Pass rates, and why most published ones are meaningless
Only five states publish real estate exam pass rates at all. California, the largest licensing state in the country, is not one of them. And the five that do publish measure different things, so putting their numbers side by side — as most articles do — produces a comparison that is worse than useless.
The numbers are not comparable
This is the part worth understanding before you read any pass rate anywhere. Each publishing state defines the measure differently, and the definitions move the number by twenty points or more.
| State | What it counts | Effect on the number |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | First attempt, and you must pass both portions | Strictest definition, lowest headline |
| Colorado | First-time examinees, each portion reported separately | Two numbers, neither directly comparable to Texas |
| Arizona | First-timers and repeaters shown separately | The only state that lets you see both |
| Virginia | All attempts in the period | Much lower — repeat failures counted again |
| North Carolina | Applicants, not attempts | Higher — counts people who eventually passed |
Each state’s own published definition, verified September 2026.
Virginia’s 2024 salesperson national-portion figure is 36.4%. Texas’s is 56.1%. That gap is mostly definitional, not a statement about Virginian candidates — Virginia counts every attempt including repeat failures, Texas counts only first attempts. Any table that places those two numbers next to each other without saying so is misleading you.
Texas: the cleanest long series
Texas publishes a rolling 24-month first-attempt rate, recalculated monthly, and it has been falling steadily for eight years. To count as a pass, a candidate must have passed both the national and state portions on the first attempt.
| Window | Sales agent | Broker |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 – 2019 | 60.8% | 60.2% |
| 2019 – 2021 | 62.5% | 60.4% |
| 2021 – 2023 | 58.1% | 58.9% |
| 2022 – 2024 | 57.0% | 58.0% |
| 2023 – 2025 (current) | 56.1% | 57.0% |
Texas Real Estate Commission published data, rolling 24-month windows.
Texas also sets a Minimum Pass Rate — 80% of the overall rate, currently about 44.9% — that every approved education provider must meet to keep offering qualifying courses. It is the only regulator-enforced quality floor on prep providers we found in any state.
What the regulator data says about schools
Because Texas and Colorado publish by provider, you can see something no marketing page will tell you: how much the school actually matters. These are Texas’s own figures for the largest providers by volume, first attempt, both portions.
| Provider | Exams | First-attempt pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| AceableAgent | 8,516 | 65.8% |
| The CE Shop | 1,077 | 56.5% |
| Colibri Real Estate | 534 | 56.7% |
| Champions School of Real Estate | 15,547 | 53.2% |
| Kaplan Real Estate Education | 1,280 | 53.2% |
| 360training | 290 | 47.6% |
| Train Agents | 121 | 21.5% |
Texas Real Estate Commission provider data, sales agent exams, 24-month window ending November 2025.
The spread is real and large — from 65.8% down to 21.5%, against a state average of 56.1%. Note the volumes, though: Champions tested 15,547 candidates, Train Agents 121. A small sample moves far more easily, and a provider serving a different mix of candidates will post a different number for reasons that have nothing to do with course quality. Colorado’s data shows the same pattern, with one community college posting an 8% national-portion rate on 45 candidates.
Texas has a rule about quoting these figures, and it is a fair one: the commission considers it misleading to advertise a pass rate without also showing the number of exams taken and passed, at the same size and prominence. We have done that above.
Who actually has the data
The testing vendors — Pearson VUE and PSI — hold complete pass-rate data for every state they serve. Neither publishes any of it. Every figure on this page reaches the public only because a state agency decided to publish the vendor’s report; Arizona’s monthly report is even stamped “Pearson confidential” while the state posts it openly.
That makes publication a policy choice rather than a technical limit. California publishes monthly statistics on examinations administered and licenses issued, but never a pass or fail count — we checked the full series and the word does not appear. Georgia used to publish how its candidates compared with other states, and dropped even that after 2022. Florida appears to publish nothing.
First-attempt, both-portions, all-attempts, or per-applicant — know which one you are looking at before comparing it to anything.
A rate on 100 exams moves easily. A rate on 8,000 does not. Treat small-sample results as noise.
Only five do. If yours does not, a provider's own claimed pass rate is not independently checkable.
Common questions
What is a normal pass rate?
On a first attempt, somewhere around 55 to 65 per cent in the states that publish comparable figures. Roughly two in five candidates fail the first time. If a course advertises a pass rate far above that, check what it is counting — eventual passes across unlimited attempts will always look better than first-attempt figures.
Does the school I choose actually change my odds?
The regulator data says the spread between providers is real — 65.8% to 21.5% in Texas. But it is not a controlled experiment. Providers serve different candidates, and low-volume providers post volatile numbers. Treat a consistently poor rate across high volume as a genuine warning sign, and a spectacular rate on 50 candidates as noise.
Why is my state's pass rate not here?
Most likely because it does not publish one. Only Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia and Arizona publish real estate exam pass rates in any usable form. The data exists — the vendors have it — but the state has to choose to release it.
Is the exam getting harder?
In Texas the first-attempt rate has fallen from about 60.8% to 56.2% over eight years, which is a real and consistent decline. Whether that reflects a harder exam, a changing candidate pool or changes in how people prepare is not something the published data can answer.