Organic Growth Slowed in 2026, But Stayed Real Growth
The 2026 Big I and Reagan Consulting Best Practices Study update found organic growth ranging 6.2% to 10.2% across agency revenue bands in 2026, down from a range of 8.7% to 11.3% in 2025. Every revenue band in the current study is still growing organically, the range simply compressed and shifted lower than the year before.
A range that starts above 6% even at its lowest band is a meaningfully different story than a market approaching flat or negative organic growth. This is deceleration inside continued growth, not a reversal of it.
Margins Still Look Healthy by Revenue Band
Pro forma EBITDA margins ranged 23.2% to 30.7% across the same revenue bands, with top-quartile agencies under $1.25 million in revenue reaching as high as 42.5%. Smaller agencies posting the strongest top-quartile margins in the entire study is a detail worth sitting with, since it runs against any assumption that scale alone drives profitability in this business.
A wide margin range like this also means “agency profitability” is not one number industry-wide, it varies meaningfully by revenue band and by where a given agency sits within its own band.
Sales Velocity: Most Bands Still Clear the Healthy Line
Five of seven revenue categories exceeded the study’s 12% “healthy” sales-velocity threshold in 2026, led by sub-$1.25 million agencies at 16.6%. Sales velocity measures how much of an agency’s revenue growth is coming from genuinely new business rather than rate increases on the existing book, so clearing that threshold is a sign of real new-business production, not just renewal-driven growth.
Smaller agencies leading this metric, the same band that also posted the strongest EBITDA margins, suggests the smallest agencies in this study are punching above their revenue size on both growth and profitability at once.
A Different NUPP Cut Than the One Already Published
NUPP itself, the share of revenue an agency invests in unvalidated producer payroll, ranged 0.0% to 1.7% by revenue band in this update, against a 1.5% to 2.0% healthy target range. This is a distinct, by-band cut of the metric, separate from the single blended NUPP figure already published elsewhere on this site.
A range running from zero up to 1.7%, sitting mostly below the study’s own 1.5% to 2.0% healthy target, suggests a meaningful share of agencies across these revenue bands are underinvesting in new producer payroll relative to what the study itself considers a healthy level.
The Rule of 20: A Composite Score Worth Watching
The same study’s “Rule of 20” score, calculated as organic growth rate plus half of EBITDA margin, ranged 19.3 to 26.1 across revenue bands in 2026, down from a wider 19.0 to 29.5 range in 2025. A composite score combining growth and profitability into one number is a useful single benchmark for an agency principal who wants to check overall performance without reconciling two separate ranges.
The range compressing year over year, especially the drop at the top end from 29.5 to 26.1, indicates the best-performing agencies in the study posted a less exceptional combined result in 2026 than the prior year, even while the bottom of the range held roughly steady.
Why This Page Does Not Publish a Staffing Ratio
The Big I and Reagan Consulting Best Practices Study plausibly tracks a producer-to-CSR or producer-to-account-manager staffing ratio by revenue tier as well, but that specific cut sits behind the report’s paid, members-only tables, confirmed directly on Big I’s own agency-management research page as an existing 2025 and 2026 product without exposing its line-item figures publicly. No secondary source publishing that specific ratio was found.
Rather than invent a ratio, this page states plainly that staffing structure at different revenue tiers is a real, plausibly-tracked question this session could not source, alongside the growth, margin, and NUPP-by-band figures that are soundly sourced above.
The Numbers
Organic growth ranged 6.2% to 10.2% across agency revenue bands in 2026, down from 8.7% to 11.3% in 2025.
IA Magazine, Big I and Reagan Consulting Release 2026 Best Practices Study Update
Pro forma EBITDA margins ranged 23.2% to 30.7%, with top-quartile agencies under $1.25 million in revenue reaching 42.5%.
IA Magazine, Big I and Reagan Consulting Release 2026 Best Practices Study Update
Five of seven revenue categories exceeded the 12% healthy sales-velocity threshold, led by sub-$1.25 million agencies at 16.6%; NUPP ranged 0.0% to 1.7% by revenue band against a 1.5% to 2.0% healthy target.
IA Magazine, Big I and Reagan Consulting Release 2026 Best Practices Study Update
The “Rule of 20” composite score (organic growth plus half of EBITDA margin) ranged 19.3 to 26.1 across revenue bands in 2026, down from 19.0 to 29.5 in 2025.
IA Magazine, Big I and Reagan Consulting Release 2026 Best Practices Study Update
The underlying Best Practices Study report is confirmed as a paid, members-only product on Big I’s own research page, without exposing producer-to-CSR staffing-ratio line items publicly.
Independent Agent (IA Magazine) / Big I, Agency Management Research
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- IA Magazine, Big I and Reagan Consulting Release 2026 Best Practices Study Update
- Independent Agent (IA Magazine) / Big I, Agency Management Research