Insurance Sales Agents
SOC 41-3021 · 2024-2034
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.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $76,814per year
- Projected openings
- 37,500
- Projected change
- +0.6%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Persuasion
- Writing
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $91,034 | 310 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $89,903 | 2,240 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $82,363 | 390 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $77,731 | 240 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $77,373 | 210 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $75,820 | 2,400 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $72,373 | 2,740 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $72,195 | 7,930 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $67,404 | 3,870 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $65,972 | 130 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $65,942 | 630 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $64,216 | 4,150 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $63,079 | 1,160 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $62,547 | 130 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $62,271 | 900 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $61,739 | 190 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $61,719 | 60 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $61,606 | 190 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $60,574 | 130 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $60,492 | 160 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $60,492 | 270 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $60,298 | 150 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $56,719 | 220 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $55,962 | 3,420 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $53,171 | 100 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $52,741 | 180 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $50,277 | 110 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $49,530 | 310 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $48,845 | 90 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $48,498 | 280 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $47,894 | 280 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $38,911
- A quarter earn under
- $49,820
- Half earn under
- $76,814
- Three quarters earn under
- $105,815
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $166,937
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | $81,587 | 164,660 | +4.7% |
| Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks | $58,144 | 18,100 | -6.3% |
| Personal Financial Advisors | $132,516 | 28,210 | +9.4% |
| Customer Service Representatives | $50,733 | 219,040 | -5.6% |
| Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents | $80,456 | 41,030 | -1% |
| Insurance Underwriters | $96,919 | 4,030 | -6% |
Programs that train for this job — 1
Sales Operations Science
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension · Santa Clara · $3,820