Real Estate Agents and Brokers salary in the US
Here is where pay for real estate agents and brokers stands nationally, built from Census microdata rather than job-board postings.
How much do real estate agents and brokers earn?
If you lined up all real estate agents and brokers by pay, the person in the middle would earn about $59,662 a year — 14% more than the $52,508 median for all US earners aged 25 and older. That ranks 79th of 171 occupation groups — above the middle of the pack, though short of the top quarter. That estimate rests on 49,290 individual Census survey responses from workers 25 and up.
| Position | Annual earnings |
|---|---|
| Top 10% start at | $231,707 |
| Top 25% start at | $116,754 |
| Median (top 50%) | $59,662 |
| Bottom 25% earn below | $27,683 |
How wide is the pay range?
Pay inside this occupation is unusually spread out. Reaching the top 10% takes about $231,707 — 3.9 times the median — while the top 25% starts near $116,754. A quarter of workers in the field made $27,683 or less over the year — a figure shaped by part-time and seasonal work as much as by hourly rates. That leaves a 2.2-to-1 ratio between the median and the 25th percentile.
Earnings by age
Mid-career workers out-earn new entrants, but not dramatically — the median goes from $52,474 (25–34) to $69,266 (45–54). By 65+ the median is $41,979, down 39% from the high point, as many people phase into retirement.
Men and women
There is a 31% gap at the median: $73,321 for men and $50,763 for women. About 58% of the sampled workers are women, going by raw survey counts. Because these are annual totals, more part-time work in one group widens the gap; the survey doesn't adjust for that.
| Group | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| Men | $73,321 | 20,762 |
| Women | $50,763 | 28,528 |
Does education change the pay?
The education premium is steep: $78,353 at the median for workers with a professional degree against $45,343 for those with a high school education or less. Most workers surveyed in this job have a bachelor's degree (19,396 records); any level under 100 records is blank in the table.
| Education | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| High school or less | $45,343 | 6,544 |
| Some college / associate | $50,763 | 16,766 |
| Bachelor's | $71,500 | 19,396 |
| Master's | $73,321 | 5,407 |
| Professional degree | $78,353 | 878 |
| Doctorate | $54,919 | 299 |
Where the most work, and what they earn there
Most of the sample comes from California, Florida, Texas, New York, and North Carolina, the five states where this occupation is most common in the data. Among them, California has the highest median at $62,968 and Florida the lowest at $50,763, a 24% spread. State figures aren't price-adjusted; 46 states have a large enough sample to report.
| State | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| California | $62,968 | 6,631 |
| Florida | $50,763 | 5,836 |
| Texas | $54,991 | 4,523 |
| New York | $61,446 | 2,337 |
| North Carolina | $55,860 | 1,879 |
Occupations with similar pay
For comparison, these jobs have medians within a few thousand dollars: elementary and middle school teachers ($59,211), educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors ($60,915), special education teachers ($60,915), and bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists ($60,915). They aren't interchangeable careers, though the middle of the pay distribution is close.
| Occupation | Median earnings | vs. this job |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary and Middle School Teachers | $59,211 | −1% |
| Educational, Guidance, And Career Counselors And Advisors | $60,915 | +2% |
| Special Education Teachers | $60,915 | +2% |
| Bus And Truck Mechanics And Diesel Engine Specialists | $60,915 | +2% |
| Property, Real Estate, And Community Association Managers | $61,101 | +2% |
About these figures
A note on definitions: figures cover everyone 25+ with earnings in this occupation over 2020–2024, inflation-adjusted to 2024, full-time or not. Medians are weighted to the US population; suppressed cells are those under 100 records. The occupation total is 49,290 records.
See where your pay ranks among real estate agents and brokers
Opens the calculator with this occupation already selected. Your income stays in your browser — it's never put in the link.
Open the calculatorSource: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) — personal earnings (PERNP) in 2024 dollars, person-weighted
Reference statistics only — not financial advice.