How much do attorneys make in 2026?
Attorneys earn a national median of $159,670 a year ($76.76 an hour) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 23-1011, lawyers, with the bottom 10% near $78,360 and the top 10% at $351,600 across 754,500 workers. The median is accurate and simultaneously misleading, because entry-level legal salaries are famously bimodal: a substantial cluster of graduates start at large-firm scales, another much larger cluster start at public interest, government, small firm and mid-market rates, and comparatively few start in between. Averaging across those two populations produces a number that describes neither. The same shape persists through a career. Partners at profitable firms, specialist practitioners in scarce areas and senior in-house lawyers at large companies populate the top of this band. Public defenders, legal aid lawyers, prosecutors, small-town general practitioners and solo practitioners populate the bottom half, doing work of obvious social value for pay that the published median flatters. Practice area, employer type and market matter more than seniority: a fifth-year attorney in two different settings can differ by a factor of three. The path into the profession is a bachelor's degree, an accredited Juris Doctor and bar admission, and the cost of that route is a real variable in the outcome. Employment is projected to grow 4.1% through 2034 with roughly 31,500 openings a year. → Full attorney career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $159,670 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Attorneys earn a national median $159,670/yr ($76.76/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 23-1011); the P10 to P90 range is $78,360 to $351,600.
- Legal pay is bimodal rather than normally distributed: large-firm scales form one peak and public interest, government and small-firm pay form another, with comparatively few salaries between them.
- Practice area, employer type and market determine position in the $78,360 to $351,600 band far more than years admitted do.
- The route in is a bachelor's degree, an accredited Juris Doctor and bar admission, and borrowing for that route is a genuine variable in whether the median translates into a good financial outcome.
US Attorney Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do attorneys earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 23-1011; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 23-1011, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does an attorney earn at each career stage?
Attorney pay follows employer type and practice area more than seniority. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 23-1011.
By State
Which states pay attorneys the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the national lawyer median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Legal markets are unusually concentrated: a state's figure blends a small number of highly paid metropolitan practices with a much larger number of regional and rural practitioners earning far less.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($183,620), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
attorney pay by state — all 17 state guides
By Metro
Which cities pay attorneys the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations. Large-firm salary scales are set nationally by market rather than locally, so in major legal centres they sit well above what any general index predicts.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise an attorney’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does attorney pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Attorneys sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify attorney wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does an attorney actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Attorney Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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