The producer-demographics data is the succession story told in numbers. It answers the question every perpetuation plan and every buyer's diligence turns on: who holds the book, and how old are they? The five-year series gives a consistent, sobering answer. This is the producer-demographics slice of the Best Practices trend data; the companion BPS trend reference indexes all seven themes.
§ 01 · Who holds the bookThe age distribution.
Producers over 55 hold the single largest share of book in most tiers and years — 21–45% depending on the band. The 46–55 cohort holds another large slice, so the two senior cohorts together routinely command well over half the book. Producers under 35 hold the smallest share, typically 8–27%.
| Share of book held (2022) | Under $1.25M | $5M–$10M | Over $25M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to age 35 | 11% | 17% | 9% |
| Age 36–45 | 22% | 28% | 29% |
| Age 46–55 | 34% | 25% | 28% |
| Over age 55 | 33% | 31% | 35% |
§ 02 · Who produces new businessThe generational gap.
New-business production tells the other half of the story: younger producers contribute a disproportionately small share of new business, and the senior cohorts that hold the book are not the ones generating the next book. The data reads as a pipeline that leans on retention of existing relationships rather than next-generation production — the structural fact behind every "we need younger producers" conversation in the industry.
§ 03 · The succession readA book that's aging in place.
Put together, the two patterns describe a book aging in place. When 30–45% of an agency's book sits with producers over 55 — and the under-35 cohort holds a fraction of it — the agency is carrying concentrated key-person and transition risk that intensifies every year a succession plan is deferred. This is the producer-level mechanism behind the industry's broader silver tsunami.
- Older producers hold the book. The over-55 cohort holds 21–45% of book across tiers and years — the largest single share in most bands.
- The two senior cohorts dominate. Producers over 46 routinely hold well over half the book.
- Younger producers lag. The under-35 cohort holds only 8–27% and contributes a small share of new business.
- Retention, not new production, carries the book. The data points to existing-relationship retention as the primary value driver.
- Consistent across five years. The age skew is structural, not a one-year artifact.
The benchmark is the baseline, not the price.
Best Practices benchmarks don't value an agency — they're the operating baseline a valuation is built on. Producer age is a direct quality and risk signal: an agency with 40%+ of book held by producers over 55 carries key-person and transition risk that a buyer manages with tighter earnouts, retention packages, and extended non-competes. The mirror finding — a thin under-35 cohort — flags producer-development cost a buyer budgets for post-close. A book with a balanced age curve, by contrast, reads as a lower-risk, more transferable asset.
The way succession risk flows into deal structure is the financial & transactional mechanics reference.
What BPS measures. The Best Practices Study tracks the operating and financial results of top-performing agencies, segmented by revenue tier. This brief reflects the 2018–2022 producer-demographics series.
Share of book. The percentage of total book of business held by each producer age cohort; cohort shares sum to roughly 100% per tier.
Data gaps. Some 2019 age-band figures are incomplete in the source; the full series resumes in 2020.
Frequency. The study publishes annually. Milly Books refreshes this brief with each new edition.