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Real Estate: NAICS 531

About the Real Estate subsector

The real estate subsector is part of the real estate and rental and leasing sector.

Industries in the Real Estate subsector group establishments that are primarily engaged in renting or leasing real estate to others; managing real estate for others; selling, buying, or renting real estate for others; and providing other real estate related services, such as appraisal services.

This subsector includes equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that are primarily engaged in leasing buildings, dwellings, or other real estate property to others.

North American Industry Classification System

The real estate subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Lessors of Real Estate: NAICS 5311
  • Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers: NAICS 5312
  • Activities Related to Real Estate: NAICS 5313

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in real estate. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

1,868.9 1,872.8 (p)1,876.4 (p)1,879.7

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees

1,365.0 1,376.5 (p)1,351.8  

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.5% 4.0% 3.1% 3.1%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

51,300

General and operations managers

74,590

Landscaping and groundskeeping workers

27,850

Office clerks, general

100,050

Property, real estate, and community association managers

208,620

Real estate brokers

48,060

Real estate sales agents

157,150

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for real estate.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in real estate.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$34.63 $34.42 $34.60 (p)$34.79

Average weekly hours

36.1 35.5 35.5 (p)35.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$28.66 $28.49 $28.74 (p)$28.94

Average weekly hours

35.5 35.0 35.1 (p)35.1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

$22.26 $23.30 $46,300 $48,470

General and operations managers

$44.45 $56.72 $92,460 $117,970

Landscaping and groundskeeping workers

$16.61 $17.39 $34,560 $36,170

Office clerks, general

$18.03 $19.31 $37,500 $40,170

Property, real estate, and community association managers

$28.52 $33.26 $59,330 $69,180

Real estate brokers

$29.13 $43.81 $60,590 $91,120

Real estate sales agents

$23.05 $28.86 $47,950 $60,030

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in real estate. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

64 57 58 61

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

1.8

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

1.2

Cases involving days away from work

0.9

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.3

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in real estate.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

421,728 (p)422,304 (p)424,805 (p)429,992

Local government

1,707 (p)1,707 (p)1,704 (p)1,707

State government

31 (p)36 (p)38 (p)38

Federal government

1 (p)1 (p)1 (p)1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024