Key takeaways
- Lawyers are among the highest-paid individuals in the United States.
- The median annual salary for associate lawyers is in the six-figure range, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Lawyers’ salaries can vary widely depending on the state they live in, the type of law they practice and the size of the law firm.
- Average compensation for partners in larger law firms can exceed $1 million.
The average annual salary for a lawyer can range from the mid-$50,000 range for a government job to seven figures for a partner in a large private corporate law firm. The first eight years are critical to earnings potential.
Government and private sector incomes typically double from the first year to the eighth year. Nonprofit lawyers tend to make the least and may not crack the six-figure mark even after eight years with the same employer.
How much money do lawyers make?
The median salary for lawyers is $145,760, while the median hourly wage sits at $70.08, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). Understanding how these salaries vary can give you a better idea of how much lawyers earn.
| Median salary | Median hourly wage | Lowest 10 percent salary | Highest 10 percent salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| $145,760 | $70.08 | $69,760 | $239,200+ |
| Salary range for lawyers | Source: BLS |
Lawyers’ incomes differ significantly depending on many factors ranging from where they live and what type of law they practice, to how many years they’ve practiced law at a particular firm. Some industries pay lawyers more than others, and private law firm salaries tend to be much higher than public sector jobs.
Attorneys are paid in a variety of ways. Some may receive a straight salary while others are paid flat fees, hourly wages, contingency fees or on retainer. Public sector attorneys generally receive a salary while private attorneys may work for law firms with complex pay structures that reward them for winning cases or large client accounts.
Geographical location
If your goal is to make the highest salary as a lawyer, where you live makes a big difference.
Cities
Big cities or major metropolitan areas also typically pay more than the median because of its high cost of living. The highest-paid metropolitan areas include the following:
| Metropolitan area | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $268,750 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | $252,210 |
| Boulder, CO | $251,490 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | $235,940 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, CD-VA-MD-WV | $223,890 |
| Source: BLS |
The District of Columbia and its metropolitan areas offer the highest salaries along with the highest concentration of lawyer jobs. Metropolitan areas within New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California and Florida round out the top five list for the total number of lawyers per thousand jobs available. You’ll need to compete for a smaller pool of available jobs for the top-paying metro areas in California, such as San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
If you don’t want to live in one of the top-wage cities, the pay is significantly lower. The highest-paying nonmetropolitan areas for lawyers include the following:
| Nonmetropolitan area | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|
| North Valley-Northen Mountains Region of California nonmetropolitan area | $170,060 |
| Connecticut nonmetropolitan area | $169,800 |
| West Texas Region of Texas, nonmetropolitan area | $158,740 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California non metropolitan area | $154,080 |
| Big Thicket Region of Texas nonmetropolitan area | $145,990 |
| Source: BLS |
States
California, New York and the District of Columbia lead the list for total employment. However, the concentration of attorneys per thousand jobs is 5 to 10 times higher in the District of Columbia.
Employment drops from the tens of thousands to less than a thousand for the top nonmetropolitan areas of southwest Montana, central Kentucky, southwest Maine, Kansas and northeast Missisippi.
According to the BLS, states with the highest annual mean wages include the following:
| State | Average lawyer salary |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $238,990 |
| California | $213,860 |
| Delaware | $212,360 |
| New York | $208,480 |
| Connecticut | $195,730 |
| Source: BLS |
Years of experience
Most lawyers start out as associates with an eight-year path to maximizing their incomes. Salaries tend to be the highest at larger law firms, and rise with each consecutive year of employment.
Key takeaways from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) Associate Salary Survey are the following:
- Starting salaries of $215,000 are less frequent in smaller U.S. cities and towns.
- Median base salaries are the highest in the Northeast, sitting at $170,000.
- The overall median salary for all law firms regardless of size was $200,000.
According to the survey, the median incomes by firm size were as follows:
| Associate year | 100 or fewer | 101-250 | 251-500 | 501-700 | 701-1,000 | 1,000+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | $155,000 | $160,000 | $190,000 | $200,000 | $200,000 | $215,000 |
| Second | $165,000 | $170,000 | $195,000 | $207,000 | $209,000 | $225,000 |
| Third | $180,000 | $180,000 | $207,500 | $215,000 | $220,000 | $250,000 |
| Fourth | $181,250 | $195,000 | $239,025 | $230,000 | $255,000 | $285,000 |
| Fifth | $192,500 | $200,000 | $243,325 | $255,000 | $280,000 | $315,000 |
| Sixth | $193,450 | $210,000 | $245,000 | $265,000 | $290,000 | $355,000 |
| Seventh | $210,000 | $225,000 | $286,250 | $275,000 | $303,750 | $387,500 |
| Eighth | $213,950 | $217,775 | $235,000 | $300,000 | $310,000 | $395,000 |
| Source: NALP |
Industry
It’s probably not surprising that two of the five highest-paying industries for lawyers include the motion picture, performing arts and sports industries. However, the top spot is taken by an unlikely contender: water, sewage and other systems industries with annual mean wages of $315,000.
Ambulatory healthcare services and clothing retailers came in second and third respectively, with mean salaries of over $300,000. Motion picture and video industry lawyers make just over $280,000 while attorneys who handle the promotion of performing and sporting events just miss the $280,000 mark.
Public vs. private sector
Pay for public service attorneys is much lower – in some cases less than half – of the average pay earned by a lawyer working at a private firm. According to NALP data, it typically takes over a decade to crack the six-figure mark for public service law jobs.
The disparity between private and public law salaries is even more pronounced after 8 years, with private attorneys earning up to three times more than a public defender or civil legal services employee for the same tenure.
| Position | Years of experience | Median pay | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil legal services | 1 | $64,200 | $64,143 |
| 2 | $67,000 | $68,477 | |
| 3 | $68,750 | $68,831 | |
| 4 | $71,000 | $72,778 | |
| 5 | $73,700 | $75,201 | |
| 6 | $75,974 | $77,521 | |
| 7 | $78,260 | $79,515 | |
| 8-10 | $79,860 | $81,353 |
| Position | Years of experience | Median pay | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public defenders | 1 | $69,608 | $69,197 |
| 2 | $72,966 | $75,578 | |
| 3 | $82,155 | $81,952 | |
| 4 | $85,455 | $87,826 | |
| 5 | $90,000 | $91,403 | |
| 6 | $89,665 | $92,734 | |
| 7 | $89,149 | $92,835 | |
| 8-10 | $98,500 | $96,646 |
| Position | Years of experience | Median pay | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public interest organizations | 1 | $69,499 | $68,907 |
| 2 | $76,704 | $75,471 | |
| 3 | $79,082 | $78,686 | |
| 4 | $82,824 | $85,366 | |
| 5 | $81,000 | $87,161 | |
| 6 | $87,500 | $90,612 | |
| 7 | $92,046 | $97,538 | |
| 8-10 | $98,124 | $102,294 |
Law specialty
Specializing in a specific type of law can come with a much more lucrative paycheck. From patent law to corporate law, these three specialties come with higher earnings than other fields of law.
| Lawyer | Average salary |
|---|---|
| 1. Patent attorneys | $185,351 |
| 2. Intellectual property attorneys | $167,000 |
| 3. Trial lawyers | $121,000 |
| Source: The Colleges of Law |
What they do
- Patent attorneys: Represent clients to protect intellectual property rights of invention. They must have expertise in patent law and understand legal ramifications of tech data secrets, trademarks and copyrights.
- Intellectual property attorneys: IP attorneys usually work with celebrities, athletes and other high-profile clients to protect rights to their artistic creations. Duties usually include deal negotiations, licensing agreement drafting and representing clients involved in IP disputes.
- Trial lawyers: Trial lawyers are experts in aspect of a courtroom trial. They are often experts in legal research and trained communicators to advocate for their clients in civil or criminal trials.
Law school
Graduating from a top law school can substantially increase your earning potential. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Education to provide this scorecard that shows how average yearly earnings for graduates of the top 10 law schools in the country.
| Institution | Annual earnings |
|---|---|
| Columbia University in the City of New York | $280,900 |
| University of Pennsylvania | $261,400 |
| University of Chicago | $256,400 |
| Cornell University | $249,300 |
| Stanford University | $248,000 |
| Harvard University | $233,600 |
| Northwestern University | $206,700 |
| University of Virginia-Main Campus | $221,600 |
| Duke University | $214,800 |
| Yale University | $185,400 |
| Source: Georgetown University |
What other careers can law students pursue?
If you’re not interested in working as an associate for a private firm or a lawyer in public service, you may be able to use your degree for a job in a related field. Some of the top alternatives include corrections, law enforcement and politics.
The BLS lists average salaries for other career fields for people with law degrees:
| Job | Average salary |
|---|---|
| Arbitrators, mediators and conciliators | $95,370 |
| Certified public accountants | $78,000 |
| Judges, magistrate judges and magistrates | $139,000 |
| Law teachers, postsecondary | $142,440 |
| Legal support workers | $82,960 |
| Human resource manager | $130,000 |
| Political scientists | $132,020 |
Is a law degree worth it?
While it’s true that lawyers earn among the highest salaries of any career, they also come with some of the highest education costs and time commitments. You’ll need to weigh those costs against how much you could make in a different field instead of spending the extra years completing law school and passing the bar exam.
- Entire cost of law school: In 2023, the average cost of a private university law education was $230,163 for a 3-year program, according to the Education Data Initiative. You may want to check out public institutions to save about $20,000 yearly if a private university is not cost-effective.
- Student debt: Seventy-one percent of law school graduates in the U.S. had student loan debt. The average law school debt is $130,000. Monthly payments can easily run into several thousand dollars a month if you finance the entire cost of your law education with student loans.
- Drop out rates: According to recent data, the attrition rate for law school was 3.8 percent in 2023. More than 2,000 student dropped out because they couldn’t keep up academically. Slightly more than 1,500 students dropped out for other reasons.
- Work-life balance: Learning complex laws and studying for the myriad of exams required to become a lawyer often takes much more time and commitment than other career pursuits. In order to get the top positions, a high (or perfect) GPA is often a requirement. If you’re not prepared for this level of commitment, a law degree may not be worth it.
- Job satisfaction: More than two-thirds of those responding to a recent Law360 survey indicated they are satisfied or very satisfied with their law job. Higher earning partners were more likely to be happy across the board, versus associates that were not as happy due to lower compensation scales.
Managing law school debt
With average law school debt balances running in the six figures, knowing all the options related to repayment or delaying repayment is important. It may take several years before you earn top-dollar salaries as a lawyer, so have a strategy for paying off your loans as soon as you can.
You should also learn what hardship options you have if for some reason your job search takes longer than expected.
- Income-based repayment: Depending on the types of loans you chose to finance your education, you may be eligible for income-driven repayment plans. Payments are based on a percentage of your income, which gives you a much lower payment as you start your career.
- Extended deferment: Some graduate student loan lenders offer extended deferment terms, which gives you more than the standard 6-month time period before your payments begin. Check with your loan servicer if you’re not sure.
- Refinancing: Private student loan rates may be substantially lower than your current federal loans. If you have excellent credit and solid income, you may want to check out a student loan refinance to replace higher-rate federal loan balances. Just remember – you could lose some benefits, such as the hardship and payment flexibilities that come with federal loans.
- Law school loan forgiveness: The future of law student loan forgiveness is uncertain as the Trump administration has indicated it plans to repeal forgiveness programs implemented under the Biden administration. However, about two dozen states offer Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs) that may be worth pursuing if you’re having trouble with payments.
- Employer assistance: Check to see if your law firm offers any student loan payment assistance. Employers are allowed to contribute up to $5,250 per year tax-free toward student loans or college tuition through 2025. The benefit is tax-free for the student.
In the news
As of late February, 2025, applications for PAYE, SAVE and other income-driven repayment (IDR) plans are unavailable on the Federal Student Aid website. This relates to a recent federal court ruling in ongoing litigation over the SAVE plan. Watch this FSA page for further updates.
Bottom line
If you plan on making a living as a lawyer, there are a lot of decisions to make, especially if you want to earn the highest salary. Before you apply for law school, try to meet with a recent graduate to get the real scoop on what it takes to complete a law education.
Consider meeting with an attorney in a field you think you might be interested in. They might be able to shed some light on the reality of practicing law that helps you pursue a law career that fits you best.
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