Quick Answer: According to Indeed, real estate agents in Texas earn an average of approximately $90,000 per year. Actual income varies by market, experience level, and transaction volume — agents in high-activity markets like Austin, Dallas, and Houston typically earn above the state average. Because real estate is commission-based, there's no earnings ceiling, but first-year agents should expect a ramp-up period before reaching consistent income.
A career in real estate can pay well in Texas, and it starts with earning your Texas real estate licenseTexas How To Get Texas Real Estate License Career Center, a step every agent completes before their first sale. How much you earn after that depends on factors you can actually influence, from the market you choose to how fast you build a referral pipeline.
Salary sources measure different things, which is why the numbers you'll find online don't always agree. Indeed's data, pulled from job postings, puts the national average salary for real estate agentsReal Estate Agent Salaries Career at $101,060 a year as of August 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which surveys employers directly rather than job listings, reports a considerably lower national median wageSales Real Estate Brokers And Sales Agents.htm Ooh of $52,830 for real estate sales agents as of May 2025. Both figures are accurate. Indeed's number reflects what employers advertise for the role, while the BLS median reflects reported earnings across the full range of agents, including many working part time.
Not every licensed agent is a Realtor. Realtors belong to the National Association of REALTORS® and agree to follow its Code of Ethics. NAR's 2026 Member Profile puts the median gross income for Realtors at $59,200 for 2025, up slightly from $58,100 the year before. Experience drives most of the gap: Realtors with 16 or more years in the business reported a median gross income of $88,500, while those in their first two years reported a median of just $8,000. That spread says less about a ceiling on real estate income and more about how long it takes to build the client base that drives it.
Unlike a salaried job, real estate commission in TexasTexas What Is The Commission For Real Estate Agents In Texas Career Center isn't fixed. It's negotiated between the seller and the listing brokerage, typically landing between 1 and 6 percent of the sale price. That commission is usually split between the listing and buyer's side, and each agent then takes their cut from their broker. Newer agents often start with a lower broker split than experienced agents with higher production.
Texas remains one of the stronger markets for real estate income nationally, and that holds true across more than just the biggest metros. Here's how average pay compares in a few Texas cities, based on Indeed's 2026 data, including a couple of markets that outperform expectations for reasons that have nothing to do with population size.
Agents in Austin report an average salary of $113,441 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries Austin TX Career, among the highest of any Texas metro. Austin's mix of downtown condos, relocation-driven demand, and single-family growth in the surrounding suburbs keeps transaction volume high.
Fort Worth agents report an average salary of $120,017 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries Fort Worth TX Career, actually higher than Austin and Dallas. Fort Worth's mix of established neighborhoods, new-construction suburbs, and steady relocation from across the Metroplex gives agents a wide base of transactions to build from.
Dallas agents average $105,159 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries Dallas TX Career. With a large, spread-out metro that includes fast-growing suburbs like Plano and Frisco, Dallas gives agents plenty of room to specialize by neighborhood or price point.
The Houston market averages $94,236 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries Houston TX Career for real estate agents. As the largest city in Texas, Houston covers everything from urban condos to sprawling suburban development, giving agents a wide range of niches to build a business around.
San Antonio agents average $87,535 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries San Antonio TX Career. The city continues to see steady population growth, and its lower cost of living relative to Austin or Dallas can make it an appealing market for agents just getting started.
Agents in Killeen average $121,490 a yearReal Estate Agent Salaries Killeen TX Career, the highest figure of any Texas city here. Killeen's earning potential isn't driven by population size the way Austin's or Houston's is. It's driven by Fort Cavazos, the Army post nearby that generates a steady stream of relocation sales year-round. It's a useful reminder that a city's real estate income can outpace much larger metros when the demand behind it is this consistent.
Other Texas suburbs are worth watching too. Places like Plano, McKinney, and Frisco continue to draw new residents and new construction, and agents working those markets often see many of the same advantages as Dallas proper with a smaller, more specialized client base to build around.
Averages are a starting point, not a ceiling. A few factors make the biggest difference in what an individual agent takes home:
There's no cap on what you can earn as a Texas real estate agent, and the first thing standing between you and your first paycheck is your license. AceableAgent's Texas pre-licensing courseTexas Real Estate License walks you through exactly what TREC requires, so you can focus on building your business once you're out in the field.
Start your course today.