Wages

Chapter Outline

Average Lawyer Wages by Metropolitan Area

Wage Trends over 20 Years

Average Industry Wage
Based on Occupation: 2021

For the first time in 20 years, the average wage for lawyers dipped in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average wage was $148,910 in 2020 and declined slightly to $148,030 in 2021 — a decrease of 0.6%, according to the BLS. Over the same period, inflation was 1.4%. (Note: BLS statistics cover wages for all lawyers but do not include profits for law firm partners and shareholders.)

Over the past 20 years, the average lawyer’s salary has grown faster than inflation. From 2001 to 2021, the average lawyer’s salary rose 61%. Over the same period, the inflation rate was 49%.

But in recent years, the increase in lawyers’ wages has slowed. The fastest growth was from 1997-2002, when the average lawyer wage rose 45%. By comparison, in the most recent five-year period, the average wage rose 5.8% — from $139,880 in 2016 to $148,030 in 2021.

Lawyers who are paid wages continue to earn less, on average, than many medical professionals, according to the BLS. The average wage for family medicine physicians is $235,930. Closer to the average for lawyers are physicists at $151,580 and petroleum engineers at $145,720.

In related legal fields, the average wage for judges, magistrate judges and magistrates was $142,520 in 2021, according to the BLS. For paralegals and legal assistants, it was $58,330.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Average Lawyer Wage: 2000 – 2021

Average Lawyer Wages by Metropolitan Area

The average wage for lawyers is highly dependent on geography — where the lawyer practices. Half of the 10 metropolitan statistical areas with the highest average wages for lawyers in 2021 were in California: San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Oxnard, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the other extreme, all five areas with the lowest average wages for lawyers are in Puerto Rico: Aguadilla, Mayaguez, Ponce, Arecibo and San Juan. In the Continental United States, four of the five areas with the lowest lawyer wages are in the Midwest and South: Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Enid, Oklahoma; Hammond, Louisiana; and Weirton, West Virginia.

The disparity between some areas is huge. The average lawyer wage in the highest-paid area (San Jose, California, at $231,200) is five times greater than the average wage in the lowest-paid area (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, at $44,290).

There is one surprise among the top 10 areas with highest lawyer wages: Midland, Michigan, near Saginaw, is No. 9 at $164,430. The BLS lists only 110 lawyers in the Midland area, so it’s possible the numbers are skewed by a few high earners.

Where’s the midpoint among all 384 metropolitan areas measured by the BLS? That’s Santa Fe, New Mexico, at $115,640 and Bend, Oregon, at $115,580.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Fast Facts:

• Ten of the 20 highest-paid metro areas in the U.S. for lawyers are in California: San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oxnard, Napa, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Vallejo and Santa Maria.

• The lowest average lawyer salary in the continental U.S. is in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at $75,030.

Metropolitan Areas with HIGHEST Average Wage for Lawyers

$231,2001. San Jose, CA

$191,460 2. San Francisco, CA

$186,6103. Washington, DC

$183,8704. New York, NY

$177,550 5. Los Angeles, CA

$171,660 6. Boston, MA

$171,100 7. Bridgeport, CT

$165,4808. San Diego, CA

$164,430 9. Midland, MI

$163,560 10. Oxnard, CA

Metropolitan Areas with LOWEST Average Wage for Lawyers

$84,380 10. Weirton, WV

$84.350 9. Hammond, LA

$83,730 8. Enid, OK

$82,830 7. Lewiston, ID

$75,030 6. Pine Bluff, AR

$68,450 5. San Juan, PR

$55,170 4. Arecibo, PR

$52,540 3. Ponce, PR

$52,400 2. Mayaguez, PR

$44,290 1. Aguadilla, PR

(Note: BLS statistics cover wages for all lawyers but do not include profits for law firm partners and shareholders.)

Public Service Lawyers

Entry-level pay for lawyers at nonprofits and legal aid offices rose more than inflation during the past four years, from 2018 to 2022, according to the National Association for Law Placement. But entry-level pay for public defenders remained nearly stagnant.

According to the NALP, the median entry-level salary for public service lawyers in 2022 was:

• $63,200 for lawyers at public interest organizations
• $59,700 for public defenders
• $57,500 for lawyers at civil legal services offices

That’s much less than the entry-level salary at some big law firms in major cities: $215,000 in 2022. In fact, even highly experienced public service lawyers – those with 11 to 15 years in the job – earn less than half of that $215,000 for rookie lawyers at big law firms.

The 2022 survey shows that experienced public defenders are paid more than experienced legal aid lawyers and nonprofit lawyers. Public defenders with 11 to 15 years’ experience earned a median salary of $100,500 in 2022. For nonprofit lawyers with similar experience, it was $95,000. And for legal aid lawyers with the same experience, it was $78,500.

For comparison purposes, the average salary for all lawyers – not counting law firm profit sharing – was $148,030 in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Starting pay for nonprofit lawyers rose 25.2% from 2018 to 2022, according to the NALP. That’s nearly double the inflation rate of 13% over the same period. Starting pay for legal aid lawyers rose 19.8% over those four years, but starting pay for public defenders barely budged, rising just 2.4%.

The NALP Public Service Attorney Salary Survey is conducted every four years and usually includes pay data for prosecutors, but the 2022 report does not. The 2022 survey did not receive enough responses from prosecutors’ offices to provide a nationally representative sample.

Source: National Association for Law Placement 2022 Public Service Attorney Salary Survey

Median Salary Increases
for Entry-Level Public
Service Lawyers: 2018-2022