,200 per module for participants.

Start with the role you are hiring this month

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