Insurance claims and policy processing clerks job market in Illinois

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Illinois industry employment changed 0.6 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Insurance claims and policy processing clerks in Illinois.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Insurance claims and policy processing clerks earn in Illinois

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$48,440Illinois
Middle 50% of published wages
$45,950 – $60,320
U.S. median annual wage
$49,230
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Illinois

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Insurance claims and policy processing clerks, compared with the Illinois median of $48,440.

Illinois median$48,440
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$51,280+5.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$46,330 – $62,220Published employment5,460
Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL$48,430Same as state at displayed precision
Middle 50%$41,480 – $52,270Published employment150
Rockford, IL$47,810−1.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$43,870 – $56,820Published employment130
Peoria, IL$47,580−1.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$42,640 – $55,510Published employment300
Springfield, IL$46,400−4.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$39,670 – $57,470Published employment130
St. Louis, MO-IL$46,210−4.6% vs. state
Middle 50%$35,420 – $57,800Published employment1,720
View 3 more published metro areas
Bloomington, IL$46,040−5.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$45,950 – $56,190Published employment890
Champaign-Urbana, IL$44,140−8.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$44,140 – $60,810Published employment40
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL$35,380−27.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$31,200 – $46,560Published employmentNot published

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Illinois median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Illinois’s weighted industry mix.

+0.9%Industry employmentIllinois industry employmentU.S. +0.3%vs. +0.3% U.S.
+4.6%Establishments in weighted industriesIllinois establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.4%vs. +2.4% U.S.
+7.5%Avg. weekly industry wageIllinois avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +7.1% · not occupation payvs. +7.1% U.S. · not occupation pay
+0.6 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 34,559 represented establishments, 81.86% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for insurance claims and policy processing clerks in Illinois

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

Financial activities has the largest positive weighted contribution

In January to March 2026, Financial activities's year-over-year employment change of +1.1% accounts for 87.4% of the positive weighted contributions across the leading industry groups examined in Illinois. This proxy weights each industry group by its share of the occupation's national industry mix; the examined groups cover 99.7% of the mix. The contribution share is not a count of occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Pay differs widely between metro areas

The OEWS May 2025 estimates show a 16.2% median-pay difference between the endpoints of Illinois's published metro comparison. Across 6 metro areas with estimates on the same basis, Champaign-Urbana, IL records $44,140 and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN records $51,280. These wage figures do not account for living costs or job availability.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Metro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Illinois · 2026 Q1+0.9%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.3%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Illinois industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterIllinoisCoverage
2024 Q2-0.7%100%
2024 Q3-0.7%100%
2024 Q4-0.2%100%
2025 Q1+0.3%100%
2025 Q2+0.3%100%
2025 Q3+0.3%100%
2025 Q4+0.3%100%
2026 Q1+0.9%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Illinois’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+0.3%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Insurance claims and policy processing clerks Work

The occupation mix determines which Illinois industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Illinois Insurance claims and policy processing clerks context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Financial activities81.8%+1.1%34,559$4,400
Professional and business services9.9%-1.3%87,055$2,208
Private education and health services5.6%+2.1%44,950$1,266
Trade, transportation, and utilities1.2%-1.7%78,241$1,440
State and local1.0%+1.4%6,534$1,396
Other services0.2%-1.7%34,191$1,179

Which industries are growing?

3 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Illinois employment change are listed.

  • Private education and health services+2.1%
  • State and local+1.4%
  • Financial activities+1.1%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Illinois context

Current Illinois Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Illinois. They are not Insurance claims and policy processing clerks demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Illinois

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

90.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-9.8%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.3%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 202687.70
Jul 31, 202687.71
Aug 7, 202687.29
Aug 14, 202687.21
Aug 21, 202687.34
Aug 28, 202687.57
Sep 4, 202687.61
Sep 11, 202688.41
Sep 18, 202688.33
Sep 25, 202689.10
Oct 2, 202689.45
Oct 9, 202689.90
Oct 16, 202689.80
Oct 23, 202690.25

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Monthly WARN notices in Illinois

Monthly measurement

Month received in the official state listing. Receipt days are published in monthly reports; missing reports remain unavailable. Effective layoff dates are not used as notice dates.

Latest three completed calendar months
MonthNotice entries
Aug 202612
Sep 20268
Oct 2026Unavailable
Three-month totalUnavailable

Nov 2026: not listed in the source — unavailable, not zero; excluded from the total.

Counts describe published notice entries, not unique employers or confirmed job losses. Explicit revisions are excluded as new notices. Missing months remain unavailable; source revisions may change counts.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity

Source last checked . This check does not certify a newly published report.

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks in Illinois FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Insurance claims and policy processing clerks in Illinois?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Illinois industries weighted to Insurance claims and policy processing clerks changed +0.9% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.3% nationwide.

Are wages for Insurance claims and policy processing clerks rising in Illinois?

QCEW does not publish pay for Insurance claims and policy processing clerks in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +7.5% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Illinois industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Insurance claims and policy processing clerks openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks
SOC code
43-9041
State
Illinois
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
+0.9%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+0.3%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.6 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+4.6%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+7.5%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/insurance-claims-and-policy-processing-clerks/illinois#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks in other states