Real Estate Commission Calculator
Enter a sale price and rate to see the listing agent's and buyer's agent's cut. Want the full picture of what you'd actually walk away with? Try the net proceeds calculator.
Listing and buyer rates are entered separately because they are negotiated separately. There is no fixed or standard rate; these prefills are averages for planning only. Your tally saves in this browser.
Agent, realtor, or broker commission: the same calculator
People search for this a dozen different ways and they all want one number. Whether you came looking for a real estate agent commission calculator, a realtor commission calculator, a broker commission calculator, or you just want to check what an agent's cut works out to on a given sale price, this is it. Free, instant, no signup.
The calculator above splits the total between the listing side and the buyer's side, because those two rates are negotiated separately now. Two related questions have their own pages: the split between an agent and their brokerage is a different calculation and lives on the commission split calculator, and current realtor commission rates state by state are on average commission by state. If what you actually want is the total cost of selling rather than the commission alone, real estate agent fees covers what else comes out at closing.
How real estate commission works
When a home sells, the commission is a percentage of the sale price, and it typically pays two agents: the listing agent (who represents the seller) and the buyer's agent (who represents the buyer). Since the August 2024 NAR settlement, those two rates are negotiated separately rather than being locked into one bundled "total commission" split on an MLS field, so it's worth knowing both numbers, not just the total.
What's a typical rate
As of a February 2026 survey of 533 agents (Clever Real Estate, cross-checked against Zillow and St. Louis Fed data), the national average total commission is 5.70% of the sale price: about 2.88% to the listing agent and 2.82% to the buyer's agent. Rates vary by state from 4.50% (Washington DC) up to 6.20% (Michigan), and by market, property, and how much negotiating either side does. None of this is set by law or by any MLS. It's always a negotiated number between you and your agent.
Worked example
On a $400,000 home sale at the national average rates:
| Item | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Listing agent | 2.88% | $11,520 |
| Buyer's agent | 2.82% | $11,280 |
| Total commission | 5.70% | $22,800 |
How to calculate real estate commission
The math is one line, and it is worth knowing so you can check any number an agent or a closing statement hands you.
Commission = sale price × commission rate
At the 5.70% national average, a $400,000 sale works out to 400,000 × 0.057 = $22,800. That is the total, and it is then divided between the two sides.
If you want to work out one side only, use that side's rate instead of the total. The listing side at 2.88% on the same sale is 400,000 × 0.0288 = $11,520.
Three things trip people up here. The rate applies to the sale price, not the list price, so a home that sold under asking pays commission on what it actually sold for. The rate is a percentage of the whole price, not of your equity, so you owe the same commission whether the mortgage is paid off or not. And the two sides are now negotiated separately, so there is no single rate you can assume.
Commission at every price point
Here is what the national average works out to across a range of sale prices, with each side shown separately.
| Sale price | Listing agent (2.88%) | Buyer's agent (2.82%) | Total (5.70%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $2,880 | $2,820 | $5,700 |
| $200,000 | $5,760 | $5,640 | $11,400 |
| $300,000 | $8,640 | $8,460 | $17,100 |
| $400,000 | $11,520 | $11,280 | $22,800 |
| $500,000 | $14,400 | $14,100 | $28,500 |
| $600,000 | $17,280 | $16,920 | $34,200 |
| $750,000 | $21,600 | $21,150 | $42,750 |
| $1,000,000 | $28,800 | $28,200 | $57,000 |
Two things stand out. Commission scales in a straight line, so doubling the sale price doubles the commission with no discount for size, which is exactly why negotiating the rate matters more on expensive homes. And a single percentage point is worth real money: on a $500,000 sale, talking the total from 5.70% down to 4.70% saves $5,000.
Run your own number with the calculator above, or use the commission split calculator if the two sides are on different rates.
What the agent actually takes home
This is the part most commission articles skip, and it is the answer to "how much does an agent make on a sale".
The listing side's $11,520 on a $400,000 sale does not go to the agent. It goes to their brokerage, which then pays the agent an agreed share. Common splits run from 50/50 for a new agent to 90/10 or better for a top producer, and many brokerages also take a franchise fee off the top or charge a monthly desk fee instead.
| Agent/broker split | Agent receives | Brokerage keeps |
|---|---|---|
| 50/50 | $5,760 | $5,760 |
| 60/40 | $6,912 | $4,608 |
| 70/30 | $8,064 | $3,456 |
| 80/20 | $9,216 | $2,304 |
| 90/10 | $10,368 | $1,152 |
So an agent on a 70/30 split earns $8,064 of a $22,800 total commission, before taxes, before their own marketing and photography costs, and before the months of work on deals that never closed. They are self-employed, so there is no withholding and no employer benefits either.
None of this changes what a seller pays. It does explain why agents resist rate cuts harder than the headline percentage suggests, since a cut comes straight out of their share, not the brokerage's.
The guide to how splits work between agents and brokers goes through the fee structures in detail.
Who pays commission now
Before August 2024, a seller typically paid one bundled commission and the listing broker offered a share of it to whoever brought the buyer, advertised on the MLS. The NAR settlement ended that advertising practice.
What actually changed:
- Buyer's agent compensation can no longer be posted on the MLS.
- Buyers now sign a written agreement with their agent stating that agent's fee before touring homes.
- Sellers can still offer to cover the buyer's agent, and many do, but it is now a negotiated term of the deal rather than an assumption.
In practice most sales still end with the seller's proceeds covering both sides, because a buyer who has to pay their agent out of pocket has that much less for the down payment. The difference is that it is now explicitly on the table. The who pays realtor fees page covers how this plays out in an offer.
Commission isn't the whole picture
Commission is usually the biggest line item out of a home sale, but it's not the only one. Closing costs (title, escrow, transfer taxes), your remaining mortgage balance, and any concessions you offer the buyer all come out of the sale price too. If you want the full picture of what actually lands in your pocket, use the net proceeds calculator instead. It starts from the same commission math and subtracts everything else.
Frequently asked questions
- How much is real estate commission?
- Real estate commission averages 5.70% of the sale price nationally as of February 2026, split between the listing agent (about 2.88%) and the buyer’s agent (about 2.82%). Actual rates range from about 4.5% to 6.2% depending on the state and are always negotiable.
- Who pays the real estate commission?
- Traditionally the seller pays the full commission out of the sale proceeds, and the listing brokerage splits part of it with the buyer’s agent. Since the August 2024 NAR settlement changed how buyer-agent compensation is offered, buyers and sellers now negotiate that split more directly, and in some deals a buyer pays some or all of their own agent’s fee.
- Is real estate commission negotiable?
- Yes, always. Commission has never been fixed by law, and the NAR settlement specifically targeted the practice of automatically advertising a fixed buyer-agent rate on the MLS. You can negotiate the rate with your own agent and, separately, what (if anything) is offered to a buyer’s agent.
- What’s the difference between listing agent and buyer’s agent commission?
- The listing agent represents the seller and is paid for marketing the home, and the buyer’s agent represents the buyer and is paid for finding and showing homes. Since 2024 these are negotiated as two separate rates instead of one bundled total, which is why this calculator lets you set them independently.
- How do you calculate real estate commission?
- Multiply the sale price by the commission rate. At the 5.70% national average a $400,000 sale is 400,000 × 0.057 = $22,800 total, split about $11,520 to the listing agent and $11,280 to the buyer's agent. Use the sale price, not the list price.
- How much is commission on a $300,000 house?
- About $17,100 at the 5.70% national average, roughly $8,640 to the listing side and $8,460 to the buyer's side. Your state's typical rate may be higher or lower, so check the [average commission by state](/average-commission-by-state).
- How much does a real estate agent make per sale?
- Less than the commission suggests. On a $400,000 sale the listing side collects $11,520, but that goes to the brokerage first. On a common 70/30 split the agent receives $8,064 before taxes and their own expenses, and on a 50/50 split it is $5,760.
- What is a real estate commission calculator?
- A tool that turns a sale price and a commission rate into dollar amounts, so you can see what each side is paid instead of working with percentages. The calculator on this page also splits the total between the listing agent and the buyer's agent, since those rates are now negotiated separately.
- Does commission come out of my equity or the sale price?
- It is calculated on the sale price, but it is paid out of your proceeds at closing, so in practice it comes out of your equity. If you owe a lot on the mortgage, the commission is the same dollar figure but takes a much larger bite of what you walk away with. The [net proceeds calculator](/net-proceeds-calculator) shows the full picture.