Selflender logo Back to Data & Guides
property icon Property

Realtor Costs In America

Data & Guides Property Realtor Costs In America

Buying a home comes with a whole host of costs, from closing fees and down payments to initial mortgage payments and realtor fees; which form part of the final transaction for the home.

To understand just how much realtors fees are costing buyers on average, our study analyzed  home price data from FRED [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS and research on commission rates from Real Trends [2] https://www.realtrends.com/articles/average-annual-real-estate-commission-rate-rises-slightly-in-2021/ and Clever [3] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/ to reveal how much realtors are making per transaction in America.

In order to gain an insight into the average realtor fee by state the analysis then studied state-level house price data from Zillow [4] https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ and commission rate information from Clever [5] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/.

Key Findings

  • The average home purchase in 2023 costs $26,493 in realtor fees, with the buyers and sellers paying $13,246.50 each as commission to their respective realtor(s).
  • On average realtors successfully help buy or sell 10 homes per year [6] https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/quick-real-estate-statistics.
  • Realtors made an average of $15,361.65 more per home sale in 2023 than in 2000, however the commission rate has dropped from 5.42% in 2000 to 5.13% in 2023.
  • Hawaii is the most expensive state for realtor fees with a transaction costing $44,576 to the buyer and seller.
  • Realtors in Ohio have the highest commission rate at 5.81%, averaging $12,006 per transaction, with Georgia having the second highest commission rate (5.76%).

Contents

House prices over time

The housing market fluctuates consistently and that is reflected in the cost of houses. In a bid to understand how house prices have changed over the years the study analyzed house price data from FRED [7] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS from 2000 to 2023 to calculate the average cost per year.

This showed that house prices are at an all time high in America at $516,500 on average taken from 2023 FRED data [8] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS. That's a 151.5% increase from property prices in 2000.

House Prices From 2000 to 2023
Year Average house price ($)
2000 $205,375
2001 $211,050
2002 $226,700
2003 $244,550
2004 $272,125
2005 $291,275
2006 $303,900
2007 $309,800
2008 $289,075
2009 $269,350
2010 $272,025
2011 $264,600
2012 $288,225
2013 $321,650
2014 $345,450
2015 $350,450
2016 $359,650
2017 $381,150
2018 $382,475
2019 $379,875
2020 $389,800
2021 $457,375
2022 $514,100
2023* $516,500

*Based on data up to April 2023

Average realtor costs in America

The investigation found that the average realtor commission in America per transaction (based on available data for 2023) is $26,492.98.That’s an increase of $15,361.65 from 2000.

To calculate this figure the study took the average house price of $516,500 [9] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS and multiplied it by the average commission rate of 5.13%. [10] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/

Keen to understand how realtor fees have changed over time the analysis looked at average commission rate data [11] https://www.realtrends.com/articles/average-annual-real-estate-commission-rate-rises-slightly-in-2021/ and average house price data [12] https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ from 2000 to 2023. This showed that both house prices and realtor fees are at an all time high.

Commission rates have increased steadily since 2020, but haven’t reached the heights of 5.42% seen back in 2000. In fact, average state-wide commission rates for 2023 sit at 5.13%, higher than 2021’s 5.06% but lower than 5.32% in 2022. This data was sourced from Clever [13] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/ as this was not available on Real Trends. Clever is a low price commission agency. Their data on commission rates is based on a survey of 630 of their partner agents, in which they were to indicate the typical rates for both buyer's and seller's agents in their area.

Average realtor costs over time

Year Average house price ($) Average commission rate Average realtor cost per transaction
2000 $205,375.00 5.42% $11,131.33
2001 $211,050.00 5.12% $10,805.76
2002 $226,700.00 5.14% $11,652.38
2003 $244,550.00 5.12% $12,520.96
2004 $272,125.00 5.08% $13,823.95
2005 $291,275.00 5.02% $14,622.01
2006 $303,900.00 5.18% $15,742.02
2007 $309,800.00 5.28% $16,357.44
2008 $289,075.00 5.34% $15,436.61
2009 $269,350.00 5.38% $14,491.03
2010 $272,025.00 5.40% $14,689.35
2011 $264,600.00 5.30% $14,023.80
2012 $288,225.00 5.40% $15,564.15
2013 $321,650.00 5.38% $17,304.77
2014 $345,450.00 5.18% $17,894.31
2015 $350,450.00 5.26% $18,433.67
2016 $359,650.00 5.12% $18,414.08
2017 $381,150.00 5.08% $19,362.42
2018 $382,475.00 5.03% $19,238.49
2019 $379,875.00 4.96% $18,841.80
2020 $389,800.00 4.94% $19,256.12
2021 $457,375.00 5.06% $23,143.18
2022 $514,100.00 5.32% $27,350.12
2023 $516,500.00 5.13% $26,492.98

In which states do realtors earn the most commission?

Analyzing the average property value per state [14] https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ against average commission rates per state from Clever [15] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/, it was found that the average home sale will cost $18,650 in realtor fees (5.37%), with the buyer and seller typically splitting the cost - costing them each $9,325 in fees. According to Bankrate [16] https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/realtor-fees/ the exact terms of an agent's commission vary from sale to sale, and can depend on the region and which firm they work for.

Avg. house price ($) Avg. real estate commission rate Avg. realtor cost ($)

* Due to insufficient data, Clever stated that the commission rates in these states were inferred from regional averages.

Realtors in Hawaii were found to earn the most per transaction ($44,576), with the average home valued at $893,309 in 2023.

Behind Hawaii, realtors in California are the second-highest earners, with the average sale earning realtors a combined $34,464 in commission.

Rounding off the top 5 most expensive states for realtor fees are the Ditrict of Columbia ($34,431), Washington ($29,362) and Colorado ($28,469).

In comparison to the likes of Hawaii, realtors in West Virginia make a combined fee of just $8,954 per home transaction, the lowest in any state. With realtors in Mississippi ($10,088) and Oklahoma ($10,999) rounding off the “lowest” realtor fees by state.

Research from Clever [17] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/ shows that the average commission rate across America is 5.13%. Realtors in Ohio were shown to have the highest commission rate at 5.81%, averaging $12,006 per transaction. Georgia came in 2nd place at 5.76%, followed by Missouri at 5.72%.

At the other end of the scale Massachusetts was found to have the lowest commission rate at 4.85% with the average commission coming to $27,058. California (4.91%) and the District of Columbia (4.96%) were also shown to be the states with the lowest commission rates in the U.S.

Methodology

To understand the cost of realtors across the U.S. the study analyzed average realtor commission rates against home value data to provide an insight into the average cost to both buyers and sellers when buying and selling a home.

Overall average realtor costs

Average commission rates were sourced from data compiled by Real Trends [18] https://www.realtrends.com/articles/average-annual-real-estate-commission-rate-rises-slightly-in-2021/, these percentages were then processed against annual average home values according to FRED [19] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS, providing a total commission value across America. 

Average state-level commission rates fo 2022/23 was taken from Clever [20] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/ where it wasn’t available on Real Trends. House price data reflects Q1 2023 as this was the latest available at the time of reporting.

State-wide average realtor costs

State-wide commission rates were sourced from Clever, [21] https://listwithclever.com/average-real-estate-commission-rate/ those percentages were then processed against annual average home values according to Zillow [22] https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ to provide the average realtor cost per state.

Due to insufficient data, Clever stated that commission rates in some states were inferred from regional averages. We have included those states below:

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arkansas
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico
  • North Dakota
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Rhode Island
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

The dataset used was based on a 3-bedroom house. A 3-bedroom house was chosen as data from the U.S. Census Bureau [23] https://data.census.gov/table?tid=ACSDP5Y2020.DP04&hidePreview=true estimates that 39.3 percent of all occupied housing units had three bedrooms in 2020, the highest of all households analyzed.

Data is correct as of 26th July 2023.

Sources

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Related Articles

You are leaving Self Close
Self Financial, Inc. and the issuer(s) of the Credit Builder Account and Secured Credit Card make no representation concerning and is not responsible for the quality, content, nature, or reliability of any hyperlinked site and is providing this hyperlink to you only as a convenience. The inclusion of any hyperlink does not imply any endorsement, investigation, verification or monitoring by Self Financial, Inc and the issuer(s) of the Credit Builder Account and Secured Credit Card of any information in any hyperlinked site. In no event shall Self Financial, Inc. or the issuer(s) of the Credit Builder Account and Secured Credit Card be responsible for your use of a hyperlinked site.