Insurance Sales Agents

Moderate Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

49% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Critical thinking

Quite important
Why this matters
Weigh options using logic and evidence, spot weaknesses in arguments, and choose the best approach when there isn’t a single clear answer.
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Show 3 more strengths

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 275 votes

57% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 49% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Insurance Sales Agents will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Insurance Sales Agents was $60,370 ($29 per hour).

The median annual wage for Insurance Sales Agents was 22.0% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Insurance Sales Agents' job openings is expected to rise 3.7% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 469,480 people employed as 'Insurance Sales Agents' within the United States.

This represents around 0.30% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 328 people are employed as 'Insurance Sales Agents'.

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What people are saying (25)

Leave a comment
x (Low)
15 Dec 2025 03:07
the thing about insurance is u can yes always buy online, but no one is gonna wake up today and say "let me buy insurance now". especially people who lack knowledge to financially educate themselves and actually provide service when crisis strikes.
Md Arafata
30 Sep 2025 12:45
Really interesting breakdown on the automation risks for insurance sales agents. The stats showing a 68-80% chance of automation highlight how much AI is reshaping the industry, but I agree with many of the comments here—trust, empathy, and personal guidance are tough to replace. While routine tasks may shift to AI, complex cases and client relationships still need a human touch.
Steve (No chance)
09 Aug 2025 05:15
You have to be licensed in the state your selling the insurance product
Nicolas Luksetich (Uncertain)
10 Sep 2024 12:49
There are certain details about commercial and private lines that require a humans touch. Most could be put together by AI though
Anonymous (Highly likely)
06 Feb 2024 14:21
I voted highly likely. The timeframe is 20 years, and AI tools are already highly advanced, and will continue to grow. Voice automation is a thing, and will improve to the point where you won't even know you're talking to AI bot. AI can contextualize the information. As for claims handling, I think that will be taken over by AI, which removes the need for an agent advocate. An AI can read through a policy and fully understand whether or not coverage exists for a claim. If there is a grey area of coverage, it can be sent to a legal department to reword the policy forms for future policies. Additionally, in grey area situations, the AI bot can calculate the risk of lawsuit, and risk of losing, risk of over all cost of denying and fighting a claim, vs settling with the insured - all in an instant.

As for the insurance agent, AI can easily understand and sell a product. One could argue that using AI will increase the risk of E&O. That may be true, but 1) AI will improve and the E&O risk will greatly decrease and 2) The cost to use AI, and pay the salary of one or a team of specialists to maintain the AI will save so much on employee salaries (AI +3-5 people can easily replace 100+ agent departments) that the cost for E&O deductibles and possible E&O premium increase is outweighed. 100 agents making $60k/year = $6,000,000 saved.
Steve
09 Aug 2025 05:17
You have to be a licensed in the state your conducting business in
Jeff (Moderate)
22 Jan 2024 17:56
This was a year ago, but as "training" we worked with an AI that pretended to be a customer. It was very rudimentary, but with the advances of AI we have seen in the last year I could see it learning what good sales agents do and replicate it. So within 10 years it could basically replicate what a standard agent does or possibly exceed them since it doesn't have feelings and will push the product harder than humans will.
Logan (Highly likely)
24 May 2023 18:11
The questions, at least in my country, asked by the insurance agents are the same. How much do you want when you die, is this amount enough for your future offspring, how much is enough to not burden your family, you should get X times your salary for this plan.

An AI can do the same. Key in custom values and voila, a carefully crafted plan will be ready for you. And it may even analyse existing clients and suggest the most suitable plan for you. If you feel unsure about their decision and have more spare cash, you can raise the premium and decide to insure more.
Antonio (Low)
06 Dec 2022 23:24
I voted for a small chance. However, as an agent, while what we do in a nutshell may be easy, you lose that human aspect. A robot will have no empathy. I have sold policies where I helped people get certain discounts that a robot wouldn't have done for them.

Also, yes, you can buy insurance online, but I can't tell you how many times I had to go fix a problem or amend a policy because someone did it online and did not fully understand what they were doing.
Jim
14 Jul 2021 14:20
As an Independent Agent, I have had people leave us and go to a "direct" company for a small savings. It's funny though, when they are involved in an accident or any other type of claim they will call me for help dealing with their company. There is not anyone advocating for them or getting them through the claim process. It is then they understand the need for an agent and usually come back. Claims are the product we sell. No claims, no need for an Agent or a company for that matter
Alejandro Lechere
23 Mar 2021 16:27
Esto tiene que ver mucho en donde se desarrolle la practica, en lugares donde la digitalizacion sea cultural, va a avanzar. Hay que ver como impacta en la decision de los clientes, lo que se contrata es algo intangible y es un servicio a futuro a cumplir el contrato. Por lo que la base puntual de esto es la confianza, la solidez de la empresa(imagen), pero lo sociocultural tiene que ver, la infraestructura de cada pais, tambien, si bien puede avanzar en paises desarrollados, puede que tenga trabas por otro lados. La globalizacion genera cambios de por si, pero su entorno juega en contra. Si bien la calidad de servicio personal generalmente es de mejor calidad, no por eso, va a ser mas rapida y eficiente. Creo que pueden ser mejores socios, pero a corto plazo, lo veo mas dificil que a largo. Si nos quedan 20 años, me quedo contento, con eso. Los que amamos dicha actividad, cuando las empresas en este caso de Argentina, dan un paso para lo virtual, se encuentran con muchos problemas. (El fraude es uno de los principales costos) como tambien el costo operartivo (comisiones estructura de las empresas), pero si la ecuacion es bajar el costo, y esto hace subir los fraudes, no veo la ventaja.
Bobby G (Low)
06 Aug 2020 14:22
People can buy any type of insurance without an agent now. And yet, agents still make a living. Unless companies no longer employ or accept applications from agents, there will still be sales by agents
Keith
02 Apr 2020 18:06
There will always be top companies willing to commission a good insurance broker. The companies that hire on salary and our captive are the ones who make the shift. These companies know good sales people drive revenue. We can use quote tech and other tech to service more people. AI will never sale as fast as a person because? There is zero emotion. As long as you have the ability to get a license, use tech to your advantage, and buy leads you’re safe for decades.
Dr. Yo (No chance)
09 Mar 2020 18:21
You cannot sell life insurance on advertisement, it creates anti-selection. Mostly those who are more likely to die will respond to the sales pitch. The sales PERSON should convince someone who absolutely don't need this product and will never use it for themselves to buy it - then it becomes profitable. The process is too emotional to outsource it to AI.
Luiz Antonio (No chance)
02 Jan 2020 12:52
I voted 'no chance' because insurance sales are very personal and based on trust. The A.I. can have all the technical knowledge to do this. But it can't physically meet with clients, take them to dinner, understand their personal problems, and earn their trust. Although i believe A.I. will help increase insurance sales in the next two decades.
Bobby G
06 Aug 2020 14:20
There are those people (Group 1) who can understand things by reading and doing for themselves and there are people (Group 2) who hate reading or who read stuff and become more confused or still cannot use what they've read to make a decision. AI will not be able to help many in the 2nd group, so therefore, these people will need someone to explain it to them. Currently, anyone can get any type of insurance on their own, either by using the internet or calling directly to the company and use the company's in house agent. And yet, independent agents are still able to make a living. So, therefore, unless agents will no longer be employed and companies only employ AI, agents, especially independent agents, will still exist. So, Luiz, there will be some loss of Group 2 to AI (maybe 25%), you are partially correct
Swifty
18 Oct 2019 18:07
Auto, Home, and Travel insurance is already being automated now in Poland. The Polish company LINK4 is already doing it. https://www.link4.pl/o-link4/about-link4 And like another has said referring to Amazon, all Amazon has to do is optimize Alexa so she can talk back to you and ask you all the questions needed to properly underwrite and sell you your policy. Another company to take a look at is Spixii https://www.spixii.com/infobot
Billy Johnson (Low)
07 Aug 2019 17:43
Robots won't be bright enough to go through the nuances of a specific and unique risk like insurance is. Perhaps for something simple like auto insurance but not for home, business, life, health, etc that is far more personalized to each person walking through the door.
Chris Duncan
23 Jun 2019 17:14
Where insurance is a commodity with more standardized coverages (BOP, Work Comp, Life, retail property, auto) for personal lines and small commercial, the disintermediation of insurance agents and brokers is already happening in the insurtech world. However, for complex risks and custom insurance for large companies (complex property, liability, product liability, D&O, even "advisor" driven complex decisions like health insurance), it'll be a while. So, rapid change in internet enabled sales and service of routine solutions, but more custom work, still needs advisors.
Bill Purmort
01 Apr 2019 14:19
The world of risk transfer will continue to be very complex and a artificial replacement may add to the transaction but will never replace it
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Insurance Broker
26 Apr 2019 05:58
Until it does - look at these online insurer's and brokers. Policy Genius in the US offers quotes across many P&C and Life companies already. As a client who has unlimited access to information and reviews online, I can spend an hour's time myself comparing 10+ different companies from my couch and never have to step into an insurance office (which face it is extremely dull no matter who you are). Big players like TD are disrupting the market in Canada with their self serve online P&C products and another of the big ones in Canada, The Co-operators, is pushing their group plans which are completely self serve and offer steep discounts compared to their regular products (I've seen less than half price). Which they can do because they cut out the middle man. Amazon has also been speculated to start dabbling in the insurance business. Bezos is a conqueror and once he comes for you, it is only a matter of time. When companies stand to save millions of dollars per year, it will happen. And it will happen quicker than you think.
Bryan Cryznski
07 Aug 2019 17:46
You're acting like you're smart enough to pick coverage for yourself. Never has there been an industry where people know less than insurance. It's people like you who think you can do it from your couch that are always crying when they have a loss because they chose cheap over adequate coverage on the internet and you'll be complaining to a robot/call center that doesn't care.
Ryan
28 Jan 2020 23:26
"Never has there been an industry where people know less than insurance." Bold statement there, Bryan. I'd hazard to say that the medical field, in many instances, are far and away more complicated and 'less known' than insurance. But, sure. Let's work with that premise. Have you worked with AI and algorithms and machine learning before? I can tell you that personal insurance, with as many different factors that there can be, there certainly are solutions for all of the coverage requirements and options. If an insurance company can build in redundancy-proof errors, it wouldn't be a stretch at all to implement those redundancy-proofs to an online, automated, customer-driven platform to purchase insurance. As soon as a client enters their license number, we can extract their license history, claims history, insurance history and conviction history. AI could easily take out the important information and calculate accordingly. Who cares if they choose the insurance that isn't the best for them? Is that your personal responsibility to worry about what everyone chooses for every aspect of their life? Caveat emptor. Google it. Read it. Understand it. There are many, many industries that take advantage of general ignorance. You've made a straw man argument that does not stand up to actual scrutiny. Brokers are on the way out. It is a matter of time, not opinion.
Ryan M.
12 Dec 2020 01:54
"Brokers are on the way out. It is a matter of time, not opinion." Bold statement there, Ryan. You've identified real threats to a broker's career choice without proving the certainty of your conclusion. I believe a decent term for someone who emphatically predicts the future without appropriate evidence is "fraud". AI will be a viable option for purchasing insurance, and so will brokers. Who will win out? I don't know, but it's a very big space with more than enough room for robots and humans alike.
Bobby G
06 Aug 2020 14:27
"Your Friendly Neighbourhood Insurance Broker says When companies stand to save millions of dollars per year, it will happen". As if AI doesn't cost money to program. And the changes in prices and regulations have to be programmed in every year. The savings won't be that much. This is not a repetitive procedure like building a car. I think you are oversimplifying the sale of insurance. With competing products, people need to understand or some want someone to simplify it and tell them what is best for them. AI cannot do that.
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Job description

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.

O*NET-SOC code: 41-3021.00