Real Estate Agent Statistics 2026: Count, Income & Turnover
The most repeated number about real estate agents, that 87% fail within their first five years, has no study behind it. It is usually credited to the National Association of Realtors, but it appears in no NAR report, Member Profile or news release we checked, and the articles that repeat it don’t link a source. What NAR does publish points to steady turnover, not a mass washout: about 15% of members are new in a given year, and the typical member has 13 years of experience. Here are the real estate agent and Realtor statistics worth knowing in 2026, each sourced inline with the year noted.
The “87% of agents fail in five years” stat has no source
87% of new agents fail within five years is the figure most real estate career articles still lead with. The Close, a real estate training publisher, reached the same conclusion we did: there is “no verified data to back these numbers up” (The Close, 2025).
About 15% of NAR members are new in any given year, and the membership count “generally lags larger economic shifts” (NAR, 2025).
NAR membership fell 1.7% in the year to June 2026, from 1,463,352 to 1,438,569 (NAR, 2026). If roughly 15% of members are new each year and the total still fell, about one in six members left over that year, by our rough arithmetic. That measures NAR turnover, not failed agents: some people who drop their membership keep their license.
75% of Realtors are “very certain” they will stay active in real estate for at least two more years, up from 74% a year earlier (NAR 2026 Member Profile, 2026). What the data does show is a hard first two years: members with two years or less in the business earned a median of $8,000 in 2025 (NAR, 2026).
“Seventy-one percent of agents did not close a transaction last year” is a newer figure with a similar problem. It was a remark by a Redfin executive at Inman Connect in January 2025, who added that the number “can be a little bit misleading” because not all Realtors are in the business of closing transactions (Inman, 2025). Inman’s report doesn’t say how it was measured.
A Realtor is a NAR member, not a type of license
“REALTOR®” is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of NAR and subscribes to its Code of Ethics (NAR, 2026). It is a trademark, not a license.
To become a Realtor, you need a real estate license (or an appraiser license), then join a local Realtor association and pay dues (NAR, 2026). Every Realtor is licensed, but a licensed agent who doesn’t join isn’t a Realtor, and appraisers can be members too.
National dues are $156 a year plus a $45 special assessment for 2027, unchanged after a June 18, 2026 board vote (NAR, 2026).
A firm’s principals have to join before any of its other agents can, and the firm’s designated Realtor is assessed a fee for each affiliated licensee who doesn’t join (NAR, 2026).
There are 1.44 million Realtors, about 10% below the 2022 peak
NAR had 1,438,569 members in June 2026, against 1,463,352 a year earlier (NAR, 2026). NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, noted that membership “has exceeded 1.4 million only a handful of times in history.”
The number of Realtors peaked at a record 1.6 million in October 2022, during the pandemic buying boom (NAR, 2024). By our count, June 2026 membership is about 10% below that peak.
After the 2008 crash, membership fell 29%, from 1.4 million to 1 million (NAR, 2024), bottoming at 963,478 in February 2013 (NAR, 2024). This decline has been far smaller, even though home sales have run lower than during the 2008 to 2010 crisis (NAR, 2025).
Membership trails the housing market by 18 to 24 months, Yun says, because people who have paid the year’s dues stay on the rolls after they stop working (NAR, 2024).
| Date | NAR members | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 2013 | 963,478 (decade low) | NAR, 2024 |
| October 2022 | About 1.6 million (record) | NAR, 2024 |
| April 30, 2024 | 1,509,195 | NAR, 2024 |
| May 31, 2025 | 1,453,690 | NAR, 2025 |
| June 2026 | 1,438,569 | NAR, 2026 |
BLS counts 530,600 real estate agent and broker jobs
Real estate brokers and sales agents held about 530,600 jobs in 2025: 427,000 sales agents and 103,500 brokers (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 data). Most are their own boss: 54% of sales agents and 55% of brokers are self-employed.
Only 193,370 sales agents and 46,100 brokers were on a payroll in May 2025, in BLS’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (BLS OEWS, 2025 data). That survey covers only workers paid a wage or salary and leaves out the self-employed (BLS).
Employment is projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than average, with about 40,400 openings a year, mostly to replace people who change careers or retire (BLS, 2025 data).
NAR’s 1.44 million members is about 2.7 times BLS’s job count, by our count. BLS counts jobs. NAR counts dues-paying members, a group that includes part-timers (27% of Realtors earn income from another source) and licensed appraisers. Licenses themselves are issued state by state, and we found no current national total of licensees from a primary source.
The typical Realtor grossed $59,200 in 2025
$59,200 was the median gross income from real estate for Realtors in 2025, up from $58,100 in 2024 (NAR, 2026). That is gross, before costs: median business expenses were $9,530, up from $8,010, and vehicle costs were the largest line at $1,580.
Experience drives the spread: $88,500 for members with 16 or more years, against $8,000 for those with two years or less (NAR, 2026).
BLS puts the median wage at $52,830 for real estate sales agents and $73,220 for brokers in May 2025, against $50,980 for all occupations (BLS, 2025 data). The lowest-paid 10% of sales agents earned less than $32,970 and the top 10% more than $123,590.
When you cite agent income, name the source and the denominator. NAR’s median is members’ gross income from real estate. BLS’s wage figures cover agents on a payroll, not the self-employed majority.
The typical Realtor is 57, female and 13 years in
The typical Realtor in 2026 was a 57-year-old white woman who attended college and owned her home (NAR, 2026).
66% of Realtors are women, up from 63% a year earlier (NAR, 2026). Women have been a growing share of the profession since 1993 (NAR, 2026).
The typical Realtor has 13 years of experience, up from 12 (NAR, 2026). Newer members with two years or less in the business had a median age of 45, a sign of how many people enter real estate later in their careers (NAR, 2026).
73% of Realtors say real estate is their only occupation (NAR, 2026).
62% hold a sales agent license, 24% are brokers and 16% are broker associates (NAR, 2026). 86% work as independent contractors at their firms, and 53% are affiliated with an independent company.
Half of a Realtor’s business comes from past clients
The typical Realtor got 28% of their business from repeat clients and 22% from referrals by past clients in 2025 (NAR, 2026). Together that is half, by our count.
The typical agent reported nine transaction sides in 2025, with a median sales volume of $2.7 million among brokerage specialists (NAR, 2026). 21% of Realtors work on a team, and teams averaged four members.
At August 2026’s pace of 3.98 million existing-home sales a year, there are about 2.8 sales for every NAR member, by our count (NAR, 2026). Each sale has two sides, so that averages out to about 5.5 sides per member, well under the nine sides of the typical survey respondent. The 3.98 million excludes new homes, but the gap still suggests many members close few or no deals.
Housing affordability is the top obstacle keeping clients from buying, cited by 27% of Realtors, ahead of a lack of inventory (12%) and difficulty finding the right property (11%) (NAR, 2026).
88% of buyers and 91% of sellers used an agent
88% of home buyers bought through a real estate agent or broker, and 91% of sellers sold with one, equal to the highest share on record (NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2025). The survey drew 6,103 responses covering primary-residence purchases from July 2024 to June 2025.
91% of buyers would use their agent again or recommend them (NAR, 2025).
For-sale-by-owner sales fell to 5% of sellers, an all-time low, and FSBO homes sold for a median of $360,000, against $425,000 for agent-assisted homes (NAR, 2025). Sixty percent of FSBO sellers knew their buyer (NAR, 2025), so the price gap isn’t a clean measure of what an agent adds.
First-time buyers fell to 21% of purchases, the lowest share since NAR began tracking in 1981, and their median age rose to a record 40 (NAR, 2025). The median repeat buyer is 62, and the median buyer overall is 59.
Buyer’s agent commissions averaged 2.42% after the NAR settlement
The average U.S. buyer’s agent commission was 2.42% in the third quarter of 2025, up from 2.36% a year earlier, the quarter the new NAR rules took effect (Redfin, December 2025). Redfin, itself a brokerage, draws on thousands of closed sales a quarter from its own listings and deals it referred to partner agents.
Homes under $500,000 paid the highest average rate, 2.52%, against 2.32% for homes from $500,000 to $999,999 and 2.22% for homes over $1 million (Redfin, 2025).
NAR agreed to pay $418 million over about four years to settle the commission class actions, and the court granted final approval on November 26, 2024 (NAR, 2024).
Since August 17, 2024, MLS participants working with a buyer need a written agreement before touring a home, and offers of compensation can’t be communicated on an MLS (NAR settlement FAQs).
37.4% of recent home sellers negotiated or tried to negotiate their agent’s commission, against 27.2% of recent buyers, in a Redfin-commissioned Ipsos survey from March and April 2025 (Redfin, 2025).
23% of Realtors use AI every day
23% of Realtors use AI tools daily, and 55% of those using AI say it has had a positive effect on their business (NAR 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report, 2026).
Only 12% say they don’t use AI and have no plans to, down from 32% who hadn’t tried it in 2025 (NAR, 2026). The survey covered 1,200 agents.
75% of agents who use AI write listing descriptions with it, 56% social media posts and 52% emails and follow-ups (NAR, 2026). ChatGPT is used by 91% of them, followed by Gemini (42%), Copilot (27%) and Claude (25%).
The tools agents use most are the MLS (96%), e-signature (79%) and showing scheduling tools (68%), while 46% use a CRM (NAR, 2026).
81% of Realtors adopt new technology mainly to improve efficiency and productivity, and 48% are watching AI-powered lead generation and follow-up as an emerging tool for 2026 (NAR, 2026).
Answering a new lead while you’re at a showing
Half of a typical agent’s business comes from past clients and referrals, and 52% of agents using AI already lean on it for emails and follow-ups (NAR, 2026). The weak spot is the new lead that arrives while the agent is mid-showing. Carly covers that stretch. When a lead lands by email, web form or CRM, Carly replies or texts right away, and it can place an AI voice call to the inbound lead. It books showings and calls through booking pages tied to the agent’s calendar, triages every inbox, and runs the follow-ups. Carly connects to thousands of apps, so it fits around the tools an agent already uses. How fast that first reply needs to be is covered in speed-to-lead statistics, and the wider toolset in the best AI tools for realtors.
FAQ
How many Realtors are there in 2026? NAR had 1,438,569 members in June 2026, down from 1,463,352 a year earlier and from a record of about 1.6 million in October 2022 (NAR, 2024 and 2026).
How many real estate agents are there? BLS counts about 530,600 real estate broker and sales agent jobs in 2025, 427,000 of them sales agents (BLS, 2025 data). NAR’s 1.44 million members is a larger number because it counts dues-paying members, including part-timers and appraisers. No primary source publishes a current national count of licensees.
What is the difference between a Realtor and a real estate agent? A Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors who subscribes to its Code of Ethics. “REALTOR®” is NAR’s registered collective membership mark. Every Realtor holds a license, but a licensed agent who doesn’t join NAR isn’t a Realtor.
How much do real estate agents make? Realtors had a median gross income of $59,200 in 2025 (NAR, 2026). BLS puts the median wage at $52,830 for sales agents and $73,220 for brokers in May 2025, counting only agents on a payroll (BLS, 2025 data).
What percentage of real estate agents fail? There is no study behind the popular 87% figure. NAR says about 15% of members are new each year (NAR, 2025), membership fell 1.7% in the year to June 2026, and members with two years or less of experience earned a median of $8,000 in 2025 (NAR, 2026).
Related: AI agents for real estate · CRM Statistics · Lead Generation Statistics · Missed Call Statistics
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