Help people and businesses buy home, car and business insurance from many companies. Licensed in months in most provinces, no degree needed.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $44,000 at the lower end to about $107,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 1 year after high school, on the usual route.
From nothing up to about $1,600, depending on the route, for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$44,000
Upper end
$107,000
Job Bank's national median is $30 an hour, about $62,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end is $21.31 an hour and the upper end $51.28. Job Bank groups insurance brokers and agents together.
$40.52 an hour
Job Bank's median in Yukon, about $84,000 a year, the highest in Canada
Alberta's median is $31.70, Ontario's $30.22, and Manitoba's is the lowest, at $26.67. Commercial accounts pay commission as a share of the premium. A factory or a trucking fleet pays a lot more premium than a condo, so the cheques are bigger.
Roughly, all in
Nothing to $1,600
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is about as cheap as a licensed job gets outside Quebec, where an approved college program comes first. Many brokerages hire you first and pay for the licensing course and exam, which is why the low end is zero. The high end is paying for the course and exam yourself at around $1,000 plus a first year licence fee to the provincial regulator, for example RIBO (Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario). The optional CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) designation is usually employer funded and is not counted, and continuing education hours are often provided at no cost by your brokerage.
Many brokerages hire you first and pay for the licensing course. Your cost can be close to zero.
Health and dental
Standard at brokerages of any size.
Commission or bonus on top of salary
Grows with the clients you bring in.
Employer-paid education
Licensing, the CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) courses and yearly training.
Hybrid work
Common since most client contact is by phone and email.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Outside Quebec: hired first, licensed within months, trained on the job. No degree required.
High school
Grade 12
Job Bank says completion of secondary school is usually all that is required. Business, English and math help.
Get hired
Weeks to months
Many brokerages hire unlicensed people into customer service and train them. A college diploma in insurance or business helps but is not required.
Pass the licensing exam
1 to 3 months of study
Ontario: the RIBO (Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario) Level 1 exam. Alberta: the General Licence Qualification Program exam through the Alberta Insurance Council. Each province has its own.
Work under supervision
1 to 2 years
Quote and bind home and auto policies, handle renewals, learn the products. Higher licence levels come with experience and more exams.
Specialize
3 or more years in
Commercial lines, farm, marine, or move into management or your own brokerage.
Business
You are selling and servicing a product.
English
Policies are legal documents; you explain them in plain words.
Math
Premiums, deductibles and limits.
Law
Insurance is built on contracts and liability.
You cannot sell or advise on insurance without a licence from your province's insurance regulator. In Ontario that is RIBO (Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario); in Alberta the Alberta Insurance Council; in BC (British Columbia) the Insurance Council of BC; in Quebec the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers). Licences do not transfer automatically, and every province requires continuing education hours each year to renew. Ontario has three licence levels, and the entry level lets you work under a supervising broker.
In Quebec you must finish an approved training program before you can write the licensing exams, and the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, the Quebec financial markets regulator) issues your certificate.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
A Quebec high school diploma gets you into the college programs. The insurance DEC (Diploma of College Studies) has no math prerequisite.
Financial Services and Insurance Technology DEC (410.F0)
3 years
A 3 year CEGEP (public college) program accredited by the AMF, with a 4 week internship. In English only at Vanier College, which asks for fluency in French.
Or a damage insurance AEC (Attestation of College Studies)
5 months
Vanier's Damage Insurance Personal Lines AEC is 450 hours over 5 months. In its work-study version, an insurer hires you and pays a salary while you train.
Pass the AMF exams
Weeks of study
You write them once your training is done. The exams cover insurance law, ethics and the products you will sell.
Probationary period
Varies
You work under supervision at a brokerage with a probationary certificate from the AMF.
Apply for your certificate
Weeks
Send it to the AMF before your exam results expire. You then hold a damage insurance broker certificate and must keep up continuing education.
The AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) issues every damage insurance certificate. An agent sells one insurer's products, a broker gets quotes from several insurers. Ethics, discipline and continuing education are run by the Chambre de l'assurance (the Quebec insurance chamber). It was formed in 2025, when a new law merged the ChAD (Chambre de l'assurance de dommages, the damage insurance chamber) with the CSF (Chambre de la sécurité financière, the financial security chamber), and it oversees damage insurance brokers and agents, claims adjusters and financial security advisors.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CAIB (Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker)
The broker-specific designation from the brokers' associations. A series of courses over a couple of years.
CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional)
10 courses from the Insurance Institute plus a year of work. More than 18,000 people hold an Insurance Institute designation.
Commercial lines
Business insurance. Bigger premiums, so bigger commissions.
Life licence
Pass the LLQP (Life Licence Qualification Program) to add life and health insurance.
Customer service experience
Retail, call centre, restaurant. Employers want proof you can stay calm with upset people.
A second language
Brokerages serving newcomer communities hire for it.
Typing speed and software comfort
Most of the day is in a broker management system.
A driver's licence
Commercial brokers visit client sites.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Calls and emails from morning to close. A new driver wants a quote; you shop it across the companies your brokerage represents. A homeowner's renewal went up 20% and they are angry; you explain why and look for options. Someone had a fender-bender and needs to know what to do. Between calls you process policy changes, chase documents and follow up on leads. Commercial brokers spend more time visiting businesses and building bigger proposals.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank counted about 86,800 insurance brokers and agents in 2023, and 35% were aged 50 or over. It expects a moderate risk of labour shortage nationally through 2033, and rates 3-year prospects good in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, moderate in 5 other provinces and territories and limited in 1.
An agent sells for one insurance company. A broker represents you and shops your policy across many companies. Canada has over 43,000 property and casualty brokers, represented nationally by the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada.
RIBO (Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario) is run by the profession under provincial law: it licenses brokers, sets the exams, handles complaints and can pull a licence. That is unusual; most provinces use a government or industry council instead.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Money and finance first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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