Insurance agents and brokers may value their services similarly across the country, but they are compensated much differently, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the median income for insurance sales agents is up—from $47,450 in 2012 to $48,210 today—workers in some states far outstrip this figure. Those in the 90th percentile, for example, bring home an average $117,830.
Insurance Business America took a look at the median income of those in the 50
th percentile for each state to discover where insurance agents are being most handsomely rewarded and where they are struggling.
It is, of course, important to bear in mind that compensation structures for producers differ from agency to agency and may influence some of these figures.
Agents in the following 15 states make the highest median wages in the US.
- Massachusetts—$68,100
- Rhode Island—$61,500
- New York—$61,100
- New Jersey—$59,300
- California—$56,600
- Pennsylvania—$56,500
- New Hampshire—$56,000
- Connecticut—$55,800
- Oregon—$55,100
- Minnesota—$55,000
- Vermont—$53,800
- Kansas—$53,200
- Illinois—$52,800
- Wisconsin—$50,800
- Maryland—$49,600
On the other end of the spectrum, the following 15 states pay their agents among the lowest wages in the US.
50. South Carolina—$35,000
49. West Virginia—$35,900
48. Arkansas—$36,300
47. Wyoming—$36,800
46. Montana—$37,600
45. Idaho—$37,700
44. Missouri—$37,800
43. New Mexico—$37,900
42. Hawaii—$38,200
41. Washington—$39,200
40. Alabama—$39,700
39. Nevada—$40,100
38. Tennessee—$40,500
37. North Carolina—$40,800
36. Louisiana—$41,300
35. Mississippi—$41,500
The BLS noted that the best-paid agents often do business with outpatient care centers and securities and commodities firms. Job concentration may also be a factor—each of the top 10 best-paying states had an agent job concentration of between two and four producers per 1,000 jobs, suggesting that where producers have larger shares of total employment, average income increases.
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