Insurance-agent pay often mixes commissions and service time. Everhour keeps billable and non-billable hours visible.
Find the right rate based on your annual expenses, desired profit margin, and available billable hours. Stop guessing.
Rent, software, gear, salary
Time lost to admin, marketing, etc.
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
An hourly-rate calculation gives an insurance agent a minimum price for time that does not fit neatly into a carrier commission. That includes policy reviews, employer benefit meetings, renewal support, claims help, compliance work, and consulting outside a standard producer agreement. The rate should cover target income, overhead, self-funded benefits, and tax reserves before you divide by realistic billable hours.
BLS reported a May 2024 median wage of $29.02 per hour for insurance sales agents under SOC 41-3021. Use that as an employee-wage benchmark, not as an independent-agent billing rate. BLS wage data excludes self-employed workers and unincorporated owners or partners, while independent agents absorb licensing, continuing education, business insurance, lead generation, software, and unpaid sales administration.
The core formula is `(target income + overhead + benefits substitute + tax reserve) / billable hours`. For a self-employed U.S. agent, the tax reserve must account for Schedule C profit, Schedule SE self-employment tax, and quarterly estimated taxes. For 2026, self-employment tax applies at 15.3% on 92.35% of net self-employment earnings, with the 12.4% Social Security portion limited by the $184,500 wage base.
For example, an independent property and casualty agent wants $95,000 of income, expects $18,000 for licensing, continuing education, E&O coverage, software, and lead generation, adds $12,000 for self-funded benefits, and reserves $25,000 for federal tax payments. If 1,200 hours are realistically billable after prospecting, renewals, carrier service work, and administration, the required hourly rate is $125.00.
Insurance-agent pricing often starts with commission, so the hourly calculation works as a back-out test. A Medicare Advantage producer in most states faces a 2026 national maximum broker compensation cap of $694 for an initial enrollment and $347 for renewal compensation. A standalone Medicare Part D plan has 2026 caps of $114 initial and $57 renewal.
Those caps make time tracking useful even when the client never sees an hourly invoice. A $347 renewal that requires 5 hours of annual review, documentation, client follow-up, and carrier communication produces $69.40 per hour before overhead and taxes. The same renewal stretched across 9 hours produces $38.56 per hour. That difference shows which service patterns need tighter scope, better delegation, or different client mix.
Billable hours should exclude time spent prospecting, studying carrier changes, completing CE, updating CRM records, reconciling commissions, and handling unpaid agency administration. Upwork's rate-setting guidance uses a 60% billable and 40% non-billable split as an average freelance baseline. That split fits insurance work better than assuming every desk hour becomes paid production time.
State licensing also affects the rate floor. Insurance agents must be licensed in the states where they work, with separate licenses typically required for life and health insurance versus property and casualty insurance. NAIC Uniform Licensing Standards call for 24 continuing-education credits every two years, including 3 ethics credits, with 50 minutes equaling one CE credit hour. Those hours belong in the non-billable side of the model.
A one-off hourly calculation is enough when you need to quote a consulting block, test whether a commission product pays for the time involved, or set a minimum rate for service work. Keep the inputs simple: target income, overhead, benefits substitute, tax reserve, and billable hours. Recalculate after a major carrier mix, lead-cost, or licensing change.
A managed workflow becomes necessary when several agents handle renewals, service tasks, client meetings, and internal administration. Everhour can separate billable and non-billable time through project billing status, task-level non-billable controls, custom task rates, member-rate exceptions, and reports for billable time, non-billable time, billable amount, and cost. That gives agency owners a clearer view of which accounts pay for the service time they consume.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Start with the BLS May 2024 median wage of $29.02 per hour for insurance sales agents, then adjust upward for independent-agent costs. That wage benchmark covers employees in nonfarm establishments and excludes self-employed workers, unincorporated owners, and partners. Independent producers need a separate cost-plus rate because they carry licensing, marketing, benefits, taxes, and non-billable service time.
Commissions should be tested against the hours required to earn and service them. Divide the commission by prospecting, enrollment, renewal, documentation, and client-service hours tied to that sale or account. A commission that looks attractive on paper can fall below your target hourly rate once annual service calls, carrier follow-up, and renewal work are included.
Include ordinary and necessary business expenses such as licensing, continuing education, business insurance, software, lead generation, marketing, advertising, and administrative support. Add a benefits substitute if you pay your own health coverage, retirement contributions, or paid time off. Add a tax reserve for federal income tax and 2026 self-employment tax before dividing by billable hours.
Medicare commission caps change the revenue ceiling for certain products, so they make the hourly back-out more important. For 2026 Medicare Advantage sales in most states, the national maximum broker compensation is $694 for an initial enrollment and $347 for renewal compensation. Standalone Medicare Part D caps are $114 initial and $57 renewal.
Licensing and continuing education time should usually sit outside billable hours because clients rarely pay for that time directly. NAIC Uniform Licensing Standards call for 24 continuing-education credits every two years, including 3 ethics credits. Treat that time as overhead that the rate must recover across productive client work, renewals, and paid consulting.
Everhour supports project billing status, task-level non-billable controls, custom task rates, and member-rate exceptions, so an agency can separate paid consulting, renewal service, prospecting, and administration. Admin reports can show billable time, non-billable time, billable amount, and cost by member or task.
Track service work, renewals, and administration separately. Everhour turns billable and non-billable insurance-agent time into reports that show where agency hours produce revenue.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
