Insurance Agent: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of insurance agents earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $37,330
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of insurance agents earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $46,870
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of insurance agents earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $62,280
- Hourly
- $29.94
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of insurance agents earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $96,950
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of insurance agents earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $138,140
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Insurance Agents sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. The median pay is $62,280 a year ($29.94 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is an associate's degree (16% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $62,280
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 479,100
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 16% of workers
Data Government data groups this job as Insurance Sales Agents (O*NET-SOC 41-3021.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Every page for Insurance Agents
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →How to becomeInsurance Agent how to becomeEducation, training and the skills to build first.
Open →Interview questionsInsurance Agent interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What insurance agents do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks.
- Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans.
- Perform administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling policy renewals.
- Seek out new clients and develop clientele by networking to find new customers and generate lists of prospective clients.
- Call on policyholders to deliver and explain policy, to analyze insurance program and suggest additions or changes, or to change beneficiaries.
- Confer with clients to obtain and provide information when claims are made on a policy.
- Interview prospective clients to obtain data about their financial resources and needs, the physical condition of the person or property to be insured, and to discuss any existing coverage.
- Contact underwriter and submit forms to obtain binder coverage.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Sales and Marketing, English Language, Mathematics, Law and Government, Transportation.
Software insurance agents use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Adobe After EffectsVideo creation and editing softwareHot technology
- FacebookWeb page creation and editing softwareHot technology
- Apple Final Cut ProVideo creation and editing software
- Cygnus Software IncomeMaxFinancial analysis software
- Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCSMedical software
- Insurance analysis softwareFinancial analysis software
- Insurance rating softwareFinancial analysis software
- LinkedInWeb page creation and editing software
- Medical procedure coding softwareMedical software
- Underwriting softwareFinancial analysis software
- YouTubeVideo creation and editing software
- Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
Also called: Insurance Sale Agent, Insurance Broker, Insurance Sales Agent, Sales Agent, Sales Associate, Sales Representative.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).