Help people buy and sell homes for a commission. Licensed in about a year, paid only when a deal closes.
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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 $58,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $33,000 at the lower end to about $178,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$5,000 to $13,000 all in 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
$58,000
Lower end
$33,000
Upper end
$178,000
Job Bank reports this job per year, from 2021 data. Its national median is $58,400, the lower end is $32,867 and the upper end is $178,000. The lower and upper ends are the bottom and top of the range for everyone in the group. First-year income can be lower, even zero, because you are paid only when a sale closes.
About $68,000
The Job Bank median in Manitoba, the highest of any province
Ontario is about $62,400 and Saskatchewan $60,400. Alberta is lowest at about $46,400. Commission is a share of the sale price, split between the buyer's and seller's agents and again with each agent's brokerage.
Roughly, all in
$5,000 to $13,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the pre-registration course package plus your first licence and registration. The high end adds the first year of board and MLS (Multiple Listing Service) dues, errors and omissions insurance, and the signs, photos and business cards you need before a first commission arrives. Agents are self employed, so all of it comes out of your own pocket with no salary behind it. Budget several months of living money as well, because the first cheque is often six months away.
Agents are almost always self-employed, so these costs come off the top before you see any income. Do not skip this math.
None from an employer
No pension, no health plan, no paid vacation. You buy your own coverage.
Uncapped income
No salary ceiling. Your effort and your market set the number.
Flexible schedule
You choose your hours, but clients choose evenings and weekends.
Tax write-offs
Car, phone, home office and marketing are business expenses.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Courses, exams, then join a brokerage. Ontario's path is shown; other provinces are similar.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Ontario requires a Canadian high school diploma or GED (general educational development) certificate, or an equivalent, plus English proficiency.
Pre-registration program
6 to 12 months
In Ontario: five courses with exams plus two simulation sessions, offered by Humber Polytechnic, Algonquin, Fleming and one private provider. Real estate essentials, residential and commercial transactions, then a career launch course. Must be finished within 24 months.
Register with the regulator
Weeks
Apply to RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario) within one year of finishing. You must be employed by a registered brokerage to register.
Post-registration program
First 2 years
More courses in your first two years while you work under a broker.
Continuing education
Ongoing
Ongoing courses every renewal cycle. Later, a broker's licence lets you run your own brokerage.
Math
Mortgages, commissions, land transfer tax.
Business
You are running a small business from day one.
English
Contracts and listings are written documents.
Law
Property law, contracts and disclosure rules.
You cannot trade in real estate without a provincial licence. Ontario's regulator is RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario). Alberta's is RECA (Real Estate Council of Alberta). BC (British Columbia) uses the BC Financial Services Authority. Each province has its own courses and exams, and licences do not automatically transfer, though experienced agents can usually skip some courses when moving. 'Realtor' is a trademark of the Canadian Real Estate Association; only members may use it.
In Quebec every licensed agent is a real estate broker, and one regulator, the OACIQ (Organisme d'autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec), sets the training and the exam.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Check your record before paying for training. The OACIQ reviews criminal, discipline and bankruptcy records and can refuse a licence or add conditions.
Training recognized by the OACIQ
6 to 10 months
Usually the Residential Real Estate Brokerage AEC (Attestation of College Studies). At John Abbott College it is 585 hours, in English, 6 months by day or 10 months in the evening.
Pass the OACIQ exam
After training
In English or French, $1,025.58 per sitting. If you fail, you can retake it up to 3 times.
Prove your French
Before applying
Only if you wrote the exam in English. A Quebec high school diploma from 1985 to 1986 or later counts, or 3 years of full-time study in French. Otherwise, pass the OQLF (Quebec French language office) exam.
Apply for your licence
Within 12 months
Within 12 months of your result. The OACIQ checks your record again. The first licence costs $668.35 to $2,556.56 in 2026 to 2027, depending on the month you start.
Practise and renew
Ongoing
Renew by April 30 every year and complete the mandatory continuing education every 2 years.
OACIQ fees include taxes. The licence fee also covers the indemnity fund and professional liability insurance. Champlain Regional College in Saint-Lambert also teaches the residential program in English. Commercial brokerage is a separate program and exam.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Commercial real estate
Offices, warehouses, retail. Bigger deals that take longer to close.
Broker's licence
Extra courses and experience. Lets you own a brokerage and earn a cut of every agent's deals.
Pre-construction and condos
Working with developers on new builds.
Property management
Steady monthly income managing rentals, separately licensed in some provinces.
Savings for the first year
Six months of living costs, because commission can take months to arrive.
A car and a phone you like
You will live in both.
A second language
Many buyers prefer an agent who speaks their language.
Social media skills
Listings and personal branding now live on Instagram and TikTok.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning checking new listings and messaging clients. A showing or two mid-day, often with a buyer who is not ready to decide. Afternoon paperwork: offers, disclosures, chasing a mortgage approval. Evening showings because clients work during the day. Saturday and Sunday are open house days. Between all of that, the real work is finding the next client: calls, coffee meetings, social posts, referrals.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank counts about 106,800 real estate agents and salespeople in Canada in 2023, and 46% of them are 50 or older.
In Canada the word Realtor belongs to the Canadian Real Estate Association. A licensed agent who is not a member of a local board cannot legally use it. Most agents join so they can use the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), the shared database of homes for sale.
RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario) requires all pre-registration courses and both simulation sessions to be finished within 24 months of starting. Then you have one year to register before the credits expire.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Marketing and sales 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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