Bright tops 2025 MLS rankings
New data from T3 Sixty shows the impact of consolidation — the top 10 MLSs serve more than a third of all MLS users — and an increase in non-Realtor access.
A just-released analysis of the MLS and association world reflects an industry in transition, from a growing distance between Realtor and MLS membership counts to a new No. 1 MLS in terms of overall users.
Here are some top takeaways from T3 Sixty's latest addition to its Real Estate Almanac, which looks at Organized Real Estate by region, ownership type and more. (Note: Real Estate News is an editorially independent division of T3 Sixty.)
A record gap between Realtors and MLS users: With MLSs embracing more flexible access models — a sometimes controversial approach — the number of non-Realtor subscribers to MLSs has been growing. And so has the divide between the total number of MLS subscribers versus the total number of Realtors, reaching 25% this year.
In 2018, the year before T3 Sixty first published its Organized Real Estate rankings, the divide was at 13%.
It's a shift with more than one cause. In some cases, agents join multiple MLSs to serve clients whose needs go across industry-drawn boundaries. But increasingly, more MLSs are allowing non-Realtor agents to subscribe to their services. According to T3 Sixty estimates, 57% of MLS users in the U.S. belong to MLSs that are open to non-Realtors, and that share is expected to rise beyond 66% by the end of next year.
Who's No. 1? For the first time since T3 Sixty began its rankings, there is a new player in the top spot: Bright MLS, with 101,000 members. Bright has moved into the position formerly occupied by California Regional MLS, which drops to No. 2 with 99,000 members, followed by Central Florida-based Stellar MLS with 81,453.
The shift at the top aligns with the bigger picture nationally, where every part of the country saw a drop in the total number of MLS subscribers — except the South Atlantic region (up 0.4%). That area is covered in part by Bright MLS and has seen ongoing population growth.
The big keep getting bigger: There are now 515 MLSs in the United States, an 8.8% drop since 2020. And the top 10 MLSs serve 34.5% of all MLS users.
On the association side, nearly one-fifth (19.1%) of Realtors are members of the 10 largest local associations. Last year, that share was 18.5%.
"MLSs and Realtor associations continue to consolidate, while subscriber and member access models evolve toward greater flexibility, expanded participation, and more scalable operations," said Clint Skutchan, EVP for Organized Real Estate consulting at T3 Sixty.