Actuary Salary in Sarasota, FL: Median $80,534 in 2026

Sarasota (FL) · COL index 112 · Unemployment 3.3% · Metro pop 850,000 · Rank #73 of 283 for Actuary salary

Written by Jere Salmisto, FounderReviewed by CalcFi EditorialLast reviewed Methodology

A Actuary in Sarasota earns an estimated median of $80,534 per year. That figure starts from the Florida state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($74,520) and scales it by Sarasota's composite cost-of-living index of 112 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $43,812; the 90th percentile reaches $142,653. After federal, Florida state (no state income tax), and FICA taxes, a single-filer Actuary takes home approximately $65,207/year — about $5,434/month or $2,508 every other week.

Compared to the national Actuary median of $120,000, Sarasota pays -32.9%. Relative to the Sarasota median household income of $62,500, a Actuarysalary runs +28.9%. Local unemployment is 3.3%[3], with an estimated 11 annual Actuary openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (28,400).

Actuary Snapshot — Sarasota (2026)

Every row cites a primary public dataset. Rent + home values use Zillow where the metro is in the ZHVI/ZORI coverage set; otherwise ACS + census tract fallbacks.

MetricSarasotaNationalSource
Actuary median salary$80,534$120,000[1]
10th percentile$43,812$88,030[1]
90th percentile$142,653$213,900[1]
Annual take-home (single filer)$65,207[8][10]
Median home value (ZHVI)$450,000[5]
Median rent (ZORI)$1,850/mo[5]
HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR)$1,700/mo[6]
Median household income (ACS)$62,500[7]
Cost-of-living index112.0100.0[4]
Unemployment rate3.3%[3]

How Actuary Salaries Work in Sarasota

City-level wages aren't published directly by BLS for most SOC codes. We build them by anchoring to the Florida state-level OEWS median ($74,520) and scaling by Sarasota's composite cost-of-living index (112)[1][4]. That index combines Census ACS rent, Zillow ZHVI, BLS CPI, and AdvisorSmith / ApartmentAdvisor inputs to produce one number per metro. When BLS publishes a separate metro-level wage (MSA-level OEWS), that takes priority — a handful of large metros including New York, LA, Chicago, and DC have this coverage.

On top of the gross wage, the standard US payroll stack applies: federal income tax using 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction[8], FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45%)[9], and no Florida state income tax — a meaningful wedge worth $4,027–$5,637 per year vs average-tax states[10].

Sarasota also sits inside a larger metro labor market where commute patterns, remote-work policies, and adjacent-metro wages compete. A tight labor market (unemployment below 4%) gives candidates pricing power in negotiations. Median household income in the metro is $62,500, which frames what "a good Actuary salary" means locally: a $$80,534 wage pays about 129% of the median household income on a single earner.

The deterministic identity: take_home = gross − federal − state − FICA − pre_tax. All math runs client-side; nothing is sent to our servers.

Cost of Living Breakdown — Sarasota

Estimated annual expense shares on a $65,207 take-home, using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey baseline shares scaled to Sarasota's COL index of 112. Housing uses the actual median rent.

H Housing (Rent)$22,200/yr (34.0%)
F Food & Groceries$8,388/yr (12.9%)
T Transportation$6,834/yr (10.5%)
M Healthcare$4,729/yr (7.3%)
U Utilities$3,456/yr (5.3%)
S Savings & Other$19,600/yr (30.1%)

BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares[1], scaled by Sarasota's COL index of 112[4]. Housing uses actual median rent of $1,850/month.

Salary vs Housing Affordability in Sarasota

Renting

Monthly take-home$5,434
Affordable rent (30% rule)$1,630/mo
Median rent (ZORI)$1,850/mo
Rent-to-income ratio27.6%
VerdictAffordable

Buying

Median home (ZHVI)$450,000
Price-to-income ratio5.6×
20% down payment$90,000
Years to down (20% savings)5.6 yr

At $5,434/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $1,630/mo. Sarasota's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,850/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,700/mo), making rent affordable on a median Actuary salary. For homebuyers, the 5.6× price-to-income ratio is workable with a strong credit profile and manageable other debts.

How Sarasota Stacks Up for Actuarys

#73
Salary rank
of 283 cities
#261
Affordability
rent ÷ income
#213
Purchasing power
salary ÷ COL

Against 283 major US cities: Sarasota ranks #73 for nominal Actuary salary, #261 for rent affordability, and #213 for overall purchasing power. High cost of living absorbs much of Sarasota's nominal wage premium. Actuarys here often trade pay for lifestyle, proximity to employers, or family roots — consider nearby metros on a salary-to-COL basis.

Nearby Cities — Actuary Salary Comparison

Sarasota's closest metros, scaled by each city's cost-of-living index. Useful for relocation decisions where commute or remote-work policies allow a neighboring metro trade-off.

CityEst. salaryCOLRentvs FL
Sarasota, FL$80,534112$1,850
Miami, FL$157,200131$1,951+95.2%
Tampa, FL$129,600108$1,435+60.9%
Orlando, FL$124,800104$1,314+55.0%
Jacksonville, FL$115,20096$1,098+43.0%
Cape Coral, FL$128,400107$1,600+59.4%

Sources: Census ACS[7], Zillow[5], BEA RPP[4], BLS OEWS[1].

Actuary Job Market in Sarasota

~11
Est. annual openings
3.3%
Unemployment
850,000
Metro population
22%
Job growth (24–34)

Sarasota has an estimated 11 annual Actuaryopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 28,400 national Actuarys[1]. The 3.3% unemployment rate[3] signals a competitive labor market where skilled professionals can push for top-of-band offers.

About the profession: Actuaries use mathematics and statistics to assess financial risk for insurance companies, pension funds, and other organizations. It is consistently ranked among the best careers in America. Typical entry requirement: bachelor's degree plus professional exams. This is one of the fastest-growing US occupations — 22% projected through 2034[2].

Career Progression & Related Professions in Sarasota

Early-career Actuarys in Sarasota start around $43,812, reach the city median ($80,534) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($142,653) at senior / specialized levels.

Related finance professions in Sarasota

Calculators for Actuarys in Sarasota

Other professions in Sarasota

Frequently Asked Questions — Actuary in Sarasota

How much does a Actuary make in Sarasota, FL?

The estimated median salary for a Actuary in Sarasota is $80,534/year, scaled from the BLS OEWS Florida state median ($74,520) by Sarasota's composite cost-of-living index of 112 (US = 100). After federal, Florida state, and FICA taxes, take-home is approximately $65,207/year or $5,434/month.

Can a Actuary afford to live in Sarasota?

On $5,434/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $1,630/month. Sarasota's Zillow ZORI median rent is $1,850/mo, HUD's 2BR Fair Market Rent is $1,700/mo. The rent-to-income ratio works out to 27.6%, making housing affordable for a Actuary at the local median. Home-buyers face 5.6× price-to-income, needing roughly 5.6 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.

How much tax does a Actuary pay in Sarasota?

On $80,534 gross, a Actuary in Sarasota pays approximately $9,166 in federal income tax (11.4% effective), $0 in state income tax (Florida has no state individual income tax), and $6,161 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 19.0%. Some Florida cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.

How does Sarasota rank for Actuary salaries vs other cities?

Sarasota ranks #73 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal Actuary salary, #261 for rent affordability (rent-to-income), and #213 for purchasing power (salary ÷ COL). The high-purchasing-power cities tend to be mid-size metros with strong local employers and moderate housing costs; the low-ranked cities trade high nominal pay for steep rents.

What is the cost-of-living breakdown for a Actuary in Sarasota?

On $65,207 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Sarasota looks like: housing $22,200/yr (34.0%); food $8,388/yr; transportation $6,834/yr; healthcare $4,729/yr; utilities $3,456/yr; savings + discretionary $19,600/yr. Numbers use BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares scaled to Sarasota's COL index of 112 and the city's actual median rent.

What's the Actuary job market like in Sarasota?

Sarasota's unemployment rate is 3.3% across the metro of 850,000. Estimated annual Actuary openings: ~11 (extrapolated from 28,400 nationally employed and the metro's population share). The tight labor market favors candidates in salary negotiations.

Do Sarasota employers pay above or below the Florida median for Actuarys?

Not consistently — Sarasota's estimated Actuary median of $80,534 is 32.9% below the national median. The trade-off is usually lower rents and (in some cases) lower state taxes, which can leave real purchasing power competitive.

Methodology — How we compute this page

Wage estimate. The Sarasota median is derived from the Florida state-level BLS OEWS median ($74,520), scaled by Sarasota's composite cost-of-living index of 112. When BLS publishes a direct MSA-level wage for the occupation, that takes priority over the scaled state median. Percentile bands inherit the same scale factor.

Housing + rent. Median home value uses Zillow ZHVI; median rent prefers Zillow ZORI and falls back to Census ACS median gross rent. HUD Fair Market Rents (50th-percentile 2BR) are shown where HUD publishes the metro. Price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios use the estimated Actuarymedian (not the city's overall median household income) — to reflect the specific role-vs-city affordability picture.

Tax math. Federal tax uses 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction. FICA is Social Security 6.2% up to the $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45% (+ 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000). State tax uses Florida's 2026 brackets from the state DoR (mirrored via Tax Foundation where the DoR's publication is paywalled or split). Local income taxes (e.g. NYC, Portland-OR supplemental, OH municipal) are NOT included — check your municipal authority for specifics.

Cost of living. The 112index is the composite used by CalcFi's /data/cities.ts, which merges Census ACS, BLS CPI shelter, Zillow ZORI, and commercial COL estimators. The COL-adjusted salary on this page assumes the statewide RPP = 103.6(BEA) approximates the state's purchasing power; cities are then scaled relative to that.

Refresh cadence. BLS OEWS releases annually (typically March); BEA RPP releases annually in December; IRS brackets adjust in October; Zillow ZHVI/ZORI updates monthly; HUD FMR publishes annually in August for the upcoming fiscal year. The dateModified shown above auto-bumps to the most recent retrievedAt on any sourced value the page consumes.

Known limits. Metro-level OEWS coverage is partial — only ~50 large MSAs have separately published occupation wages; the rest inherit state-level estimates scaled by COL. Rent and home data may trail the real-time market by 1–3 months (Zillow) or 8–12 months (ACS). Rankings are capped to the city set in our dataset (283 metros), not every incorporated US city.

Sources

Every number on this page cites a primary public dataset. Last reviewed (auto-bumped on the next ISR refresh after an ETL run).

  1. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — state-level occupational wages www.bls.gov/oes. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  2. BLS Employment Projections — 2024–34 occupational growth rates www.bls.gov/emp. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  3. BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics — metro-level unemployment rate www.bls.gov/lau. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  4. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities (state + metro) www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  5. Zillow Research — ZHVI (home value index) + ZORI (observed rent index) www.zillow.com/research/data. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  6. HUD Fair Market Rents — 50th-percentile 2-bedroom FY www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  7. U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, metro level www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  8. Internal Revenue Service — Federal individual income tax brackets and standard deductions www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-17. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  9. Social Security Administration — OASDI / Medicare contribution and wage-base rules www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  10. Florida Department of Revenue — 2026 individual income tax brackets (accessed via Tax Foundation mirror) taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates. Retrieved 2026-04-19.

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