Broker vs licensed agent

The differences between brokers and licensed agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, which is higher than the $42,315 average annual salary of a licensed agent.

The top three skills for a broker include brokerage, financial services and insurance products. The most important skills for a licensed agent are HIPAA, customer service, and inbound calls.

Broker vs licensed agent overview

	Broker	Licensed Agent
Yearly salary	$124,861	$42,315
Hourly rate	$60.03	$20.34
Growth rate	5%	6%
Number of jobs	2,770	68,666
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age	49	46
Years of experience	-	-

What does a broker do?

Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.

What does a licensed agent do?

Licensed Agents act as authorized brokers acting on behalf of an individual owner or organization in selling a product, service, or property. There are many different pathways a licensed agent can delve into, such as in real estate, insurance, and banking. For instance, a real estate agent uses its license to be able to sell and rent properties. Their duties include gathering property information, evaluating property estimates, marketing properties, and represent sellers in the process of negotiation. They seek prospective buyers, monitor the sale process between stakeholders, and reach a mutually agreed price.

Broker vs licensed agent salary

Brokers and licensed agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Broker	Licensed Agent
Average salary	$124,861	$42,315
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $227,000	Between $28,000 And $62,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Kirkland, WA
Highest paying state	New York	Alaska
Best paying company	Child Guidance & Family Solutions	HPOne
Best paying industry	Insurance	Insurance

Differences between broker and licensed agent education

There are a few differences between a broker and a licensed agent in terms of educational background:

	Broker	Licensed Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Broker vs licensed agent demographics

Here are the differences between brokers' and licensed agents' demographics:

	Broker	Licensed Agent
Average age	49	46
Gender ratio	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%	Male, 41.3% Female, 58.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 4.9% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	13%	7%

Differences between broker and licensed agent duties and responsibilities

Broker example responsibilities.

Manage, lease and sell office condominiums on site.
Retail trader, fix income securities; manage client account activity; properly allocate client funds to appropriate investment options
Manage indexes, options, foreign equities, and short-selling positions that are compatible with clients' long-term investment goals.
Expand and maintain professional relationships with trading accounts including banks, hedge funds and portfolio managers.
Specialize in finding undervalue and/or overbought commodities by using fundamental and technical analysis that exist throughout the markets.
Install the oracle client for windows.

Licensed agent example responsibilities.

Train and manage employees and achieve significant improvements in their productivity & maintain sales go9als consistently.
Educate and advise in different investment products, such as life insurance and fix annuities.
Work with clients to satisfy financial needs offering products such as life insurance, annuities, and Medicare supplements.
Provide education on Medicare/ Medicaid coverage, rights and responsibilities.
Provide objective information pertaining to coverage and how to obtain Medicaid coverage.
Generate referral business and cultivate individual lead sources, using networking and prospecting techniques to grow potential sales opportunities.

Broker vs licensed agent skills

Common broker skills

Brokerage, 17%
Financial Services, 9%
Insurance Products, 7%
Risk Management, 6%
Client Relationships, 6%
Real Estate Transactions, 5%

Common licensed agent skills

HIPAA, 31%
Customer Service, 11%
Inbound Calls, 9%
Casualty Insurance, 6%
Life Insurance Products, 6%
Financial Services, 5%

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Broker
Broker vs Licensed Agent

Updated January 8, 2025

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