The actuarial profession has been ranked the top job in the US out of 200 roles ranked by online recruitment site CareerCast.com.
Its rating of the best jobs for 2015 evaluated factors such as income, work environment, stress and hiring outlook. It reported the average income of an actuary was $94,209.
Tonya Manning, chief actuary at Buck Consultants of Xerox, told CareerCast.com: "I've never met an actuary who said they didn't love what they do. I work with interesting people every day, from CFOs and attorneys to international clients, and what I do each day is different from what I did the day before.
"And since I love solving problems that benefit society, it's really a wonderful career."
Other jobs requiring mathematical skills were ranked highly, with mathematician taking third spot and statistician in fourth place.
Careercast.com said jobs involving maths were rated as the best for 2015 in the US because they were "financially lucrative" and offered "abundant opportunities for advancement".
Actuaries are experts in risk management who use mathematical skills to help measure the probability and risk of future events. The profession is used by a variety of industries such as insurance, healthcare, pensions and investments.
The IFoA's president Nick Salter said: "It's great to see actuaries have come up as the top job and reassuring that the career an actuary can offer is highly regarded and in great demand."
He said the skills set of actuaries could be used in a diverse range of jobs, making it a "passport to a global career".
"Understanding how businesses operate and being able to identify and measure risks is one of the reasons actuaries are in such great demand, as it can have a major impact on the bottom line," said Salter.
"In addition to using our mathematical and analytical skills to help businesses, it's our ability to communicate really complex financial information where we add so much value. It's great to see that many people find a career as an actuary as one to aspire to."
