The Real Cost to Keep a Florida Real Estate License Active

Updated July 2026 · Reviewed by Adams, Cameron & Co.

What does the state actually charge to keep a license active?

The core recurring state cost is the DBPR biennial renewal fee, currently around $64 for a sales associate license (brokers pay a bit more). Florida licenses renew on a two-year cycle, so this is an every-other-year cost, not annual. Because the exact fee can change, always confirm the current amount on your DBPR renewal screen before paying.

What about continuing education?

After your first post-license renewal, Florida requires 14 hours of continuing education every two-year renewal period: 3 hours of core law, 3 hours of ethics and business practices, and 8 hours of specialty education. Course pricing varies by provider and format, commonly landing somewhere around $150 to $250 for the full 14 hours, though some individual courses run cheaper. Shop by provider and format (online self-paced vs. live) to find a price that fits.

Is that the whole cost of staying licensed?

For the state requirements, yes, roughly the renewal fee plus CE. But an actively practicing agent also typically pays MLS subscription fees, local Realtor board dues, and often desk fees or marketing costs at their brokerage, expenses that can add up to well beyond the state minimum. Those costs exist to support active selling: showings, listings, and MLS access.

What do you save if you're not actively selling?

If you're keeping your license active mainly to refer clients rather than actively list and sell, you typically skip the MLS fees and board dues that come with active practice, since you're not using those tools day to day. That leaves the state renewal fee and CE as the main recurring cost of simply keeping the license valid.

Is the DBPR fee the only cost, or does a brokerage charge too?

The DBPR renewal fee is a state cost, paid to Florida regardless of which brokerage holds your license. Separately, some brokerages that run referral programs may have their own program terms or a small administrative arrangement; that's a brokerage-level detail, not a state fee, and it's worth asking about directly rather than assuming it matches the state's numbers.

Are there one-time costs you won't have to pay again?

Yes. Costs like the original pre-license course, fingerprinting, and the state exam fee are one-time costs from when you first got licensed; they don't recur at renewal. Keeping an existing license active going forward is just the renewal fee and continuing education, a meaningfully smaller ongoing cost than what it took to get licensed in the first place.

What does the full two-year cost look like in real numbers?

Roughly: about $64 for the DBPR renewal, plus somewhere around $150 to $250 for the 14 hours of continuing education, putting a typical two-year total somewhere in the $214 to $314 range for most agents. That’s the entire state-required cost of staying licensed and legally eligible to earn a referral fee, spread over two full years, not billed annually.

What does it cost to let a license go inactive instead, then reactivate later?

Letting a license lapse can end up costing more time and money than keeping it active. Depending on how long it’s been inactive, reactivating can mean catching up on missed continuing education, paying reinstatement fees, or in some cases retaking coursework. Compared with a few hundred dollars every two years, restarting from inactive status is usually the more expensive and more time-consuming path.

Is it worth the cost just to keep a license active?

That depends on what the license is worth to you. If you still know people who buy and sell, keeping the license active for a few hundred dollars every two years can pay for itself with a single referral fee, since referral fees commonly run around 25% of a commission. Letting the license lapse means starting over later if you ever want it back.

Fees and continuing education costs change over time and by provider; confirm current amounts with the Florida DBPR and your CE provider before budgeting. Educational only, not legal or financial advice.