A single year's growth figure can mislead — 2019 looks like a boom, 2021 like a stall. The five-year series is the honest read, and it tells a clean story about where durable growth actually lives. This is the revenue-growth slice of the Best Practices trend data; the companion BPS trend reference indexes all seven themes, and the narrative read is the BPS trend analysis.
§ 01 · The organic-growth arcSurge, trough, rebound.
Median organic growth traced the same shape in every tier: a strong 2019, a pandemic-era dip through 2021, and a sharp 2022 recovery. The 2022 rebound was led by the larger tiers — the $5M–$10M band hit 10.5%, up from 3.7% the year before.
| Median organic growth | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1.25M | 4.6% | 7.0% | 6.0% | 7.2% |
| $2.5M–$5M | 5.3% | 7.0% | 2.9% | 8.3% |
| $5M–$10M | 3.3% | 6.0% | 3.7% | 10.5% |
| Over $25M | 5.0% | 4.0% | 3.7% | 8.5% |
§ 02 · Renewal & new businessRetention at a five-year high.
The 2022 rebound was retention-led. Renewal rates reached 93–98% across the tiers — the highest in the series — reflecting both client loyalty and hard-market pricing power. New-business rates, by contrast, stayed in a stable 10–15% band throughout, suggesting pipelines held steady while the rate environment did the heavy lifting on the top line.
| Tier | 2022 renewal rate | 2022 new-business rate |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1.25M | 93.1% | 13.4% |
| $1.25M–$2.5M | 94.4% | 14.8% |
| $5M–$10M | 97.9% | 13.1% |
| Over $25M | 95.4% | 14.3% |
§ 03 · The commercial engineWhere the growth concentrates.
Commercial P&C is the consistent growth engine. Where median organic growth ran 4–12%, top-quartile commercial-lines organic growth reached 24–28% in 2022 across every tier — the clearest signal that the best agencies grow disproportionately through commercial lines. Personal-lines organic growth, by contrast, stayed in low single digits and even dipped negative in 2021, and the more volatile lines (bonds, individual life-and-health) swung between double-digit gains and losses year to year.
- The 2022 rebound was real. Median organic growth recovered to 7–10.5%, led by the $5M–$10M and $10M–$25M tiers.
- Renewal rates hit a five-year high. 93–98% across tiers in 2022 — retention and pricing power combined.
- New business held steady. A stable 10–15% band throughout, even through the pandemic.
- Commercial lines lead. Top-quartile commercial organic growth reached 24–28% in 2022 — the engine of outperformance.
- Personal lines lag. Low-single-digit organic growth, briefly negative in 2021.
- Scale accelerated in 2022. Larger tiers ($5M+) out-grew smaller ones, widening the gap.
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. The growth trend says two things a buyer prices: a book that sustained organic growth above 8% with renewal above 95% reads as a premium, durable engine; and a book whose growth is commercial-led reads as more defensible than a personal-lines-heavy one. The diligence discipline is to read a three-year average rather than any single year — 2021 understates, 2019 and 2022 overstate.
The valuation math that turns these growth signals into a multiple 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 revenue-growth series.
Medians and top quartile. Growth figures are segment medians unless a top-quartile figure is named.
Organic growth. Growth excluding acquired revenue — the metric a buyer underwrites for sustainability.
Frequency. The study publishes annually. Milly Books refreshes this brief with each new edition.