Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, aged to 2026 using compounded market movement. State selections show BLS state-level figures where published. Actual pay varies with experience, industry, and organization size.
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers salary by state
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers is a professional role in the Legal job family, focused on Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers work. Pay for this title reflects both its level and its scope; see our Title Level and Organization Responsibility guides for how WePayFairly defines them.
What Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searcherss do
Typical education: High School Diploma
Examine documentation such as mortgages, liens, judgments, easements, plat books, maps, contracts, and agreements to verify factors such as properties' legal descriptions, ownership, or restrictions.
Examine individual titles to determine if restrictions, such as delinquent taxes, will affect titles and limit property use.
Prepare reports describing any title encumbrances encountered during searching activities and outlining actions needed to clear titles.
Copy or summarize recorded documents, such as mortgages, trust deeds, and contracts, that affect property titles.
Verify accuracy and completeness of land-related documents accepted for registration, preparing rejection notices when documents are not acceptable.
Top skills:Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingWritingTime Management
Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers salary by industry
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
20,950 workers
$61,500
Finance and Insurance
15,970 workers
$69,000
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
3,290 workers
$71,000
Sectors 44 and 45 – Retail Trade
1,510 workers
$48,000
Federal, State, and Local Government, excl. State & Local Schools & Hospitals & USPS
1,020 workers
$66,000
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction
990 workers
$92,500
Local Government, including Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)
690 workers
$60,000
Management of Companies and Enterprises
560 workers
$66,000
National sector-level figures, BLS OEWS May 2025, aged to 2026.
How this role compares
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers pays 52% below the average across 1,680 roles in the Legal job family (family average $135,500).
