Salaries, Total Income Jump Again in 2024 But Satisfaction Continues to Decline

By Andrea Wells

Insurance agency owners, producers, and support staff on average made more money in 2024, but for two years in a row, satisfaction with their compensation declined, according to the latest Agency Salary Survey, published annually by Insurance Journal.

Changes in overall salary and total income rose again in all categories in 2024. Management/agency owners/principals and producers/sales both saw large increases in total income change from 2023 to 2024, while the support staff/CSR/account executives category revealed a slight increase in total income change compared to the previous year. (See chart on page 21.)

Surprisingly, satisfaction with compensation declined for the second year even though salaries and total income rose on average in all three categories.

Satisfaction with compensation fell in this year’s survey to an average of 3.27 (2024) from 3.36 (2023) last year. This is a steady decline in the average satisfaction index scores of 2022 (3.61) and 2021 (3.41) Note: The Agency Compensation Satisfaction Index is based on a scale of 1-to-5 where “5” equals “most satisfied.” (See Agency Compensation Satisfaction Index chart, page 21.)

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Management/agency owners/agency principals reported a compensation satisfaction score of 3.76 in 2024, down slightly from 3.76 in 2023.

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Producers/sales reported satisfaction of 2.96 in 2024, down from 3.12 in 2023.

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Support staff/CSR/account executives reported a satisfaction score of 3.08 in 2024, down from 3.16 in 2023.

The score for overall satisfaction was higher when agencies offered employee benefits–both hard benefits (such as group health, life/disability, dental, profit sharing, 401(k) plans, ESOPs, IRAs, and flexible savings accounts) and soft benefits (such as child care/day care, education reimbursement, pet insurance, and paid family leave). (See Employee Benefit Satisfaction Index, page 24.)

Employee benefit satisfaction ranked highest when agencies offered added benefits such as child care/day care (3.8), education reimbursement (3.76), profit sharing (3.76), stock options (3.62), and paid family leave (3.59). The survey found that in nearly all employee benefit categories queried, employees showed more satisfaction with overall compensation when those benefits were offered. The one exception this year was a slight decline in satisfaction when offered pension plans, perhaps due to limited options of this benefit.

As noted, the survey revealed an upward trend in total compensation for all agency positions this year. Producers/sales positions saw the highest increases in total compensation, according to this year’s survey.

The 2025 Agency Salary Survey, based on more than 500 responses nationwide, revealed that total income changes, which includes salary plus additional compensation such as profit sharing, bonuses, and other income, were:

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Agency owners, principals, and management total income increased 17.9% for 2024, compared to a 16.1% increase in total income in 2023.

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Producers/sales total income increased the most in 2024 to 20.8%, compared to a 12.6% increase in 2023.

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Agency support staff total income showed a 11.3% increase for 2024, compared to a 9.6% increase for 2023.

Salaries only (excluding bonus and incentive income), also rose again in 2024, and at a higher rate than the previous year, according to this year’s survey results:

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Salaries for agency owners, principals, and management rose 15.8% in 2024, compared to 13.8% in 2023.

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Producers/sales reported average increases in salary of 17.9% in 2024, compared to 11.9% in 2023.

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Salaries for agency support staff rose 11.0% in 2024, compared to 8.0% in 2023.

Insurance Journal’s Agency Salary Survey collected about 500 responses from agency owners and employees nationwide via an online survey in January 2025. Paul Osbourne, senior analyst at Demotech Inc., assisted with analysis of this year’s survey results. For more information, contact Andrea Wells at: awells@insurance

journal.com.

Topics
Trends
Profit Loss
Talent