New York

New York’s real estate licenses come from the Department of State, not a standalone real estate commission, and the exam is a DOS exam — not Pearson VUE, not PSI. Salesperson qualifying education is 77 hours. The salesperson exam is 90 minutes. DOS reports pass or fail; it does not publish a numerical cut score, which is why this site will not invent one. A passing result is valid for two years. Exam fee $15, original salesperson license and renewal $65. Broker applicants must be 20, complete 152 hours (the 77 plus 75), document two years as a salesperson or three years of general real estate with the point system DOS publishes, and sit a 2.5-hour exam. Broker license fee $185.

The affiliation rule is the one that surprises California and Texas applicants. A New York salesperson license is not issued until a sponsoring broker has authorized the application. There is no unemployed-salesperson wall license to frame while you shop brokerages. If the broker relationship later ends, the license is suspended until another broker files. That is closer to Florida’s activation model than to DRE’s “license first” sequence, with a harder gate at issuance.

Continuing education is 22.5 hours per two-year cycle, including cultural competency, implicit bias, ethics, and fair housing components DOS specifies. Compare that with California’s 45 hours over four years or Texas’s 18-hour post-SAE cycle: New York’s mix is shorter in hours and more specific in mandated topics.

Reciprocity is the closed door. DOS ended salesperson and broker reciprocity after December 21, 2022. Pennsylvania still describes reciprocal and Act 41 paths that can run one way toward Harrisburg; Albany does not return the favor. Florida’s mutual-recognition list does not include New York. An active California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, or North Carolina license is not a waiver of the 77-hour course or the DOS exam. Out-of-state education is considered only through DOS’s written waiver process with original proof — a request, not a right.