Lawyer Salary by State in the US (2026): All 51 Jurisdictions Ranked

Nationally, lawyers in the United States had a median annual wage of about USD 159,670 in May 2025, across roughly 754,500 wage and salary positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme. That single number is the one most often quoted and the one least useful to an individual lawyer, because the spread underneath it is enormous. New York's median is more than double Mississippi's.

Below is every state and the District of Columbia, ranked. Read the caveats after the table before you draw a conclusion from it, because there are three, and each one is capable of reversing the ranking for your own situation.

All 51 jurisdictions by median lawyer wage

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 23-1011 Lawyers. Figures are medians for wage and salary workers and exclude most self employed lawyers, which matters more in small firm states than in large firm ones.

Caveat one: the state number hides the metro

State medians average a whole state, and legal work is not distributed evenly across a state. California's median is about USD 195,080, but within it the San Jose metropolitan area recorded a lawyer median near USD 301,320 in May 2025, the highest metro figure in the country, while San Francisco sat near USD 212,500 and Los Angeles near USD 194,410. New York state's median of USD 207,860 similarly conceals a New York metro figure near USD 208,880 and much lower numbers upstate.

The same effect works in reverse. North Carolina's state median is about USD 127,710, but the Charlotte metropolitan area came in near USD 157,180, roughly thirty thousand dollars above its own state. If you are deciding where to practise, the metro number is the one that describes your actual market.

The pattern in the rankings

Read down the table and four groups separate out cleanly.

At the top sit the financial and government centres: New York, the District of Columbia, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and New Jersey. These are the markets where large firms, investment banks, technology companies, and federal agencies compete for the same lawyers, and where the large firm pay scale sets the floor for everyone else.

Just below them sit the specialist anomalies. Delaware at fifth is the clearest example, and it is not a large state. It ranks that high because the Court of Chancery makes it the venue for a disproportionate share of American corporate litigation, so a small bar does unusually valuable work. Alaska at sixteenth is a different anomaly, driven by a small legal market, high public sector pay, and the cost of living in a remote state rather than by corporate work.

The large diversified states cluster in the middle: Texas, Washington, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and Michigan. All have at least one substantial legal centre and a long tail of smaller markets, which pulls the state median towards the middle regardless of how strong the leading city is.

At the bottom sit predominantly rural and small firm states: Mississippi, Arkansas, Wyoming, Kentucky, South Dakota, and West Virginia. In these markets most legal work is small firm and individual client work, government pay scales are lower, and there is no large firm tier to lift the top of the distribution. Note also that the survey undercounts these states most, because it largely excludes the self employed.

Caveat two: the median is not the shape of the distribution

Lawyer pay is not a bell curve. Entry level salaries in particular follow a well documented bimodal pattern, described in the National Association for Law Placement's annual salary work: a large cluster of new graduate salaries in the double digit thousands, and a second, much narrower peak at the large firm market rate, with comparatively little in between.

The practical consequence is that a state median tells you almost nothing about what you personally will earn there. Two lawyers admitted the same year in the same city, one at a large firm and one at a legal aid office, are often separated by a factor of three. That distribution is examined in detail in attorney salary by practice area.

A state median answers the question "what do lawyers here earn". It does not answer "what will I earn here". Those are different questions and only the second one matters when you are choosing a job.

Caveat three: cost of living reorders the table

The top of the table is dominated by expensive places. New York, the District of Columbia, California, and Massachusetts all combine high legal wages with high housing costs and, in most cases, high state and local income tax. Several states in the lower half have no state income tax at all.

Run the comparison properly before moving. A wage that is twenty percent higher in a metro where housing costs sixty percent more is a pay cut. The states that most often surprise people on this measure are Texas, Tennessee, and Nevada, all of which sit respectably in the table and none of which levy a state income tax on wages.

What actually moves an individual lawyer up the range

Four factors explain most of the variation between two lawyers in the same state, and geography is only one of them.

Employer type. Under the May 2025 federal data, lawyers employed in the federal executive branch numbered about 40,220 with a median near USD 178,380, while lawyers in local government numbered about 67,050 with a median near USD 131,350 and those in state government about 52,910 with a median near USD 115,330. Public sector legal work pays predictably, and federal pays materially more than state or local. The trade offs are set out in government attorney jobs.

Firm size. The single largest lever early in a career. The large firm market pays a published, uniform scale that has nothing to do with the state median, examined in how to get into BigLaw.

Practice area. Corporate, intellectual property, and regulated industry work sit well above family, immigration, and criminal defence in almost every market, as set out in corporate lawyer salary.

Years in. The federal survey reports a median across all experience levels. A lawyer ten years qualified in a low ranked state routinely earns more than a first year in a high ranked one.

Frequently asked questions

Which state pays lawyers the most?

New York, with a median annual wage near USD 207,860 in May 2025, followed by the District of Columbia at about USD 195,190 and California at about USD 195,080. At metropolitan level the highest figure in the country was the San Jose area at about USD 301,320.

Which state pays lawyers the least?

Mississippi, with a median near USD 91,690, followed by Arkansas at about USD 98,880 and Wyoming at about USD 100,130. Cost of living in those states is also well below the national average, so the gap in real terms is narrower than the raw figures suggest.

What is the average lawyer salary in the US?

The May 2025 national median was about USD 159,670 and the national mean about USD 185,840. The mean sits well above the median because a relatively small number of very high earners pull the average up, which is why the median is the more honest figure to quote.

Do these figures include self employed lawyers?

Largely no. The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey covers wage and salary workers, so solo practitioners and equity partners taking profit distributions are mostly outside it. In states with a high proportion of small firm practice, the published median therefore understates what the legal market as a whole earns.

Should I move state for a higher legal salary?

Only after adjusting for housing, state income tax, and bar admission. Moving usually means qualifying again, which for a lawyer means either transferring a Uniform Bar Examination score within its portability window, applying for admission on motion where the state allows it, or sitting a new exam. That cost is real and belongs in the calculation.

Why is my offer so far below my state's median?

Most likely because the median covers all experience levels and all employers, including senior lawyers at large firms. A first year offer at a small firm or a public sector employer sitting well below the state median is normal, not a signal that the offer is unfair.

The bottom line

Use the table to understand the market, not to price yourself. The state you practise in explains less of your income than your employer type, your firm's size, and your practice area do, and the metro figure inside your state is far more informative than the state figure itself. If you are weighing a move, adjust for tax and housing first and for admission cost second, and only then look at the ranking.

Ready to compare live roles? Browse our US legal jobs board, and see the support side in paralegal salary in the US.

This article is a general 2026 guide, not legal, career, or financial advice. All wage figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates for May 2025, covering wage and salary workers only and excluding most self employed practitioners. Estimates are revised annually. Verify current figures with the BLS (bls.gov) and entry level salary distribution data with NALP (nalp.org).