How much do law clerks make in 2026?
Judicial law clerks earn a national median of $64,920 a year ($31.21 an hour) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 23-1012, with the bottom 10% near $46,180 and the top 10% at $113,140 across just 13,290 workers. It is one of the smallest professional codes in the wage data, and it describes a genuinely distinct job: a term-limited position, usually one or two years, working directly for a judge on research, bench memoranda and opinion drafting. The salary is modest for someone holding a Juris Doctor, and it is set by federal or state judiciary pay schedules rather than by any market. The reason people compete hard for these positions anyway is that a clerkship is a credential with unusual durability. It signals selection by a judge, it teaches how decisions are actually made from inside chambers, and firms recruiting clerks frequently pay a signing bonus on top of the standard associate scale that recovers much of the salary difference in a single payment. Federal appellate clerkships carry more weight than trial-level ones, and state supreme court clerkships are strong in their own state's market. Career clerks — the small number who stay permanently — occupy the upper part of this band. Employment is projected to grow 2.5% through 2034 with roughly 1,000 openings a year. → Full law clerk career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $64,920 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Law Clerks earn a national median $64,920/yr ($31.21/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 23-1012); the P10 to P90 range is $46,180 to $113,140.
- Clerkship pay is set by judiciary salary schedules, not by a market, and sits well below what the same qualification earns in practice — that is a structural feature of the position rather than an anomaly.
- The value is the credential and the training: selection by a judge, insight into how decisions are actually made, and hiring bonuses from firms that frequently offset much of the salary difference at once.
- Federal appellate clerkships carry the most weight nationally, while state supreme court clerkships are strongest within their own state's legal market.
US Law Clerk Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do law clerks 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 23-1012; 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 23-1012, 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 a law clerk earn at each career stage?
Clerkship pay follows the court's salary schedule and the clerk's prior experience, not performance. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 23-1012.
By State
Which states pay law clerks the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the national judicial law clerk median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Federal clerkship pay follows a national judiciary schedule with locality adjustment rather than a state market, so the modeled variation overstates the real spread for federal positions.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($74,660), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay law clerks 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. Clerkships exist wherever courts sit, which distributes them far more evenly across a state than private legal employment is distributed.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a law clerk’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 law clerk pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Law Clerks 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 law clerk wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a law clerk 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
Law Clerk Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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