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Sales & business development · Leading & Selling

Mortgage broker: what the job actually is

Helping people find and apply for a mortgage from a lender, and getting paid when it goes through, in a licensed Ontario role.

Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this

Mortgage broker: quick facts

Mortgage broker salary in Ontario: the median pay is $31.79 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$31.79 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$20.00 to $56.41 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
31,150
Usually needs
Usually a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 63102. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Sitting between a person who wants to buy or refinance a home and the lenders who might lend to them, finding a mortgage that fits and handling the application.
  • Job Bank counts mortgage brokers within the financial sales representatives group. It prints one pay figure and one outlook for the whole group, not for mortgage brokers alone, so the numbers on this page are not a mortgage broker figure.
  • It is a licensed occupation. Job Bank says that in Ontario mortgage brokers are regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario and that a licence is compulsory.
  • Much of the work is selling and relationship building: finding clients, keeping them and getting their referrals. A good broker is part adviser and part salesperson.
  • Job Bank says a recognised financial designation may be required by employers, and that many roles in the group expect a bachelor's degree in business, commerce or economics.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:00 — Check overnight email. A client's lender wants one more document and the closing date is Friday.
  2. 8:45 — Phone a client who is waiting on a decision. You say what you know and what you do not.
  3. 9:30 — A first meeting with a couple who want to buy. You ask about income, debts and what they want, and you do not promise anything yet.
  4. 11:00 — Compare lenders' rates and conditions for the couple. The best rate is not always the best fit.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch with a real estate agent or accountant who might send you clients. Half the job is the people around the job.
  6. 13:30 — Write up the application and chase the documents. Pay stubs, tax papers, a letter about a gift from a parent.
  7. 15:00 — Explain to a client, kindly, why they did not get what they wanted and what to do about it.
  8. 16:30 — Update your records and your regulatory file. A licence means paperwork about who you advised and why.
  9. 18:00 — A client who works days can only meet after work. You go.
  10. 20:00 — Reply to the last messages. Evenings and weekends are when many clients are free.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like helping people with a big decision and you can stay calm when they are anxious.
  • You like numbers well enough to explain them clearly.
  • You are good at building a network and following up without being pushy.
  • You can handle pay that depends on closed deals.
  • You like having your own list of clients and working with some independence.
You may hate this if
  • You need a steady income from week one. The work is often paid when a deal closes, and a slow market is a slow month.
  • You dislike selling. Finding clients is a large part of the job and nobody does it for you at first.
  • You dislike being available. Clients want to talk in the evening or on the weekend.
  • You dislike paperwork and rules. A licensed role means documents, disclosure and a regulator.
  • You dislike delivering bad news. Some applications fail, and you are the one who tells the client.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school, and think about a business degree or college programme

    Job Bank says a bachelor's degree in business administration, commerce, economics or a related field is usually required, and that employers may ask for training from bodies such as the Canadian Securities Institute. Plenty of people enter through a college programme or a bank first; ask a working broker how they started.

  2. Get a mortgage agent licence through FSRA

    Job Bank names FSRA as the regulator and says a licence is compulsory. FSRA's own website blocked our automated reading, so we have not read its steps: age, education and the exam are all set by FSRA, and they change. Read the licensing pages at fsrao.ca before you plan around anything.

  3. Work under a brokerage, then move up

    Job Bank describes working under a brokerage and gaining experience before moving up to a broker role. We could not read the timing or education rules for the move, so check FSRA's licensing pages for what each level requires.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Mortgage broker requirements in Ontario

The money

Mortgage broker salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$20.00
Low (hourly)
$31.79
Median (hourly)
$56.41
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 63102. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Mortgage broker wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

31,150
people work in this job in Ontario
57%
are women (48% across all jobs)
13%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Financial sales representatives job prospects in Ontario (NOC 63102). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take business, maths and accounting if your school offers them. A mortgage is a maths problem with a person attached.
  • Learn how a mortgage works: what a deposit is, how interest is worked out, what closing costs are. Most adults do not know, and you can.
  • Get a part-time job that has you talking to the public. Selling anything teaches you more about this job than any course.
  • Ask your guidance office whether you can job-shadow someone in finance, banking or real estate.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Work out one mortgage and phone one broker

About 75 minutes
  1. Find a free mortgage calculator from a bank website. Put in a house price, a deposit and an interest rate and write down the monthly payment. Change the rate by one percentage point and note what happens.
  2. Write a paragraph explaining to a friend in plain language why the payment moved. If you cannot, find out what you do not understand.
  3. Phone or email a mortgage brokerage and ask whether a broker could answer one question about how they got started and what a normal week is like. Do not ask for a mortgage or financial advice.
  4. Ask yourself whether you would rather have been explaining the numbers or working them out.

What it tells you. A yes is enjoying the explaining as much as the calculating, and being curious about how someone built a client list. That is a reason to plan business courses and look for a job in a bank or brokerage. A no is finding the selling and the unsteady pay unappealing; the accountant and financial analyst pages cover the number side without commission.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “How did you get your first clients, and how long did it take?”
  2. “What does an average week look like, including evenings?”
  3. “What is your income like in a slow market?”
  4. “What is the part of the licence process that surprised you?”
  5. “What would you tell a 17-year-old who likes numbers and people?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

In practice yes, in stages. Brokers work through a licensed brokerage, and a person can later own or run one. FSRA's pages describe the broker licence conditions, which we could not read directly. Ask a working broker how it works and what owning a brokerage adds.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a mortgage broker make in Ontario?

The median pay for a mortgage broker in Ontario is $31.79 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $20.00 to $56.41 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a mortgage broker in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a mortgage broker in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school, and think about a business degree or college programme; Get a mortgage agent licence through FSRA; Work under a brokerage, then move up.

How many people work as a mortgage broker in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 31,150 people working in this job in Ontario. 57% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.