Real Estate Agent.
Raleigh.
$59,000
median salary, 2% below the national average
$40,000 to $91,000. Updated for 2026.
The numbers.
Everything you need to negotiate with confidence.
Raleigh is 1% cheaper than the national average. For Real Estate Agents, that shakes out to a median of $59,000, with the full range spanning $40,000 to $91,000. Market location and personal transaction volume create enormous salary variance. Know the range before you walk in.
Salary range
Tap to place your salary
How Raleigh compares
Raleigh, NC
$59,000
Cost of living: 1% below average
National Average
$60,000
Raleigh is $1,000 below
What you should know
Here is what the Real Estate Agent market actually looks like in Raleigh. Raleigh sits at the heart of the Research Triangle, one of America's premier tech and life sciences corridors. Cisco, Red Hat, Epic Games, and numerous biotech firms drive strong demand for engineering, research, and product roles. The combination of top tier universities and moderate living costs creates an exceptionally favorable salary to expense ratio. Market location and personal transaction volume create enormous salary variance. Agents in high-value markets like San Francisco, New York, or Miami earn substantially more per deal. Top-producing agents closing 20 or more transactions annually can earn multiples of the median, while part-time agents may earn below minimum wage.
New agents typically earn $25,000 to $45,000 in their first year. Established agents with a referral network earn $60,000 to $100,000. Top producers consistently earn $120,000 to $250,000. Team leaders and broker-owners can exceed $300,000, though with significant business overhead. In Raleigh, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Most agents are independent contractors earning 100% commission with no base salary. The listed figures reflect typical gross commission income. Agents pay their own health insurance, self-employment taxes, MLS fees, marketing costs, and brokerage splits of 20 to 50%. And on the tax side: north Carolina's flat 4.5% income tax keeps the burden low. Raleigh has no city income tax, and the Triangle's affordable housing amplifies your take home purchasing power. When someone quotes you $59,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Cite Research Triangle talent competition in your negotiation. Employers here compete directly with each other and with remote offers, creating favorable leverage for candidates. The range for Real Estate Agents in Raleigh runs from $40,000 to $91,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Top industries in Raleigh
Negotiating in Raleigh
Cite Research Triangle talent competition in your negotiation. Employers here compete directly with each other and with remote offers, creating favorable leverage for candidates.