Disclaimer: This article provides general career and compensation information, not legal, tax, financial, or employment advice; verify current figures and program rules before making a decision.
How Much Do Lawyers Make in the U.S.?
The national mean is higher than the median because wages at the upper end of the distribution raise the mathematical average. The gap between the two figures is $26,170.
The full May 2025 wage distribution provides more context:
| Wage Measure | Annual Wage |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $78,360 |
| 25th percentile | $102,990 |
| Median | $159,670 |
| Mean | $185,840 |
| 75th percentile | $221,370 |
| 90th percentile | $351,600 |
The percentiles are not career-stage bands. A lawyer at the 75th percentile is not necessarily more experienced than every lawyer below that level. Employer, market, responsibility, specialization, hours, and ownership can all affect pay.
Average vs. Median Lawyer Salary
The mean adds all reported wages and divides the total by the number of workers. The median is the midpoint of the wage distribution. For someone comparing a job offer with the national market, the median is normally a better first reference. The mean remains useful for understanding the overall wage level of the occupation.
Neither figure should be treated as a promise. A first-year public defender, a fifth-year associate at a large firm, an in-house lawyer, and an equity partner are not participating in the same compensation market.
What the BLS Data Includes—and Excludes
The BLS OEWS program measures wages for employees. Its wage definition includes base rates, guaranteed pay, cost-of-living allowances, and certain incentive pay. It excludes overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses, and employer benefit costs.
The survey also excludes self-employed workers. That matters in law because solo practitioners and some firm owners receive business income or profit distributions rather than a conventional employee wage. As a result, the BLS figures should not be used to estimate equity-partner or solo-practice income.
Starting Salaries: Why New-Lawyer Pay Has Two Different Markets
The starting-salary market is not centered around one typical number. NALP’s Class of 2024 analysis found a national median salary of $95,000 among reported salaries for graduates in full-time, long-term jobs. However, 53% of reported salaries were between $55,000 and $100,000, while 20% were reported at $225,000.
This produces the legal profession’s familiar bimodal salary curve: one concentration around lower-paying public service and smaller-employer roles, and a separate concentration at the large-law-firm market rate. Relatively few new lawyers are located between the two peaks.
First-Year Law Firm Salaries by Firm Size
NALP’s 2025 Associate Salary Survey reports substantially higher figures because it measures law firms rather than all graduate jobs. Its overall median first-year associate base salary was $200,000.
| Reporting Law Firm Size | Median First-Year Base Salary |
|---|---|
| 250 lawyers or fewer | $150,000 |
| More than 700 lawyers | $215,000 |
These numbers require an important sample warning: 87% of participating offices were in firms with more than 250 lawyers. The survey is valuable for comparing law-firm markets, but it should not be presented as the starting salary of a typical law graduate. NALP also reported that $225,000 was the most frequently reported first-year salary, which is different from saying it was the overall median.
Lawyer Salary by Career Stage
There is no single current national dataset that provides reliable salary ranges for every experience level, employer type, and practice area. The most defensible approach is to use a source that matches the career track being evaluated.
Entry-Level Lawyers
For new graduates, begin with NALP’s Class of 2024 distribution rather than the BLS average for all working lawyers. Then narrow the comparison by employer:
- Use the NALP law-firm survey for private-firm associate roles.
- Use public salary schedules or NALP’s public service data for government and nonprofit roles.
- Use the actual employer’s posted range when one is available.
- Compare jobs in the same city or labor market.
Public Service Salaries by Experience
NALP's most recent public service salary report used salaries as of October 1, 2023 and received 129 employer responses. It provides a more relevant benchmark for civil legal services, public defenders, and public interest organizations than a private-firm survey.
| Public Service Employer | Entry-Level Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Civil legal services | $64,200 |
| Public defenders | $69,600 |
| Public interest organizations | $69,500 |
For civil legal services attorneys with 11–15 years of experience, the reported median was $86,000—more than $20,000 below the corresponding medians for public defenders and public interest organizations. These figures are national medians from participating organizations, not guaranteed salary schedules. Actual compensation depends on the employer, jurisdiction, union or civil-service rules, and available funding.
Mid-Career and Senior Lawyers
The BLS percentiles can show where a wage falls nationally, but they do not explain why an individual lawyer reached that level. For mid-career and senior roles, compare the offer with jobs that match all four of these factors:
- Employer type: law firm, government, nonprofit, corporation, or other organization.
- Market: the same state or metropolitan area.
- Role and responsibility: individual contributor, supervising attorney, counsel, or management.
- Compensation type: base wage, guaranteed bonus, discretionary bonus, equity, or ownership income.
Do not use a national “senior lawyer salary” range unless the source identifies the relevant employer population and compensation definition.
Lawyer Salary by Employer and Career Path
Employer type often explains more of the salary difference than the lawyer’s practice-area label alone.
| Career Path | Best Available Benchmark | Important Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Large law firm | NALP associate salary survey | Survey is concentrated among larger firms and reports base salary, not every element of compensation |
| Small or regional firm | Employer postings, local surveys, and firm-size data | National ranges can hide large market differences |
| Government or nonprofit | Public salary schedule and NALP public service report | Benefits and PSLF eligibility require separate evaluation |
| In-house legal department | Comparable roles in the same industry and market | Titles and equity compensation differ substantially between employers |
| Solo practice or equity partnership | Business financial records and partnership terms | Self-employed and ownership income is outside the standard BLS wage estimate |
What Type of Lawyer Makes the Most Money?
The available evidence does not support a universal ranking of practice areas. NALP data shows that large private firms can offer some of the highest first-year base salaries, while BLS data shows a wide upper-end employee-wage distribution without ranking legal specialties. Ownership and partnership profit distributions sit outside the standard BLS employee-wage estimate. Employer size, client revenue, geography, responsibility, and profit participation may matter as much as the practice-area label.
Lists claiming that one practice area always pays the most should be treated cautiously unless they identify the data source, year, employer population, and whether the figure represents base salary or total compensation.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Is Part of the Compensation Decision
A lower-paying government or nonprofit position may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but eligibility is not automatic. The borrower must have eligible Direct Loans, work full-time for a qualifying employer, use a qualifying repayment arrangement, and make 120 qualifying monthly payments. Verify the employer and loan status through Federal Student Aid rather than relying on a job title alone.
Lawyer Salaries in 20 High-Pay, High-Employment Markets
The May 2025 BLS estimates show substantial differences in both lawyer pay and employment opportunities across the United States. The table below selects 20 state or jurisdiction markets using an equal-weight combination of mean annual wage rank and estimated lawyer employment rank.
| Selection Rank | State or Jurisdiction | Mean Annual Wage | Estimated Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $230,040 | 95,770 |
| 2 | New York | $220,180 | 91,870 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | $242,800 | 33,070 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | $205,980 | 23,560 |
| 5 | Texas | $180,370 | 56,580 |
| 6 | Georgia | $191,190 | 23,930 |
| 7 | Illinois | $181,240 | 33,590 |
| 8 | Colorado | $206,440 | 16,720 |
| 9 | New Jersey | $184,090 | 23,160 |
| 10 | Virginia | $179,240 | 18,580 |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | $169,170 | 27,170 |
| 12 | Florida | $162,060 | 55,210 |
| 13 | Connecticut | $186,170 | 8,420 |
| 14 | Minnesota | $174,300 | 12,380 |
| 15 | Washington | $169,940 | 12,770 |
| 16 | Nevada | $205,630 | 6,490 |
| 17 | Indiana | $175,850 | 8,970 |
| 18 | North Carolina | $160,340 | 17,000 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | $171,200 | 9,160 |
| 20 | Ohio | $151,140 | 19,950 |
Source: BLS May 2025 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. Selection gives equal weight to salary rank and employment rank.
These are mean wages for employee lawyers, not starting salaries. They are also not adjusted for cost of living. A higher state average does not automatically produce more disposable income after housing, taxes, transportation, childcare, and other local costs.
When comparing locations:
- Start with the same job title and employer type in each market.
- Compare base salary and realistic bonus terms separately.
- Account for state and local taxes, housing, and commuting.
- Check licensing, office-attendance, and remote-work requirements.
- Use metropolitan-area data when the job is concentrated in one city rather than relying only on the state average.
How to Decide Whether a Lawyer Salary Is Good for You
A salary is competitive only in relation to the work, market, benefits, financial obligations, and career options attached to it.
Compare the Full Offer
Use the following checklist when reviewing an offer:
- Guaranteed base salary
- Guaranteed and discretionary bonuses
- How bonus eligibility is measured
- Billable, availability, travel, or on-call expectations
- Health insurance premiums and deductibles
- Retirement contributions and vesting
- Paid leave and parental leave
- Bar dues, licensing, and CLE support
- Remote or hybrid-work requirements
- Relocation or commuting costs
- Student-loan repayment benefits or verified PSLF eligibility
- Promotion, counsel, management, or partnership criteria
- Restrictions on outside work or client development
- Severance, notice, and repayment obligations
If the complete package remains below your minimum after a professional discussion, review how to decline a job offer without damaging the relationship.
Calculate an Effective Hourly Benchmark
To compare jobs with very different workloads, use:
Effective hourly compensation = conservative expected cash compensation ÷ realistic annual hours worked
Use guaranteed salary plus only the portion of a bonus you can reasonably support from the written plan or employer history. Include nonbillable time, administrative work, travel, and required availability when estimating annual hours.
This calculation is a comparison tool, not the lawyer’s billing rate and not a prediction of take-home pay.
Set a Defensible Salary Range for Interviews
Before discussing compensation:
- Find salary evidence for the same role, market, and employer type.
- Separate base salary from bonus, equity, benefits, and loan-related value.
- Set a target range, an acceptable range, and a minimum based on your real budget and alternatives.
- Prepare questions about workload, bonus rules, reviews, and advancement.
Use the job interview preparation guide to organize your examples, and choose relevant questions to ask in an interview about expectations and progression.
A flexible answer can follow this structure:
“Based on the responsibilities of the role and compensation for comparable positions in [market], I’m targeting a base salary in the [supported range] range. I’m also open to discussing the complete package, including bonus structure, benefits, and advancement.”
Disclosure: GreatOffer.ai is our product. You can use GreatOffer’s real-time AI interview copilot to rehearse salary-expectation answers and prepare questions about workload, compensation, and advancement. Follow the interview platform’s and employer’s rules, and do not use assistance where it is prohibited.
What Lawyers Say About Their Pay: A Reddit Reality Check
In the Reddit discussion “How much do lawyers actually make?”, a 1L asked why public expectations appear so different from lawyers’ reported earnings.
One commenter wrote:
“$135k working for the state. 10 years out of school.”
Another described a specific BigLaw path as paying:
“$225k before bonus as a first year.”
The same discussion included a prosecutor reporting more than $200,000 after ten years in Southern California. These examples help illustrate the range of possible outcomes, but they are anonymous, self-selected accounts. They do not prove a national average, typical workload, benefits package, or career trajectory.
Use community discussions to identify questions worth asking. Use official statistics, employer documents, and role-specific market data to set the actual benchmark.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Tables, May 2025
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wages—May 2025
- BLS May 2025 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
- BLS OEWS Technical Notes and Wage Definitions
- NALP: Class of 2024 National Summary Report
- NALP: Class of 2024 Salary Distribution Curve
- NALP: 2025 Associate Salary Survey
- NALP: Public Service Attorney Salary Report
- Federal Student Aid: Public Service Loan Forgiveness
- Reddit r/LawSchool: “How much do lawyers actually make?”
