You run buildings other people own: tenants, rent, repairs, budgets. You can start at 18 and learn on the job.
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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.
The median pay is about $69,990 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $41,010 at the lower end to about $139,680 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$500 to $50,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a license 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
$69,990
Bottom tenth
$41,010
Top tenth
$139,680
The 2025 national median is $69,990 a year, and the bottom tenth earn $41,010 or less. The wage survey lumps this job in with real estate managers and community association managers under one title, so the range covers all three.
$50,720 a year or less
The 25th percentile of the national wage survey, 2025
Almost nobody is hired straight into running a property. You usually spend a year or two as a leasing consultant or assistant manager first.
$97,910 a year or more
The 75th percentile of the national wage survey, 2025
The survey does not say who is at the top. Some companies pay bonuses tied to occupancy and to NOI (net operating income, which is rent collected minus what it costs to run the building).
Roughly, all in
$500 to $50,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the state pre license real estate course taken online plus the exam and license fees, which is all many states require to manage property for an owner. The high end is a business or real estate degree at a public university in your own state on top of that license. The Certified Property Manager designation runs into the low thousands in courses and dues, but it comes years later and employers often cover it. This is one of the cheapest business careers to enter, and many people in it never borrow at all.
This is one of the cheapest business careers to enter. Many people never borrow at all. If you do go to college, fill in the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to see if you qualify for a Pell Grant.
A no-cost or discounted apartment
Common for on-site managers who live at the property. It can be taxed differently, so ask.
Bonuses you can actually hit
Paid on occupancy, renewals and staying under budget, usually quarterly.
Mileage or a company vehicle
Normal once you cover several buildings.
Employer-paid credentials
Many management companies will pay for your license renewals and designation courses.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no single degree for this. Most people work their way up and add a license along the way.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Enough to get hired into leasing. Take anything with math, writing and business in it.
Entry job on site
1 to 2 years
Leasing consultant, assistant manager or maintenance coordinator. You learn rent collection, showings, work orders and fair housing rules by doing them.
Get the state license
2 to 6 months, part-time
In most states, managing someone else's property for a fee means holding a real estate salesperson or broker license. Course, background check, state exam.
Run your own property
Year 2 to 4
You take over a site and become responsible for the budget, the staff and the owner's money.
Add a designation
Later, while working
The Certified Property Manager (CPM) or Accredited Residential Manager (ARM) credential from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) is what moves you into regional and commercial work.
Math and accounting
You will build and defend a yearly budget, line by line.
English
Notices, leases and owner reports have to be clear and legally careful.
Business or entrepreneurship
A property is a small business with rent as revenue.
Spanish or another second language
In many markets it doubles the number of residents and vendors you can talk to.
Most states treat managing property for someone else as real estate work, so you need a salesperson or broker license from the state real estate commission. California is a clear example: the Department of Real Estate licenses property managers, while an employee who lives on site at the building they manage is exempt. A few states barely regulate it at all. On top of that, Florida and Nevada license community association managers separately, because running a homeowner association means handling other owners' money.
Online pre-license schools
The fastest route to the state exam, approved by each state separately.
Community college real estate certificates
Cheap, and often count toward the license course requirement.
University real estate or business degrees
The usual route into commercial property and investment work.
Management company training programs
The large national apartment operators run their own, and they pay you while you do it.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Certified Property Manager (CPM)
From the Institute of Real Estate Management. A well known designation in the field, often asked for in regional roles.
Accredited Residential Manager (ARM)
The earlier step on the same ladder, aimed at people running one site.
Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA)
For homeowner and condominium association work, which is a whole industry of its own.
Broker license
Lets you run your own management company instead of working under someone else's license.
Driver's license and a reliable car
Assumed in almost every job posting above the on-site level.
Knowing how buildings actually work
If you can tell a failing water heater from a bad mixing valve, vendors cannot bluff you.
Property software
Yardi and AppFolio run most of the industry. Employers list them by name.
A calm phone voice
Half this job is people who are angry, scared or broke, and you are the one who picks up.
Plenty of managers eventually get a broker license and start a small firm managing houses and small buildings for private owners. You charge a percentage of the rent you collect, plus a leasing fee. It scales slowly, it needs a trust account you never touch for your own bills, and it is one of the few businesses a 25 year old can start with a laptop and a license.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
You open at 9am with overnight work orders and yesterday's rent postings. Morning is showings, lease signings and approving applications. Midday is vendors: the roofer, the landscaper, the plumber who wants more money than the quote. Afternoon is the owner report and next month's budget. Somewhere in there a resident cries in your office about rent, and somebody else calls about a smell in the hallway. When a pipe bursts at 11pm, your phone rings.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Federal projections expect average growth for property, real estate and community association managers from 2025 to 2035, with about 36,900 openings a year.
Rent and security deposits sit in a trust account that is not yours. States audit those accounts, and mixing that money with your own is one of the fastest ways to lose a license.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968, as later amended, makes it illegal to treat renters differently because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status or disability. That is why a good manager says the same words to every applicant and writes everything down.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Property 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 United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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