Fast to get licensed, and paid only when a deal closes. Surviving the first year is the hard part.
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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 $52,830 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $32,970 at the lower end to about $123,590 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.
$700 to $6,000 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.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$52,830
Bottom tenth
$32,970
Top tenth
$123,590
The national median is $52,830 a year. The bottom tenth earn $32,970 or less and the top tenth $123,590 or more (2025 federal wage survey). Treat this range with caution: the survey counts agents paid as employees, while most agents are independent contractors paid on commission, and it does not capture people who made almost nothing and quit.
$40,040 a year or less
25% of agents in the wage survey earn this or less, 2025
Most agents are not employees at all but independent contractors working under a broker: no salary, no employer health insurance and nothing withheld for taxes, so you set money aside for tax yourself every time you get paid.
$82,020 a year or more
25% of agents in the wage survey earn this or more, 2025
Commission is a share of the sale price, negotiated on each sale, and your brokerage takes a share of yours. How much you keep depends on your agreement with the brokerage, and experienced agents negotiate better splits. Since the 2024 industry settlement, what the buyer's agent gets paid has to be agreed in writing up front rather than assumed.
Roughly, all in
$700 to $6,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is an online pre license course package, the state exam and the application with fingerprinting. The high end adds classroom teaching instead of online, board dues, access to the listing service, a monthly desk fee at a brokerage and your first signs, photography and advertising. Getting licensed is cheap, surviving the first year is not: you are self employed on commission, and a deal you start in March may not pay you until June. Plan to live on savings or another job for six to twelve months, which is a bigger number than anything above.
Getting licensed is cheap. Surviving the first year is not. Plan to live on savings or another job for 6 to 12 months, because a deal you start in March may not pay you until June.
Referrals from past clients
The whole business eventually runs on this. It takes years to build.
Listings, not just buyers
Representing sellers is the more reliable half of the job.
A niche
First-time buyers, a specific neighborhood, military relocations, rentals, commercial.
A team
Joining an established agent's team means a smaller cut but real leads while you learn.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
The fastest licensed career on this site. Months, not years.
Finish high school and turn 18
Grade 12
Every state sets a minimum age of 18 or 19 and expects a high school diploma or equivalent.
Pre-license courses
Weeks to months
State-approved coursework in real estate principles, contracts, agency law and finance. Texas requires 180 classroom hours across six courses. Several states require far fewer.
Pass the license exam
One day
A state section and a national section, usually at a testing center. Fail three times in Texas and you must take more coursework before retesting.
Background check
Weeks
Fingerprints and a criminal history check through the state.
Find a sponsoring broker
Weeks
Your license is inactive until a licensed broker sponsors you. You cannot work on your own as a brand new agent in any state.
Business and economics
Interest rates, mortgages and what actually moves a housing market.
English
Contracts are the product. Reading them carefully is the skill.
Math
Percentages, loan math, square footage and closing costs.
Public speaking or drama
You will present, negotiate and talk to strangers all day.
There is no national real estate license. Each state runs its own commission: the Texas Real Estate Commission, the California Department of Real Estate, and an equivalent body everywhere else. Course hours, exam content and fees differ, and a license from one state does not automatically work in another, although many states have reciprocity agreements that shorten the process. Separately, Realtor is not a job title: it is a membership mark of the National Association of Realtors, which agents pay to join and which comes with a code of ethics.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Broker license
More coursework plus a few years of experience. It lets you work without a sponsor and open your own brokerage.
Commercial real estate
Offices, retail and industrial. Longer deals, bigger checks, steeper learning curve.
Property management
Ongoing monthly income instead of waiting for closings. In many states it needs a real estate license too.
Designations
The National Association of Realtors and other bodies run courses in areas like buyer representation, seniors and commercial investment.
A reliable car
Not optional. You are driving clients around all week.
Savings before you start
Six to twelve months of living costs is the single best predictor of whether you make it.
A second language
In a lot of markets this is where the business is.
Photography and social media
Listings live or die on how they look online, and you are the marketing department.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Mornings on the phone and the laptop: new listings on the local MLS (multiple listing service), client emails, contract deadlines, chasing an inspector or a lender. Afternoons out showing houses or previewing them. Evenings and weekends are when buyers have time, so that is when you work. Between all of it you are looking for the next client, because the deal you close this month is money you already stopped earning.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Realtor is a registered membership mark of the National Association of Realtors, founded in Chicago in 1908. Not every licensed agent is a Realtor. You become one by joining the association and agreeing to its code of ethics.
The Texas Real Estate Commission requires six 30-hour courses, 180 classroom hours in all, before you can apply. Fail either part of the exam three times and you must take more coursework before you can test again.
Federal projections expect slower than average growth for real estate sales agents from 2025 to 2035, but still about 32,600 openings a year, mostly from agents leaving the business.
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 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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