Loan officer salary: average pay, commission, and earnings by state

Mortgage loan officers earn a median of $76,690 per year, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wage data from May 2025. Most collect a base salary plus commission on the loans they close, so individual income swings with loan volume and loan size rather than settling at one number. This guide walks through the loan officer salary picture across the country: the federal wage percentiles, how commission pay works, what first-year originators earn, how pay differs by employer, industry and state, and the license that stands between a candidate and their first commission.

Loan officer salary: what the federal data shows

The median annual wage for loan officers was $76,690 in May 2025, about $36.87 per hour, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook^[1]. The median is the midpoint: half of loan officers earned more and half earned less. The BLS counts mortgage loan officers in one occupation together with commercial and consumer loan officers, so every federal figure in this guide covers the whole group. Titles like lending officer, loan agent, and mortgage loan originator all land in the same wage data.

Source: CareerOneStop, U.S. Department of Labor^[2], reporting BLS wage estimates for May 2025.

For context, the median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980 in May 2025, and the median for financial specialists was $84,680, so loan officers sit between the two.

Private salary websites tell a different story on every page. Aggregator averages for mortgage loan originator pay range from below the federal 10th percentile to more than double the median, because some sites count base pay only while others blend in commissions and bonuses. The BLS median is the number to plan around.

Is an "AF pay chart" about loan officer pay?

No. An AF pay chart is a military pay table: the basic pay rates the Defense Finance and Accounting Service^[3] publishes for Air Force members. It has no connection to loan officer pay.

How loan officers get paid

Most loan officers earn a base salary plus commission on the loans they close, though some employers pay a flat salary and others pay commission only. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's explanation of loan officer pay^[4] describes the range: a lender can pay a salary, a fixed amount per loan, a fixed percentage of the loan amount, or a combination, and it can set minimums or maximums per loan. The fee or commission on a mortgage is usually paid either by the borrower or by the lender, and the same federal pay rules apply to mortgage brokers.

Federal regulation sets the boundaries every pay plan must respect. Under 12 CFR § 1026.36^[5], loan originator compensation cannot rise or fall with the terms of the loan, such as the interest rate, and a factor that works as a stand-in for a term counts the same way. An originator can be paid a fixed percentage of the loan amount, with dollar minimums or maximums attached. If the borrower pays the originator directly, no other party can pay that originator for the same transaction. The rule also bars steering a borrower toward a loan because it pays the originator more, unless that loan is in the borrower's interest.

How much does a loan officer make on a loan?

Per-loan pay is normally written as a percentage of the loan amount, subject to whatever minimum or maximum the employer sets, and originators at brokerages usually split their commission with the firm. Because percentages and splits live in individual pay plans rather than in any law or survey, the per-loan figure differs from one employer to the next.

What first-year loan officers make

First-year loan officers usually earn below the occupation's midpoint, because the first months go to licensing, training, and building a pipeline of borrowers instead of closing loans. Entry pay plans differ: some employers pay a straight salary while a new hire learns, and others pay a draw against future commissions that the originator repays out of closings.

New workers tend to land near the occupation's lower percentiles, the CareerOneStop profile^[2] notes, and no federal wage series breaks out a first-year average.

What changes loan officer pay: employer, industry and hours

Loan officer income moves with the employer's pay plan, the industry the officer works in, the volume of loans the officer closes, and the local market. Industry matters more than it sounds: automobile dealers paid loan officers the highest median wage among the largest industries, $106,000 in May 2025, compared with $79,570 in management of companies and enterprises and $76,070 in credit intermediation, the banking and mortgage channel that employs about 80% of loan officers, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook^[1].

Hours matter too. About half of loan officers work more than 40 hours per week, O*NET survey data^[6] shows, and on commission plans extra production converts directly into income.

Loan officer pay by state

Loan officer wages by state track home prices more than anything else, because commission is a percentage of loan amounts and loan amounts follow local prices. New York posts the highest wage in the comparison below, per BLS state wage estimates.

Sources: BLS OEWS, May 2023 national release^[7] | BLS OEWS May 2025 Texas estimates via FedSalary | BLS OEWS May 2025 New York estimates via FedSalary

A mean sits above a median when a share of very high earners pulls the average up, which is the pattern the Texas figures show. In the May 2023 federal wage release, the highest-paying areas were concentrated in the Northeast.

Does a loan officer need a license to get paid?

Yes. Federal law prohibits originating residential mortgage loans without a license or a federal registration, so the credential gates every dollar a loan officer earns. Under 12 U.S.C. § 5103^[8], an individual must obtain, and renew annually, either a registration (for employees of federally regulated banks and credit unions) or a state license and registration (for employees of non-bank lenders and brokers), plus a unique identifier.

The two tracks tend to pay differently. Bank employees register federally and typically draw a salary, while state-licensed originators at non-bank companies more often work on commission plans, per the NMLS guide to state licensing and registration^[9]. Whatever the track, pay flows through a sponsoring company. In most states an originator cannot originate until an employer sponsors the license, per the NMLS sponsorship guide^[10], and some states limit an originator to one employer at a time: Florida Statute § 494.00331^[11] bars a loan originator from working for more than one lender or broker simultaneously.

Switching employers or states does not have to stop the income. Under 12 U.S.C. § 5117^[12], an originator moving to a new state, or from a bank to a non-bank, keeps temporary authority to originate for up to 120 days while the new application is pending.

Most loan officers hold a bachelor's degree, the BLS^[1] notes, though the license itself requires none.

Job outlook for loan officers

Loan officers held about 283,000 jobs in 2025, and the BLS projects^[1] employment to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the average for all occupations. Limited growth does not mean no hiring: about 17,100 openings are projected each year over the decade, mostly to replace workers who leave the occupation.

The bottom line on loan officer pay

Start from the federal median, then bend it around the pay plan, the market, and the volume you originate. Make the estimate yours with these steps:

• Compare job offers by structure, not headline numbers: base salary versus commission split versus draw, including any per-loan minimums or maximums.
• Check the wage data for your state before relocating or negotiating, since geography shifts both salary offers and commission potential.
• If you are not licensed yet, start an NMLS-approved pre-licensing course, such as the one RealEstateU offers, because no income flows until the license or registration is in place.