Sales and Related · Holland code ECS

Insurance Sales Agents

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 called: Insurance Agent, Insurance Broker, Sales Agent, Sales Representative, Insurance Sales Agent, Sales Associate, Underwriting Sales Representative.

O*NET 41-3021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $62,280; Middle half earn $46,870 to $96,950. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 39% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +4% · As fast as average; 568,800 jobs in 2024, projected 589,800. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Insurance sales agents".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks.
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.
Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans.
Perform administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling policy renewals.
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.
Confer with clients to obtain and provide information when claims are made on a policy.
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.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Writing3.6 / 5
Mathematics3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.7 / 5
Sales and Marketing4.6 / 5
English Language4.1 / 5
Mathematics3.6 / 5
Law and Government3.5 / 5
Transportation3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic0
Investigative21
Artistic2
Social45
Enterprising83
Conventional74

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

insurance broker · DE Versicherungsmakler/Versicherungsmaklerin · FR courtier en assurances/courtière en assurances

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Insurance underwriters (3532)37,600 employed
Collector salespersons and credit agents (7121)5,100 employed
Sales related occupations n.e.c. (7129)64,900 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “保険営業職業従事者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥291,000; Middle half earn ¥217,500 to ¥425,900 a month.
Workers in the category: 247,610; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.34. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (41-3021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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