AI data licensing for insurance agencies

In 2022, 9,287 employer firms in U.S. insurance agencies and brokerages belonged to enterprises with at least 10 employees. They represented 7.7% of the industry's 120,434 employer firms and accounted for 64.2% of employment and 78.2% of annual payroll.

A buyer would need to establish which tasks the staff documented and how well the records connect to decisions and outcomes.

An agency may have useful examples across submissions, quotes, policy changes and renewals. The licensing opportunity depends on the completeness of those examples, their relevance to a buyer's task and the rights attached to each record.

Company size and payroll

DataPayouts calculated the company-size figures from Census SUSB 2022. Of the 9,287 firms in enterprises with 10+ employees, 5,672 were in the 10-19 band, 2,689 in the 20-99 band, 547 in the 100-499 band and 379 in the 500+ band.

Their insurance-agency establishments employed 518,161 people and paid $53.18 billion in annual payroll. The 20-99 group accounted for 91,746 employees and $7.91 billion in payroll.

In 2022 U.S. insurance agency and brokerage data, the 10+ paid-employee enterprise group accounted for 7.7% of employer firms, 64.2% of paid employment and 78.2% of annual payroll. — We calculated these shares from 2022 Census SUSB data using 2017 NAICS code 524210. Each percentage uses the matching industry total. The 10+ group uses paid employment across the whole enterprise. Employee counts include part-time staff and exclude independent contractors. Businesses with no paid employees are excluded.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 SUSB

We calculated these shares from 2022 Census SUSB data using 2017 NAICS code 524210. Each percentage uses the matching industry total. The 10+ group uses paid employment across the whole enterprise. Employee counts include part-time staff and exclude independent contractors. Businesses with no paid employees are excluded.
Measure	Share in enterprises with 10+ paid employees (%)
Employer firms	7.7113
Paid employment	64.158
Annual payroll	78.1625

Payroll includes sales, management and service work. Census does not measure which tasks produced reusable data or how much a buyer would pay for the resulting records.

NAICS 524210 includes agencies and brokerages selling insurance and annuities. It is broader than independent property-and-casualty agencies. Insurance carriers are classified separately, so their premiums and claims reserves cannot be substituted for agency revenue or dataset value.

Enterprise size includes employment across the associated company. The employment and payroll figures above cover that company's establishments within the agency and brokerage industry.

Employment and wage changes

The Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW series provides a more recent comparison. Between 2021 and 2025, annual-average private-sector employment increased from 889,309 to 1,007,253, or 13.3%.

Annual wages increased from $79.52 billion to $109.95 billion, or 38.3%. Average annual pay per covered job increased by 22.1% to $109,158.

From 2021 to 2025, nominal wage spending in U.S. insurance agencies and brokerages rose 38.3% while payroll jobs rose 13.3%. Both series are indexed to 2021 = 100. — BLS QCEW reports U.S. private-sector covered jobs and annual wages for NAICS 524210. Both series use 2021 = 100. Wage figures have no inflation adjustment and measure payroll costs. Dataset prices are outside the scope of this series.
Sources: BLS QCEW, 2021 · BLS QCEW, 2022 · BLS QCEW, 2023 · BLS QCEW, 2024 · BLS QCEW, 2025

BLS QCEW reports U.S. private-sector covered jobs and annual wages for NAICS 524210. Both series use 2021 = 100. Wage figures have no inflation adjustment and measure payroll costs. Dataset prices are outside the scope of this series.
Year	Annual average payroll jobs	Nominal annual wages (USD)	Employment index (2021 = 100)	Wage index (2021 = 100)
2021	889309	79519290738	100	100
2022	928188	87638279251	104.3718	110.2101
2023	970751	96024799680	109.1579	120.7566
2024	995254	103879237202	111.9132	130.634
2025	1007253	109949758008	113.2624	138.268

The wage figures are in nominal dollars. Inflation, commissions, bonuses and changes in the workforce can affect the comparison. The figures describe the growth in employment and wages; they do not isolate automation savings or the effects of AI.

The September 2026 Agency Universe Study provides a separate view of independent P&C agencies. It estimated 37,000 agencies and reported average staffing of 9.9 people, compared with 8.2 in 2024.

The study had 1,376 respondents and covered a narrower group than Census. Its agency count and staffing average should therefore be kept separate from Census employment estimates.

Potential uses for placement and renewal records

An agency may retain records across several carriers and stages of a customer relationship. When linked, those records could support a specific training or evaluation task.

For example, a commercial account may have an exposure description, submission, competing quotes, an explanation of coverage differences and requested endorsements. The archive may also contain the bound policy and the next renewal. An evaluator could use a reviewed example to check whether an AI system identifies the same coverage changes as a professional.

That example assumes the relevant records remain linked. An archive may omit the reason for a recommendation or contain duplicate attachments. Carrier responses may be held in separate portals. The agency may also lack claim outcomes held by a carrier or administrator.

Possible collections for review include the following:

Quote and policy comparisons can identify differences, exclusions and endorsements confirmed by a professional.
Submission histories can link missing information to the correction that completed the submission.
Renewal histories can connect changed exposures, coverage changes and documented customer decisions.

A buyer would need a source for each example and a clear definition of the expected answer. An evaluator can establish what was purchased from the bound policy. Assessing the recommendation also requires professional review and agreed criteria.

Existing AI products

In September 2026, Applied Systems introduced Epic Conductor. The company described AI features for extracting carrier-document data, comparing quotes, checking policies against quotes, reconciling transactions and preparing remarketing submissions.

Those features are relevant to records paired with verified fields and professional decisions. Applied describes its product and makes performance claims in the announcement. It provides no offer to purchase an agency's historical data, and the reported results require separate verification.

Verisk's May 2026 integration with Anthropic's Claude allows access to insurance analytics through controlled connections. Permission to retrieve information for a task differs from permission to use it for model training. A license needs to state which uses are allowed.

A seller's data assessment should begin with the proposed task. Policy-checking evaluation requires accurate comparison answers. Submission extraction requires documents paired with verified fields. Market analysis requires consistent dates, coverage and a sample suited to the question. Each task places different requirements on the records.

Licensing terms and costs

A revenue estimate requires a buyer's intended use, a sample and an offer. It must also account for preparation, review, delivery and continuing support. Industry payroll statistics cannot establish those terms.

Agency files may combine original notes, carrier policy wording, licensed forms, customer information and third-party reports. Each component needs a review of ownership and permitted uses. Life, health and employee-benefit records may contain additional sensitive information.

NAIC guidance on insurers' use of AI addresses governance and third-party data. A regulated buyer may require documentation of sources, allowed uses and quality checks. The applicable duties depend on the jurisdiction and proposed use.

The expected payment must cover rights review, privacy work, quality assurance and delivery. Some archives may not support a transaction after those costs and restrictions are considered.

A later review can compare the agency-management system, CRM, document store and communication tools. It can identify the dates covered, approximate record counts, export options and missing periods. Email or chat may contain explanations of quote changes and renewal decisions, but software migrations can break the links to the related records.

Start the DataPayouts fit check with your company, systems and record categories. The form does not request policy files or system connections. A detailed inventory can follow if further review is appropriate.

Data sources and limitations

Census SUSB 2022 uses 2017 NAICS 524210 and enterprise-size bands. March paid headcount includes full-time and part-time workers without conversion to full-time equivalents.

We calculated the 10+ group by adding the 10-19, 20-99, 100-499 and 500+ bands. Payroll is nominal. Census adjusted published employment and payroll values to protect confidentiality.

BLS QCEW uses annual-average covered jobs and includes compensation such as bonuses. We keep its figures separate from Census because the coverage and reference periods differ. The 2026 Agency Universe Study covers independent P&C agencies. A separate commercial review is needed to establish dataset eligibility, licensing terms and potential earnings.