Recently, we’ve been using new Census Bureau business data to analyze state-by-state trends in health insurance company employment.
We used head count data for 2003 and 2013 to determine which states gained the highest percentage of health insurer jobs and which lost the highest percentage.
Of course, figures lie and liars figure. It’s hard to know, just from looking at Census Bureau head counts, how stable and lucrative any new jobs gained are, or how rewarding, or soul-crushing, any jobs lost actually were.
This time around, we’ve looked at the data a different way: By dividing payroll totals by head counts with average payroll amounts per health insurer worker for 2003 and for 2013.
These are average figures, not median figures. It’s possible that a relatively small number of highly paid executives could have thrown off the averages in some states.
Another problem is that the Census Bureau entries for 14 states and the District of Columbia lacked some of the data needed to compute payroll-per-worker averages. This article is really about health insurer pay trends in just 36 states.
Average payroll changes ranged from a drop of 6 percent in one state up to an increase of 81 percent in another. The average state in this small data analysis had a health insurer worker payroll increase of 45 percent, to about $72,000.
Throughout the country, average payroll per worker for all economic sectors in the Census Bureau survey data increased 36 percent, to about $47,500.
In the financial services and insurance category as a whole, average payroll per worker increased 61 percent, to about $89,000.
In the health insurance sector, one interesting wrinkle is that many of the states with the lowest (or negative) growth in average payroll per worker were the states with biggest growth in the new number of health insurer jobs. In other words: Insurers in those states may have added workers, but it doesn’t look as if those workers were bringing in the big bucks.
See also: Consultants: Temp strategy hurt Oregon exchange
For a look at the 10 states with the ugliest looking payroll-per-health-insurer worker trends, along with the 10-year growth rates for those states’ health insurer employment levels, read on.

10. Massachusetts
Payroll per health insurer employee:
2013: $82,296
2003: $58,848
Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 40%
Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 60%
See also: 30 of the most livable cities for baby boomers
Image: Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood (TS photo/Jorge Salcedo)
9. Virginia
Payroll per health insurer employee:
2013: $72,394
2003: $53,170
Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 36%
Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 63%
See also: Recession-scarred U.S. states ill-prepared for next fiscal shock
Image: Shenandoah River Valley (TS photo/Alex Mann)

8. Alabama
Payroll per health insurer employee:
2013: $83,462
2003: $61,376
Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 36%
Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 49%
See also: Medicaid expansion may cut hospitals’ losses on caring for poor
Image: Birmingham, Ala. (TS photo/Jeremy Edwards)

7. Oregon
Payroll per health insurer employee:
2013: $62,936
2003: $48,005
Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 31%
Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 31%
See also: View: Oregon shows Obamacare remaking insurance market
Image: Silver Falls waterfall, near Salem, Ore. (TS photo/John Anderson)