Compensation

Overview

The real estate industry attracts individuals with entrepreneurial attitudes who view challenges as opportunities and hard work as a requisite for advancement and success. The ever-changing nature of the real estate industry has and continues to create employment and career possibilities for those committed to continuous improvement, performance excellence, and the highest quality and level of service to customers. Individuals entering or advancing within the real estate industry have a wider range of job prospects than ever before.

Cash compensation (the combined annual base salary and incentive bonus) for those entering the business is contingent upon several factors including, but not limited to:

Geographic location
Experience
Educational level
Achievement of one or more professional credentials
The position and primary job responsibilities
The industry sector and employer

In addition to base salary and the potential for an annual incentive bonus, real estate management professionals often have access to a wide range of other benefits. These may include:

Participation in equity ownership of real estate or company ownership
Housing allowance (occasionally provided to on-site multifamily property managers)
Health care benefits
Participation in professional associations
Pension and 401(k) plans
Flextime

Compensation data

There are several sources of compensation data for the real estate management industry.
Three of these sources are:

IREM ARM and CPM profile and compensation study
IREM, which performs profile and compensation studies of its members every three years.

IREM - Average compensation of ARM members by years of experience

Years of experience	Salary	Total compensation
Less than 5	$52,220	$57,480
6-10	$76,943	$81,808
11-15	$83,568	$94,138
16-20	$86,247	$94,839
20+	$122,087	$141,470

Source: Institute of Real Estate Management
ARM Profile and Compensation Study, 2024 Edition

IREM – Average compensation of CPM members by years of experience

Years of experience	Salary	Total compensation
Less than 5	$75,134	$101,534
6-10	$95,217	$113,598
11-15	$114,033	$131,858
16–20	$132,128	$163,619
20+	$153,707	$212,941

Source: Institute of Real Estate Management
CPM Profile and Compensation Study, 2024 Edition