Insurance Underwriters in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,979
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$15,761
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,302
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$77,740
Kept after tax
$61,979
Worth in national money
$61,302
State rank
32
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona sits in the middle of the pack for insurance underwriters. The median is $77,740, ranking 32 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, insurance underwriters comes in at 121 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $77,740 the take-home is $61,979, which is worth about $61,302 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $85,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona occupies the middle band for insurance underwriters: a median of $77,740, ranking 32 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Insurance underwriters ranks 121 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for insurance underwriters on its $77,740 median: $61,979 retained after tax becomes $61,302 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $85,770 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Insurance Underwriters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,450 |
| This salary | $77,740 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $61,979 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,520 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,065 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $75,550 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,615 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $77,740. The published range is $57,770 up to $127,450, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $61,979, from $77,740, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 121 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $61,302, the adjusted value of that $77,740 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 121 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for insurance underwriters in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $57,770 to $127,450. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,979 from $77,740. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 121 of 491 locally.
- This $61,302 adjusted figure, worked from $77,740, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 121 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 121 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $85,770 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $57,770 at the bottom tenth to $127,450 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $61,302 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $61,979.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $85,770. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,770) and the ninetieth ($127,450) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $61,302 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $61,979 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.