Investigate claims after a crash, a flood or a fire and decide what the insurer pays. Hired and trained on the job.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $73,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $47,000 at the lower end to about $109,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 3 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$400 to $26,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$73,000
Lower end
$47,000
Upper end
$109,000
Job Bank's national median is $35 an hour, about $73,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end is $22.56 an hour and the upper end $52.20. Job Bank groups adjusters and claims examiners together.
$40.96 an hour
Job Bank's median in British Columbia, about $85,000 a year, the highest of any province
Ontario's median is $35, Quebec's $32.97, and Manitoba's is the lowest, at $24. Large-loss, commercial and bodily injury files go to experienced adjusters. Independent adjusters bill per file, so a bad storm or wildfire season means more files and long weeks away from home.
Roughly, all in
$400 to $26,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is real: many adjusters are hired with no post secondary education, trained entirely on the job, and the employer pays for the CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) courses, leaving only the provincial licence exam and fee. The high end is a two year college diploma at the top of the tuition range plus the licence and some designation courses paid for yourself. Field adjusters drive to claim sites, but most employers supply a vehicle or pay mileage, so no car is counted. The diploma buys a faster first hire rather than meeting any legal requirement.
Many adjusters start with no post-secondary education and are trained entirely on the job. The diploma helps you get hired faster.
Paid training and courses
Insurers put new adjusters through the CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) program on company time.
Pension and benefits
Large insurers offer strong plans.
Company vehicle or mileage
For field adjusters.
Overtime after storms
Big weather events mean long paid weeks.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Hire first, train on the job. Outside Quebec, a licence only if you go independent.
High school
Grade 12
Required. English, law and business courses help.
College diploma (optional)
0 to 2 years
Business, insurance, or anything that shows you can write and reason. Job Bank lists a diploma, a degree or some post-secondary as one route; several years of claims or insurance experience is the other.
Get hired
Right away
Insurance companies hire trainee adjusters and claims reps in large numbers, often straight from school or from customer service jobs.
Learn on the job
2 to 4 years
Start with simple auto and property claims, move up to bigger losses as you prove yourself. Job Bank says several years of on-the-job training plus industry courses are required.
Licence if you go independent (always in Quebec)
Weeks of study
Independent adjusters need a licence from their province's insurance regulator. In Quebec every claims adjuster, staff or independent, needs a certificate from the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, Quebec's financial regulator).
English
Every claim ends in a written report that must hold up.
Law
Liability, contracts and fault.
Math
Estimating repair costs and depreciation.
Auto shop or construction tech
Knowing how cars and houses are built is a real edge.
In Quebec every claims adjuster, staff or independent, needs a certificate from the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, Quebec's financial regulator). Everywhere else, independent adjusters, who work for a firm hired by insurers, need a licence from the provincial insurance regulator, such as FSRA (Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario) in Ontario or the Alberta Insurance Council in Alberta. Adjusters employed directly by an insurance company do not need their own licence there. Licences do not transfer between provinces automatically, and continuing education is required to keep one.
In Quebec claims adjustment is a regulated sector. You need a certificate from the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, Quebec's financial regulator), which sets the schooling, four exams and a supervised probation.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With only a high school diploma, the AMF must also recognize 30 months of full-time work experience before you qualify. A college diploma is the faster way.
DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
3 years
Any DEC qualifies. The most direct is Financial Services and Insurance Technology (410.F0), 3 years. In English only at Vanier, which asks for fluent French and includes a 4 week internship.
Four AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) exams
Weeks of study
Multiple choice, on damage insurance law and on settling property, auto and commercial claims. 60% to pass each. A pass stays valid for 2 years.
Probation
Up to 24 weeks
An employer applies to the AMF for you. At least 336 hours of supervised work, at most 40 hours a week, finished within 24 weeks.
Apply for your certificate
After probation
Apply before your exams expire. The AMF checks your record for honesty, such as a criminal record or bankruptcy.
Any DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
Including Financial Services and Insurance Technology.
An AEC (Attestation of College Studies) in damage insurance
From a college that has an agreement with the AMF.
Two university certificates
Of 30 credits each, or any Canadian bachelor's or graduate degree.
High school plus experience
A diploma and 30 months of full-time work recognized by the AMF.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional)
The standard credential in property and casualty insurance. 10 courses plus a year of work.
FCIP (Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional)
The leadership-level designation, for managers and executives.
Bodily injury
Car accident injuries. Complex and legal.
Large loss and commercial
Factory fires, flooded stores. Fewer files, much bigger numbers.
Customer service experience
Every claimant is having a bad day.
Trades or auto knowledge
Former mechanics and carpenters make excellent property and auto adjusters.
A driver's licence and clean record
Field adjusters drive a lot.
A second language
Insurers serve everyone.
When a wildfire, hailstorm or flood hits, insurers fly in teams of catastrophe adjusters for weeks at a time. Independent adjusters bill per file, so a disaster brings a surge of paid work, the hours are brutal, and you live in hotels. It suits people who like travel and pressure, and burns out those who do not.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Desk adjusters work a queue of claims by phone and email: take the story, check the policy, order an estimate, approve or deny, write the file. Field adjusters drive to two or three sites a day, photograph damage, interview the people involved, meet contractors, and write it all up at night. Every decision is documented because some claims end in dispute or in court. Storm weeks turn all of that up to full volume.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
In July and August 2024, four disasters hit: floods in Toronto and southern Ontario, the Jasper wildfire, a Calgary hailstorm and floods in Quebec. Together they brought about 228,000 insurance claims, and every claim needs an adjuster.
Job Bank counted about 46,000 adjusters and claims examiners in Canada in 2023, with 32% aged 50 or over. It rates prospects moderate in nearly every province and good in New Brunswick.
More than 18,000 people hold an Insurance Institute designation such as the CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional), from adjusters to underwriters to brokers. The CIP needs 10 courses and at least a year of full-time work in insurance.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Money and finance first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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