---
title: "Insurance Sales Agent"
description: "Sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. May refer clients to independent brokers, work as an independent broker…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-sales-agent"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Insurance Sales Agent

**Category:** Sales and Related · **SOC code:** 41-3021 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 41-3021.00

Sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. May refer clients to independent brokers, work as an independent broker, or be employed by an insurance company.

Also advertised as: Insurance Agent; Insurance Broker; Insurance Sales Agent; Sales Agent; Sales Associate; Sales Representative; Underwriting Sales Representative.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $62,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.94/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,330 to $138,140, with the middle half between $46,870 and $96,950
- **Total US employment:** 479,100
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.7% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 47,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 25/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 479,100 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,330 |
| 25th | $46,870 |
| 50th (median) | $62,280 |
| 75th | $96,950 |
| 90th | $138,140 |
| Mean (average) | $81,480 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $84,530 | $76,915 | Not published by BLS |
| NJ | $81,640 | $75,033 | 11,370 |
| RI | $79,930 | $78,148 | 1,700 |
| WI | $79,450 | $84,436 | 7,860 |
| MA | $79,300 | $74,983 | 9,940 |
| MN | $78,640 | $79,740 | 10,010 |
| NY | $78,110 | $72,377 | 22,420 |
| CA | $76,120 | $68,750 | 41,160 |
| CT | $74,840 | $72,232 | 5,230 |
| NH | $74,370 | $71,396 | 2,320 |
| PA | $73,370 | $75,196 | 19,390 |
| SD | $71,990 | $81,266 | 1,870 |
| WY | $71,830 | $77,494 | 850 |
| ND | $71,220 | $80,059 | 1,460 |
| VT | $70,720 | $72,194 | 730 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-sales-agent/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/insurance-sales-agent.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 568,800 in the 2024–2034 base year to 589,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 21,100 jobs, or +3.7%. About as fast as average: 3.7% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 47,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 39.5% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 15.8% |
| High School Diploma | 14.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 14.5% |
| Some College Courses | 8.1% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 7.4% |

## What the work involves

- Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans.
- Attend meetings, seminars, and programs to learn about new products and services, learn new skills, and receive technical assistance in developing new accounts.
- 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.
- 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.
- Perform administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling policy renewals.
- Sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice.
- Calculate premiums and establish payment method.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Persuasion — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sales and Marketing — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 5.95 |
| C — Conventional | 5.46 |
| S — Social | 3.71 |
| I — Investigative | 2.25 |
| A — Artistic | 1.09 |
| R — Realistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 80.9 |
| ESTJ | 79.4 |
| ENFJ | 67.1 |
| ENTJ | 66.8 |
| ISFJ | 61.6 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Sales Representative of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sales-representative-of-services) — median $69,990
- [Insurance Claim and Policy Processing Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-claim-and-policy-processing-clerk) — median $49,230
- [Customer Service Representative](https://nuecareer.com/careers/customer-service-representative) — median $44,770
- [Financial Advisor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-advisor) — median $105,070
- [Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-commodity-and-financial-services-sales-agent) — median $78,660
- [Insurance Underwriter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-underwriter) — median $81,370
- [Loan Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loan-officer) — median $76,690
- [Credit Authorizer, Checker, and Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-authorizer-checker-and-clerk) — median $50,080
- [Credit Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-counselor) — median $52,230
- [Financial and Investment Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-and-investment-analyst) — median $102,740

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/insurance-sales-agent