What Is a Comdex Score? (2026 Guide)

How a Comdex score gets built

A Comdex score is not its own rating agency. It is a composite that a data provider builds after the fact, by taking the grades an insurer already holds from the agencies that actually rate claims-paying ability, mainly A.M. Best, S&P Global, Moody's and Fitch, and blending them into one number between 1 and 100.

To qualify for a score at all, a carrier needs a current rating from at least two of those agencies. An insurer rated by only one, or by none, will not have a Comdex figure, which is one reason you will occasionally see "not rated" next to a carrier that is otherwise perfectly solvent.

Because it depends on the agencies underneath it, a Comdex score is only as current as the last time one of those agencies moved. When a carrier's outlook, capital position or financial statement changes enough to prompt an agency to revisit its grade, the composite number shifts along with it.

Getting a current number for a specific carrier

Comdex figures are compiled and distributed through licensed industry data services rather than published directly by the rating agencies themselves, which means the exact number for any one carrier changes hands through a subscription feed, not a public database we maintain ourselves.

Rather than print a snapshot here that would be stale within weeks, the more reliable move is to check a carrier's actual agency ratings directly, which we do show, and ask your licensed strategist to confirm the current Comdex figure alongside them when you are comparing carriers. Our guide to insurance company ratings walks through how the individual agency scales line up, and you can always request a quote and have us pull the current picture for any carrier you are considering side by side.

Where the underlying data comes from

Every licensed insurer files an annual statement with state regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, typically each March, covering the prior year's financial results. Data services that build Comdex scores draw on those filings alongside the agencies' own published grades, then repackage both into reports built for a quick read: total assets and liabilities, how the company's investment portfolio is spread across asset types, the quality of its bond holdings, and several years of investment returns, usually refreshed each spring once the new statements are in.

None of that changes what the composite score is measuring, financial strength, but it explains why a Comdex figure can lag a headline event by a few weeks. The rating agencies sometimes move faster than the annual filing cycle when something material happens at a carrier, and the composite catches up once that new grade is folded in.

Which kinds of carriers tend to sit at the top

You do not need a live feed to know the general shape of the leaderboard. Large, long-established mutual insurers, the kind that have been paying claims through multiple recessions and market cycles, are the companies most consistently cited at or near the ceiling of the Comdex scale. Names like Northwestern Mutual, TIAA and New York Life show up there repeatedly, and it tracks with what you would expect: each carries top-tier A++ ratings from A.M. Best on its own.

That pattern is a useful sanity check, not a reason to stop there. Stock-owned insurers and newer entrants can carry excellent ratings too, even if they rarely reach the absolute top of the scale the way the oldest mutuals do. A strong score from a less famous name is still a strong score.

How the math actually works

The averaging behind a Comdex score is simple once you see it done once. Say a hypothetical carrier, Meridian Trust Life, is rated in the 92nd percentile by A.M. Best, the 84th percentile by Moody's, and the 88th percentile by Fitch.

Add those three figures together: 92 plus 84 plus 88 equals 264. Divide by three agencies and you get 88. That 88 is Meridian Trust Life's hypothetical Comdex score, placing it in roughly the top 12% of all rated insurers.

That is the entire calculation. The complexity lives in how each agency arrives at its own percentile, not in the averaging step itself.

Three things to check beyond the single number

A composite score is a fast way to sort carriers, but reading past it matters just as much:

• The composite itself. Treat the 1 to 100 number as a starting filter, a way to quickly rule carriers in or out before you dig into the details.
• Where a rating sits on its own scale. Agencies often show a small rank number alongside the letter grade itself, first tier, second tier, and so on down the ladder. Two carriers can both hold what looks like a similar top-tier letter grade while actually sitting a full step apart once you check that rank, something the single composite score will not surface on its own.
• How the agencies compare to each other. An A+ from one agency is not built the same way as an A+ from another. Our insurance company ratings guide lines up the major scales side by side so you are not comparing apples to oranges.

A.M. Best is explicit that its financial strength opinion addresses a carrier's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, and is not a guarantee that the company will actually do so. Ratings can also carry a watch-list flag when an agency is actively reviewing a carrier for a possible upgrade, downgrade or other change, so it is worth checking whether any rating behind a score is currently under that kind of review.

What counts as a good Comdex score

Plenty of shoppers set 80 as their personal floor, since that already puts a carrier in the top fifth of all rated insurers. For a large deposit, particularly six figures or more, many licensed producers lean toward carriers at 90 or above, purely as an extra layer of comfort. None of this means a carrier scoring in the 70s is unsafe. It means the number alone should prompt a closer look at that carrier's actual ratings, not an automatic pass.

A composite score is not a substitute for the guaranty safety net

Every state runs a guaranty association that steps in for annuity owners if a licensed insurer becomes insolvent, typically protecting values up to a set limit, commonly around $250,000 per contract, though the exact ceiling varies by state. That protection applies regardless of a carrier's Comdex score, its individual agency ratings, or how long it has been in business.

A high composite score lowers the odds you will ever need that backstop. It does not replace the value of knowing what your own state's limit actually is before you deposit more than that with any single company. Our guide to state guaranty associations lists the figure for where you live.