Real estate license in New Jersey: cost, hours and steps
New Jersey bundles three state charges into one $160 payment and adds a $38 PSI exam, for $198 in all.
Real estate license fees in New Jersey
$198
paid to the state and its exam and fingerprint vendors
| Application and license | $150 |
| Exams | $38 |
| Other state fees | $10 |
| Training: 75 pre-licensing course hours | about 5 weeks |
| Renewal fee | not on the pages read |
Not counted, amount set by a vendor and not published: fingerprinting fee charged by the state's fingerprint vendor. Real estate salesperson license. Fees read on official pages, October 20, 2026.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application fee (part of $160 paid to State Treasurer) | $50 |
| License fee (2-year license) | $100 |
| Real Estate Guaranty Fund | $10 |
| Salesperson examination (PSI) | $38 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the totals are built · New Jersey Real Estate Commission (Department of Banking and Insurance) · read October 20, 2026
A New Jersey real estate salesperson license costs $198 in fees for a candidate who passes the exam on the first try. The PSI candidate bulletin splits that into an examination fee of $38, paid to PSI for each attempt, and a single $160 payment to the State Treasurer that combines a $50 application fee, a $100 license fee for the two-year license and $10 for the Real Estate Guaranty Fund. Among the 20 states priced on this site, 9 charge less, and the median is $203. Before the exam you complete a 75-hour pre-licensure course at a licensed school, and the eligibility it gives lapses one year after it is issued. Fingerprinting comes after the exam, and the license application has to go through an employing broker within one year. The license runs two years with 12 hours of continuing education per term; the renewal fee was not on the official pages read.
Two payees, four charges
New Jersey candidates write two checks, not four. The first goes to PSI, the testing company that runs the salesperson examination, at $38 per sitting. The second goes to the State Treasurer once the exam is passed, and it is the sum of three lines printed in the PSI bulletin: an application fee of $50, a license fee of $100 that covers the full two-year license term, and a Guaranty Fund contribution of $10. The Guaranty Fund is the pool the Real Estate Commission uses to compensate consumers who win a judgment against a licensee and cannot collect it.
These amounts come from the bulletin as updated on February 1, 2026. The bulletin itself warns that license fees are subject to change, so check the version PSI sends you when you register. The exam fee is the only line that repeats: someone who needs a second sitting adds $38, not another $160.
New Jersey fees if the PSI exam takes more than one sitting
Real estate exam fees in New Jersey
$76
| First attempt | $38 |
| Each retake adds | $38 |
| All first-license fees | $236 |
The sequence, from classroom to license
Everything starts with the 75-hour pre-licensure course, taken at a school the Commission licenses. Completing it makes you eligible for the state test, but that eligibility expires one year after it is issued. Within that year you sit the PSI examination. Fingerprinting comes next, through the state's IdentoGO vendor, and only then does an employing broker submit your license application. New Jersey does not issue a salesperson license to someone working alone: the application runs through the broker who will hold your license, and it must be filed within one year of passing.
What the $198 leaves out
Fingerprinting is mandatory, but the vendor fee for it was not stated in the PSI bulletin or the Commission pages read for this record, so the calculator does not count it. Tuition for the course is also outside the total, because no board sets it. Expect the real cash outlay to be the $198 shown here plus those two items.
Keeping the license
All New Jersey real estate licenses are issued on a two-year term. To renew, a salesperson completes 12 hours of continuing education during the term, following the Commission's breakdown of required topics. The renewal fee itself did not appear on the official pages we read, so this page and the calculator leave it blank rather than guess. Compare renewal costs where they are known on the renewal cost comparison.
Every real estate fee in New Jersey, with its source
| Fee | Amount | In the total | Read on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application fee (part of $160 paid to State Treasurer) | $50 | counted | source |
| License fee (2-year license) | $100 | counted | source |
| Real Estate Guaranty Fund | $10 | counted | source |
| Salesperson examination (PSI) | $38 per attempt | counted | source |
| Fingerprinting fee charged by the state's fingerprint vendor | not read on an official page | set by the vendor |
| Renewal | Value |
|---|---|
| Cycle | every 2 years |
| Fee | not read on an official page |
| Continuing education | 12 hours per cycle |
| Required training | 75 pre-licensing course hours. 75-hour pre-licensure course at a licensed school; eligibility expires one year after issue. |