How much does a Real Estate Agent make in New York?

BLS reports a median annual wage of $97,440 for Real Estate Agents in New York as of the latest OES release. That is the 50th-percentile figure — half earn more, half earn less. The 25th-percentile is $52,000 and the 75th-percentile is $129,050.

How are New York Real Estate Agent salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

How many Real Estate Agents does New York employ?

BLS OES counts 10,040 Real Estate Agents employed in New York in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Where does New York rank for Real Estate Agent pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, New York ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

How wide is the wage spread in New York?

P10 to P90 spans $35,810 to $168,590. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Does the BLS real estate agent figure represent typical New York agent income?

Probably not — and this is the single largest BLS limitation for this occupation. The vast majority of New York real estate agents work as independent contractors paid on 1099, not W-2. BLS OEWS measures wage and salary employment only, so the figure on this page reflects the small subset of agents on W-2 (typically corporate brokerage employees, salaried agents at iBuyer firms, salaried team-staff agents). The much larger 1099 commission-only population is captured by NAR member surveys and IRS Schedule C data, both of which show median income substantially below BLS — typically $30-50K nationally for the median agent — with extreme right-skew. Treat the BLS number on this page as a floor, not a typical figure.

New York Real Estate Agent Salary: BLS $97K Median, Real $90K (2026)

TL;DR

$97,440 is the BLS median wage for Real Estate Agents in New York; $90,354 is the BEA-adjusted purchasing-power equivalent.
Mid-band cost of living: real and nominal wage are within a few percent of each other.
Wage envelope: $35,810 (P10) to $168,590 (P90), with quartiles at $52,000 and $129,050.
Nominal: #1/51 · Real: #1/51 — ranking shifts by 0 positions after RPP.

Wage breakdown — New York

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$35,810	$33,206
P25 (lower quartile)	$52,000	$48,219
P50 (median)	$97,440	$90,354
P75 (upper quartile)	$129,050	$119,666
P90 (top tier)	$168,590	$156,331
Mean	$104,320	$96,734
Employment	10,040 Real Estate Agents in New York

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	New York index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	107.8
Goods	105.1
Services	135.4
Rents	122.0

New York is a high-cost state — RPP 107.8 above the national 100 baseline. Most of the cost premium routes through rents (122.0) and services (135.4).

After-tax take-home — New York (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Real Estate Agent)	$97,440	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$12,684	13.0% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$4,798	4–10.9% (graduated; +NYC residents 3.078–3.876%)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$7,454	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$72,504	74.4% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$67,232	÷ (107.8 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the New York state-tax burden means for Real Estate Agent take-home

Mid-band state-tax burden at 4.9% effective. Combined with federal and FICA, take-home is $72,504 (74.4% of gross). After the 107.8 RPP, real take-home is $67,232. Local-tax overlay: New York City residents add 3.078–3.876% city tax (Yonkers ~16.75% surtax on state liability). NYC numbers are not in the table — subtract roughly $3,410/year for a 5-borough resident at this income.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $56,320 for Real Estate Agents with mean pay of $70,970 and total employment of 190,600. New York sits at #1 on nominal pay and #1 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. Nominal and real ranking are the same — cost of living and pay scale together.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Real Estate Agent make in New York?: BLS reports a median annual wage of $97,440 for Real Estate Agents in New York as of the latest OES release. That is the 50th-percentile figure — half earn more, half earn less. The 25th-percentile is $52,000 and the 75th-percentile is $129,050.
How are New York Real Estate Agent salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
How many Real Estate Agents does New York employ?: BLS OES counts 10,040 Real Estate Agents employed in New York in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Where does New York rank for Real Estate Agent pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, New York ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
How wide is the wage spread in New York?: P10 to P90 spans $35,810 to $168,590. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
Does the BLS real estate agent figure represent typical New York agent income?: Probably not — and this is the single largest BLS limitation for this occupation. The vast majority of New York real estate agents work as independent contractors paid on 1099, not W-2. BLS OEWS measures wage and salary employment only, so the figure on this page reflects the small subset of agents on W-2 (typically corporate brokerage employees, salaried agents at iBuyer firms, salaried team-staff agents). The much larger 1099 commission-only population is captured by NAR member surveys and IRS Schedule C data, both of which show median income substantially below BLS — typically $30-50K nationally for the median agent — with extreme right-skew. Treat the BLS number on this page as a floor, not a typical figure.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 41-9022, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-08.

Cross-comparison: see how New York Real Estate Agent pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.