The 2026 NAR Member Profile, covering 2025 activity, is the clearest published answer to the income question agents ask most: the typical REALTOR closed 9 transaction sides and earned a median gross income of $59,200, while agents with 16 or more years in the business earned a median of $88,500, and the median team closed 32 transaction sides with 4 members. Run those numbers at Crow Wing County's $342,000 median sale price, and 9 sides is roughly $77,000 in gross commission income before split and expenses while 32 sides is about $274,000. The difference is not working three times as hard. It is the lead engine, the training, the support, and the culture that sit behind a team, and this post breaks down exactly which of those actually move your income in central Minnesota.
I lead Elevate Group inside eXp Realty in the Brainerd Lakes Area, and I publish the honest numbers about this business, including the ones that do not flatter teams. A team is not automatically the right answer, and this post will tell you when it is not. But if your income is stuck at the median, the data says the bottleneck is usually not your effort. It is the system around you.
The Short Answer
A team changes four things that move income: where leads come from, how fast you follow up, who carries the support work, and whether you keep learning. NAR's 2026 Member Profile puts the typical solo Realtor at 9 transaction sides and $59,200 median gross income, and the median team at 32 sides with 4 members, about 8 sides per person. At Crow Wing County's $342,000 median, 9 sides is roughly $77,000 in gross commission income before split and expenses, and 32 sides is about $274,000. The honest caveats: a team only pays if its leads are real, exclusive, and followed up fast, the split math has to be written down, and a solo agent running a full system can beat the median alone. The numbers to demand in writing are the split after every fee, the lead volume and exclusivity, the training schedule, and the exit terms.
The 2026 income data agents should know cold
NAR's 2026 Member Profile, released June 25, 2026 and covering 2025 activity, is the industry's own snapshot of who earns what. The typical REALTOR closed 9 transaction sides in 2025 and earned a median gross income from real estate activities of $59,200, up from $58,100 the year before. Agents with 16 or more years in the business earned a median of $88,500, up from $78,900. For the first time, the survey separated individual and team data: the median team closed 32 transaction sides with 4 members, about 8 sides per person, and NAR reported growth in team-based business. The median solo agent's 9 sides is the number to build from, because it is the honest baseline for most of the profession.
Now put those sides on the local market. Crow Wing County's median sale price was $342,000 in August 2026, up 5.0% year over year. At a typical 2.5% commission per side, one side at the county median puts about $8,550 on the table before your split. Nine sides is roughly $77,000 in gross commission income, and 32 sides is about $274,000. Brainerd's median sold price of $399,900 in July makes the per-side number even larger, about $10,000. The spread between 9 and 32 sides is not a personality difference. It is a pipeline difference, and pipelines are buildable.
| NAR 2026 Member Profile metric | Published figure | At the $342K county median, before split |
| Typical Realtor, transaction sides | 9 sides (2025) | ~$77,000 GCI |
| Typical Realtor, median gross income | $59,200 (2025) | The honest baseline |
| Agents with 16+ years, median income | $88,500 (2025) | Experience compounds |
| Median team, transaction sides | 32 sides, 4 members | ~$274,000 GCI |
| One side at the county median | $342,000 x 2.5% | ~$8,550 per side |
What a team actually changes: the four income levers
A team does not change your license or your talent. It changes four levers that sit between you and your income, and each one is measurable.
1. Where the leads come from. The single biggest driver of the 9-versus-32 gap is pipeline. The team generates opportunities through its website and online home search, partnerships, open houses, referrals, and a growing team database, and follow-up and appointment support come with them. You are not handed a list and left alone. In a seasonal market like central Minnesota, a team pipeline is what keeps November and January from being empty months.
2. How fast you follow up. Speed to lead is the most underrated income lever in real estate. A shared workflow, follow-up structure, and automated systems mean a lead that comes in at 9 a.m. gets a response the same day, not three days later when it has gone cold. The agents who close 32 sides are not smarter; they are faster and more systematic.
3. Who carries the support work. Pricing, marketing, paperwork, follow-up, showings, transaction coordination: one person doing the work of five caps how many deals anyone can close. A team carries the support work so you spend your hours in front of clients, which is the only place income is actually created.
4. Whether you keep learning. Training never stops on a real team: onboarding, team sessions, skill practice, and market updates built for where you are right now. Listing presentations, negotiation, and pricing are skills that compound, and the agent who practices them weekly with teammates closes more than the agent who practices them never.
Culture is the fifth lever, and it is the one that decides whether the first four survive the winter. A team where agents help each other, wins are celebrated, and newcomers are mentored instead of ignored keeps you in the game through the slow months. Real estate can be a lonely business. The agents who stay in it, and compound income year after year, are usually the ones who are not alone.
The honest caveats: when a team does not pay
The data points to teams, but the data also has edges, and the honest answer includes them. Team leads typically cost 20 to 30 commission points against your own business, about $2,500 per closing at the Crow Wing County median, so the trade wins only when the leads are real, exclusive, and followed up fast. If the team hands you a shared list that ten other agents are calling, the trade quietly loses. If the split is 50% on paper but 35% after fees, marketing deductions, and desk fees, the trade loses again.
And solo genuinely makes sense for some agents. If you already run a full system, close 10 or more sides from your own sphere, and do not want to trade split for pipeline, stay solo. The median is beatable alone, and the top-agent data is mostly systems, not teams. The four numbers to demand in writing before you sign anything are: the split after every fee, the lead volume and exclusivity, the training and support schedule, and the exit terms. Every one of those should be on paper, and the Team Value Scorecard walks you through scoring a team across all 15 categories before you commit.
What to do with this before you talk to anyone
Run your own number first. The Agent Business Assessment scores your volume, leads, conversion, database, systems, and skill from 0 to 100 and names the real bottleneck. The income goal calculator works backward from the take-home you want to the conversations it takes, at roughly 25 conversations per closing. The team vs solo calculator models both paths with your real GCI, split, and expenses, and sometimes it tells you to stay put. Use all three before you ever talk to a team, including this one.
The Bottom Line
The data is published, not invented. NAR's 2026 Member Profile: 9 sides and $59,200 median income for the typical Realtor, $88,500 for 16-plus-year agents, and 32 sides for the median team of 4.
The local math is concrete. At Crow Wing County's $342,000 median, 9 sides is roughly $77,000 in GCI before split and expenses, and 32 sides is about $274,000. One side is about $8,550.
A team changes four levers, not your talent. Pipeline, speed to follow-up, support work, and ongoing training. Culture decides whether those survive the winter.
The caveats are real. A team only pays with real, exclusive leads and a written split. Run your own numbers first, and demand the four numbers in writing before you sign.
The deeper reads are already on this site: the deal-count breakdown behind the 9-versus-32 spread, the honest math of trading a split for leads, the questions to ask before joining any team, and the commission pool in the Brainerd Lakes market right now. If your own numbers point to a conversation about a team with a real pipeline, a confidential call costs you nothing and commits you to nothing, and the decision stays yours either way.
Noah Goedker
Team Leader, Elevate Group at eXp Realty
Noah Goedker is a third-generation real estate agent and lifelong resident of the Brainerd Lakes Area who leads Elevate Group inside eXp Realty. He publishes the sourced numbers about this business, including the ones that do not flatter teams, because agents who decide on real data make better decisions, and better decisions are better for everyone.