Lawyer salary: what attorneys earn by employer type and location

If you are weighing a legal job offer or deciding whether law school pays off, start here: the typical US lawyer earned a median of $159,670 a year in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This guide shows how far pay stretches around that number by employer type and state, what the federal data leaves out, and how to use it to benchmark an offer.

A median is the middle salary: half of lawyers earned more, half earned less. Keep that in mind, because for lawyers the middle hides a very wide spread.

Quick reference: lawyer pay, May 2025

Percentiles split workers into ranked slices. The 25th percentile means a quarter of lawyers earned less than that figure; the 75th means three quarters earned less. The middle half of lawyers, the people between those two points, earned roughly $102,990 to $221,370.

These figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey for occupation code 23-1011, Lawyers. OEWS counts wage and salary workers only. Self-employed attorneys and law firm partners who own their firms are not in it. More on why that matters below.

What lawyers earn nationally

For context, the May 2025 median for all legal occupations was $102,500, and the median across every occupation in the economy was $50,980. So the middle lawyer earned about three times the middle US worker.

Pay is also only part of the national picture. BLS projects lawyer employment to grow 5% between 2025 and 2035, which it rates as faster than average, with about 28,700 openings a year. Most of those openings come from people retiring or leaving the field, not from brand-new jobs.

Why the pay range is so wide

The bottom tenth of lawyers earned under $78,360 in May 2025. The top tenth earned over $351,600. That is a gap of roughly four and a half times between those two points, which is unusually wide for a job that requires the same degree and license from everyone.

A few things drive it:

• Who pays the bill. A lawyer billing corporate clients at a large firm is funded very differently from a lawyer at a county legal aid office or a small-town general practice.
• Where the work is. State medians ranged from $91,690 in Mississippi to $207,860 in New York in May 2025 (see the state tables below).
• Practice area. BLS describes specialties from family and personal injury law to securities, tax and intellectual property. Patent work, for example, typically requires a science or engineering background and a separate exam from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Career stage. New lawyers usually start as associates. Some become partners, which BLS describes as partial owners of the firm. Owners' earnings fall outside the wage data entirely.

The practical point: "lawyers make $159,670" is true as a middle point, but it tells you little about your own offer. You need the slice that matches your employer type and location.

Pay by employer type: law firms, government and corporate legal departments

BLS publishes lawyer medians for the industries that employ the most attorneys. Here is the May 2025 picture, with each industry's share of lawyer jobs in 2025 where BLS gives one.

Law firms

Just over half of lawyers work in legal services, and their median sits close to the national figure. That middle number blends very different workplaces: large national firms, mid-size regional firms, boutiques and solo-adjacent small practices. The OEWS industry table does not split law firms by size, so it cannot tell you what a large-firm associate earns versus a small-firm associate. Treat the legal services median as a blended benchmark, not a target for any one firm.

Government

Surprising to many people: the federal government's median for lawyers was higher than the law firm median in May 2025. The data doesn't explain why. Location is one plausible factor, since so much federal legal work is based around Washington, D.C., so compare like with like. State and local government medians were noticeably lower.

Government lawyers are paid from published scales, not negotiated one-off. Federal attorney salaries follow the government's own pay system, and each federal job posting on USAJOBS states its grade and salary range. State attorneys general, district attorneys and public defender offices typically publish their own salary schedules or list the range on the posting. Use the employer's published scale as your source of truth rather than any average, and check whether it includes steps, locality adjustments or loan repayment programs.

Corporate legal departments

BLS describes in-house or corporate counsel as lawyers who work for a single organization and advise its executives. The OOH industry table above does not list a separate figure for them. In-house lawyers show up across many industries in OEWS, such as finance, insurance or the "management of companies" sector, and BLS publishes industry-by-occupation tables you can search. Open the OEWS May 2025 industry-specific estimates and choose the industry closest to your target employer, then look for code 23-1011.

One useful clue comes from the support side: paralegals in finance and insurance earned a median well above paralegals at law firms in May 2025 (see the comparison section). That does not prove the same gap for lawyers, but it is a reason to check the industry table rather than assuming law firm pay is the ceiling.

Highest-paying states and metro areas

State pay varies a lot. These are the states with the highest lawyer medians in the May 2025 OEWS state estimates.

And here are some large legal markets in the middle of the pack, plus the lowest median in the data:

A few patterns stand out:

• Washington, D.C. is its own world. It had 47.112 lawyer jobs per 1,000 jobs and a location quotient of 9.71, meaning lawyers make up close to ten times the national share of local employment. Its 10th percentile, $120,580, is higher than the full median in several states.
• The biggest markets are not always the best paid at the middle. Texas (56,580 lawyers) and Florida (55,210) are huge legal markets, yet their medians trail New York and California by a wide margin.
• The top end can be high even where the middle is modest. Florida's 90th percentile was $301,050 and Georgia's was $317,820, even though both states had medians well below the national figure.

Metro areas

OEWS also publishes estimates for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, which are more useful than state averages if you are deciding between, say, a downtown job and one two hours away. Use the OEWS May 2025 metropolitan area tables, pick your metro, and look for 23-1011. Small metros sometimes have few lawyers in the sample, so expect some blanks or wide ranges there.

Weighing pay against cost of living

A higher salary in New York or San Francisco can buy less than a lower one elsewhere. Before comparing offers across states, check a government cost measure such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities, and price out the two things that swing hardest: housing and taxes. Then compare what is left, not the headline salary.

What OEWS does not capture: partners and self-employed attorneys

This is the biggest blind spot in lawyer pay data, and it skews the picture in both directions.

BLS states plainly that its lawyer wage figures leave out people who work for themselves, along with the owners and partners of businesses that are not incorporated. Self-employed lawyers alone made up 11% of lawyer jobs in 2025.

What that means in practice:

• Equity partners are mostly missing. Many law firms are partnerships. Partners who share in the firm's profits are owners, so their draw is not a wage, and OEWS does not count it. The 90th percentile of $351,600 is therefore not "the top of the profession". It is the top of salaried lawyers.
• Solo practitioners are missing too. A solo lawyer's income depends on billings minus rent, staff, insurance and other overhead. Some earn far more than the salaried median and some far less. No federal survey in this data captures it.
• Bonuses may not line up. OEWS is a wage survey, and BLS's technical notes spell out which kinds of pay it counts. If an offer leans heavily on an annual or discretionary bonus, read those notes before comparing, because the median may not be measuring the same thing as your offer.
• Benefits are out. Retirement contributions, health coverage and loan repayment assistance are not in wage figures at all. In government jobs, those benefits can be a big part of the real package.

The honest takeaway: OEWS is the best free, consistent source for salaried lawyers, but it is not a measure of what lawyers "make" across the whole profession.

Paralegals and other legal roles compared

If you are mapping a legal career, or comparing a lawyer offer with a step-down or step-sideways role, here is how the May 2025 medians line up.

Paralegal pay follows a similar pattern to lawyer pay by employer, with one twist: law firms are not the top payer. In May 2025, paralegal medians were $81,470 in the federal government (excluding the postal service), $80,120 in finance and insurance, $63,370 in local government, $61,770 in legal services and $59,320 in state government. The bottom tenth of paralegals earned less than $44,740 and the top tenth more than $101,500.

By state, the May 2025 paralegal median was highest in the District of Columbia at $89,750, with Massachusetts at $77,640 and California at $77,390. Mississippi's was $46,180.

How to reach this pay level

BLS lays out the standard path:

1. College and law school. Plan on roughly 7 years of full-time study once you finish high school: a 4-year bachelor's degree, then 3 years of law school for a Juris Doctor (J.D.).
2. The bar exam and licensing. Each state's highest court sets its own admission rules, which typically include passing the bar exam and a character and fitness review. Practicing in a second state usually means meeting that state's requirements too, though BLS notes most states have reciprocity agreements that streamline the process.
3. Early experience. Summer jobs during law school and judicial clerkships often feed directly into first offers.
4. Associate to senior roles. New lawyers typically start as associates. From there, paths split: partnership, a move in-house, government, or opening your own practice.
5. Specialty credentials. Patent lawyers typically must pass the patent bar exam, and some tax lawyers add an LL.M. in tax. Specialization does not guarantee higher pay, but it can move you into narrower, better-paid markets.

After you are licensed, states may also require continuing legal education to keep your license active.

How to benchmark a legal offer

Here is a simple process using free official data.

1. Find the right slice. Start with the national median, then the industry table for your employer type, then the state or metro figure for your location. The closest match beats the broadest one.
2. Place the offer on the range. Compare it with the 25th, median and 75th percentiles for that slice. A newer lawyer will often land below the median. Someone with years of relevant experience has a case for the middle or above.
3. Line up the full package. Write down base salary, any guaranteed bonus, billable-hour expectations, retirement contributions, health coverage and loan repayment help. A lower base with a reasonable hours target and strong benefits can beat a higher base.
4. Check for a posted range. Several states and cities now require employers to include a pay range in job postings. If the posting lists one, that is your best evidence of what this employer has budgeted.
5. For government jobs, read the scale. The posted grade and step, or the office's salary schedule, set your pay. Negotiation room is often limited to where you start on the scale, so focus your ask there.

Example (hypothetical): you receive an offer from a firm in Texas that is just below the state's May 2025 median of $154,200, and you have four years of relevant litigation experience. The Texas 75th percentile was $223,390. That doesn't mean you'll get the 75th percentile, but it shows the market reaches well above the offer for experienced people, which supports asking for more.

A script you could use:

"Thank you, I'm excited about this role. Looking at BLS data for lawyers in Texas, the median was $154,200 in May 2025, and my four years of litigation experience put me above a typical starting point. Is there flexibility to bring the base closer to that, or above it?"

If the base salary is fixed:

"I understand the base is set. Could we look at a signing bonus, a guaranteed first-year bonus, or a lower billable-hours target instead?"

For a government role:

"I see the posting lists a range of steps. Given my prior experience, could I start at a higher step within the posted range?"

None of these guarantee a yes. They do show you have done your homework, which tends to make the conversation more concrete.

What to do next

• Pull your state's lawyer figures from the OEWS state estimates and note the 25th, median and 75th percentiles.
• If you're comparing employer types, open the industry tables and the employer's own posted range or pay scale before you respond to an offer.
• Price your full package, not just the base, and adjust for cost of living using a named official source.
• Keep reading our salaries by role guides, and see our negotiation section for more scripts.

BLS publishes new OEWS estimates once a year, so check the tables page for a newer release before you rely on these May 2025 figures.