Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators
FinanceO*NET 13-1031.00United States
Review settled claims to determine that payments and settlements are made in accordance with company practices and procedures. Confer with legal counsel on claims requiring litigation.
- Median annual earnings
- $77,598
- Projected change
- +0.5%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 359.59K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
55.8% of the workforce
Growing to 361.25K by 2035
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The work
What claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Examine claims forms and other records to determine insurance coverage.
- Analyze information gathered by investigation and report findings and recommendations.
- Investigate, evaluate, and settle claims, applying technical knowledge and human relations skills to effect fair and prompt disposal of cases and to contribute to a reduced loss ratio.
- Pay and process claims within designated authority level.
- Review police reports, medical treatment records, medical bills, or physical property damage to determine the extent of liability.
- Verify and analyze data used in settling claims to ensure that claims are valid and that settlements are made according to company practices and procedures.
- Investigate and assess damage to property and create or review property damage estimates.
- Interview or correspond with agents and claimants to correct errors or omissions and to investigate questionable claims.
- Interview or correspond with claimants, witnesses, police, physicians, or other relevant parties to determine claim settlement, denial, or review.
- Enter claim payments, reserves and new claims on computer system, inputting concise yet sufficient file documentation.
- Resolve complex, severe exposure claims, using high service oriented file handling.
- Adjust reserves or provide reserve recommendations to ensure that reserve activities are consistent with corporate policies.
- Examine claims investigated by insurance adjusters, further investigating questionable claims to determine whether to authorize payments.
- Confer with legal counsel on claims requiring litigation.
- Refer questionable claims to investigator or claims adjuster for investigation or settlement.
- Collect evidence to support contested claims in court.
- Maintain claim files, such as records of settled claims and an inventory of claims requiring detailed analysis.
- Contact or interview claimants, doctors, medical specialists, or employers to get additional information.
- Present cases and participate in their discussion at claim committee meetings.
- Report overpayments, underpayments, and other irregularities.
- Attend mediations or trials.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $48,107
- 25th percentile
- $60,474
- 50th percentile
- $77,598
- 75th percentile
- $98,134
- 90th percentile
- $118,344
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $77,598 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+0.5%average or slower
2025359,585 jobs
2035 projected361,254 jobs
1,669 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 55.8%
- High school diploma or less
- 13.1%
- Associate degree
- 12%
- Some college
- 11.9%
- Doctoral degree or more
- 4%
- Certificate
- 2.6%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 0.6%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Claims Specialists2,872 postings
- 02Workers' Compensation Claims Examiners2,750 postings
- 03Claims Examiners2,259 postings
- 04Claims Adjusters1,884 postings
- 05Workers' Compensation Claims Adjusters1,548 postings
- 06Investigators1,520 postings
- 07Liability Claims Examiners1,424 postings
- 08Liability Claims Specialists976 postings
- 09Bodily Injury Claims Examineradjusters890 postings
- 10Property Field Adjusters756 postings
- 11Complex Claims Specialists747 postings
- 12Professional Liability Claims Specialists734 postings
- 13Bodily Injury Claims Adjusters692 postings
- 14Bodily Injury Claims Specialists684 postings
- 15Claims Investigators660 postings
- 16Field Property Claims Specialists600 postings
- 17Liability Claims Managers589 postings
- 18Adjusters562 postings
- 19Workers' Compensation Claims Representatives560 postings
- 20Claims Managers549 postings
Top employers
- 01Sedgwick11,598 postings
- 02The Hartford1,416 postings
- 03Allstate1,300 postings
- 04USAA1,280 postings
- 05Zurich Insurance984 postings
- 06Field Asset Reporting943 postings
- 07Arthur J. Gallagher894 postings
- 08Liberty Mutual869 postings
- 09Argonaut Management Services801 postings
- 10Progressive785 postings
- 11Allied Universal635 postings
- 12State Farm531 postings
- 13Milehigh Adjusters Houston471 postings
- 14TriWest Healthcare Alliance450 postings
- 15Geico447 postings
- 16National General349 postings
- 17CorVel326 postings
- 18Intermountain Health299 postings
- 19Crawford & Company295 postings
- 20AIG281 postings
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