Real Estate Agent Salary: National and State-by-State
Real estate agents earn a median of $52,830 nationally, but the BLS median understates the ceiling more here than in any other sales field, the top 10% clear $123,590.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for real estate sales agents at $52,830 nationally (real estate brokers, a separate license tier, median at $73,220). The bottom 10% earn under $32,970, the top 10% clear $123,590, more than double the median, a wider gap between median and top-decile pay than any other sales occupation the BLS tracks.
Pay by state
New York leads with a mean annual wage of $112,730 for real estate agents, per the BLS's May 2025 state-level estimates. Across states, the range runs from roughly $46,650 in the lowest-paying states to over $112,000 in the highest, a reflection of how directly real estate pay tracks local property values and transaction volume rather than a national baseline.
| State | Annual Mean Wage | Annual Median Wage |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $112,730 | $102,990 |
| District of Columbia | $99,500 | $123,770 |
| New Jersey | $92,310 | $99,990 |
| Montana | $89,580 | $79,100 |
| Alaska | $88,330 | $89,170 |
| New Mexico | $85,520 | $76,170 |
| Washington | $84,480 | $79,130 |
| Nevada | $83,470 | $79,990 |
| Alabama | $80,820 | $60,890 |
| South Carolina | $79,100 | $56,580 |
| North Carolina | $74,610 | $51,240 |
| Colorado | $73,650 | $63,670 |
| Florida | $73,600 | $49,310 |
| North Dakota | $72,320 | $73,920 |
| Virginia | $72,040 | $63,980 |
| New Hampshire | $70,160 | $57,620 |
| Arizona | $70,070 | $58,780 |
| South Dakota | $69,510 | $65,170 |
| Oklahoma | $69,060 | $47,980 |
| California | $67,570 | $57,560 |
| Maryland | $67,460 | $52,630 |
| Oregon | $65,740 | $61,610 |
| Pennsylvania | $65,330 | $56,040 |
| Georgia | $65,250 | $46,730 |
| Maine | $64,840 | $56,930 |
| Michigan | $64,380 | $57,880 |
| Rhode Island | $64,260 | $60,310 |
| Wisconsin | $64,190 | $58,120 |
| Texas | $63,610 | $45,740 |
| Kentucky | $63,180 | $58,610 |
| Connecticut | $62,640 | $46,770 |
| Minnesota | $61,420 | $46,410 |
| West Virginia | $61,300 | $59,050 |
| Hawaii | $61,130 | $46,220 |
| Ohio | $59,310 | $46,240 |
| Delaware | $58,630 | $47,180 |
| Tennessee | $57,350 | $46,250 |
| Illinois | $57,260 | $59,220 |
| Indiana | $57,030 | $46,880 |
| Nebraska | $56,920 | $47,240 |
| Missouri | $56,080 | $43,960 |
| Arkansas | $55,080 | $38,180 |
| Utah | $53,610 | $50,720 |
| Mississippi | $52,680 | $39,550 |
| Wyoming | $52,450 | $49,990 |
| Louisiana | $51,560 | $45,850 |
| Kansas | $47,960 | $39,770 |
| Idaho | $46,650 | $39,820 |
Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont: sample size too small for the BLS to publish a reliable state-level estimate for this occupation.
An important caveat in this data
The BLS occupational survey counts wage and salary workers, people paid on a W-2. Most real estate agents work as independent contractors on commission, so this data likely undercounts the field's actual earning range and skews toward whatever slice of agents happen to be structured as employees rather than independent contractors.
What this role requires
A state license, not a degree, is the barrier to entry, and growth is projected at just 2% from 2025 to 2035, the slowest of the fields on this list. About 40,400 openings a year still get created through turnover despite that flat growth.
Why the gap between median and top matters here specifically
No field on this list rewards skill more unevenly than real estate. Since pay is almost entirely commission-driven, the actual determinant of where an agent lands in that $38K-to-$124K range is what happens on the call with a seller deciding which agent to list with, and the objection-handling in a negotiation that determines whether a deal closes at all. Practicing those specific conversations is the lever that actually moves an agent from the median toward the top of the range.
Selling in Canada
This page covers US state-level BLS data. If you're selling in Canada, government wage data for this occupation is broken out by city on this site too: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa.