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The differences between real estate agents and brokers 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 $91,788 average annual salary of a real estate agent.
The top three skills for a real estate agent include customer service, real estate license and excellent interpersonal. The most important skills for a broker are brokerage, financial services, and insurance products.
| Real Estate Agent | Broker | |
| Yearly salary | $91,788 | $124,861 |
| Hourly rate | $44.13 | $60.03 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 41,399 | 2,770 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 49 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A real estate agent helps owners in the selling or renting of houses, land, offices, buildings, or any piece of property. They should be knowledgeable in the area they work in, which local properties are in the market, and the competitive prices for various properties. It is their responsibility to either market or sells in the best possible and reasonable price and conditions. Negotiating is a vital skill for real estate agents as they act as the middleman for buyers and sellers. Most agents bill the client with a percentage of the final sale price as the fee, but some would get a fixed commission for every sale.
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.
Real estate agents and brokers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Real Estate Agent | Broker | |
| Average salary | $91,788 | $124,861 |
| Salary range | Between $66,000 And $126,000 | Between $68,000 And $227,000 |
| Highest paying City | Long Beach, NY | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | West Virginia | New York |
| Best paying company | Santa Clara Valley Water District | Child Guidance & Family Solutions |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a real estate agent and a broker in terms of educational background:
| Real Estate Agent | Broker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between real estate agents' and brokers' demographics:
| Real Estate Agent | Broker | |
| Average age | 49 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.4% Female, 56.6% | Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 70.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 13% |