How Much Do Lawyers Make?

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David Keech
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How much do lawyers make?

Lawyers have higher median incomes than people working in other law-related occupations. However, location, industry, and experience also affect earnings. USAFacts dug into the data for the industries, states, and metro areas where lawyers earn the most — and least. 

  • In May 2022, the median annual wage for lawyers was $135,740.

  • The same four states (and Washington, DC) ranked highest for median salaries both before and after adjusting for cost of living. Washington, DC, lawyers had a median salary of $177,880. The median in California was $175,680, $172,880 in New York, $161,530 in Massachusetts, and $151,960 in Rhode Island.

  • Lawyers in Mississippi earned a median of $80,540, the lowest in the nation followed by Kentucky and Wyoming at $82,540. When adjusted for cost of living, the states where lawyers earned the least were Hawaii ($89,571), Vermont ($86,403), and Maine ($84,769).
Bar chart showing top 10 lawyer wages by annual and cost-of-living adjusted medians

  • When adjusted for the cost of living, lawyers in Michigan’s Midland metro area had the highest average salary, at $203,051. Lawyers in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff, both in Arkansas, and Muncie, Indiana, made the least (ranging from $64,520 to $67,970).

  • Median lawyer pay is higher than judges and hearing officers ($128,610); arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators ($64,030); court reporters and simultaneous captioners ($63,560); and paralegals/legal assistants ($59,200).

See the earnings data by state.
 

How much do states spend on prisoners?

At the end of 2021, more than 1 million people were incarcerated in the US. What states spend per inmate varies, which is understandable given their population and budget differences. Still, Bureau of Justice Statistics data shows that this difference ranges by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Map of state corrections expenditures per prisoner

  • State governments spent a combined $64 billion in 2021. The median state spent $64,865 per prisoner. Arkansas spent the least, at just under $23,000 per prisoner, while Massachusetts spent far over the median: $307,468 per prisoner.

  • Most state prison budgets pay for day-to-day operations, including officer salaries. The 2023 average annual salary for correctional officers was $58,921.

  • Some states also fund drug treatment centers and juvenile justice initiatives. Funding doesn’t usually include jails, which hold people awaiting trial or people with sentences of a year or less.

  • Massachusetts also had the nation’s lowest imprisonment rate, with 116 prisoners per 100,000 adults. Maine followed with 130 per 100,000, then Rhode Island (152) and Vermont (153).

Which states had the highest incarceration rates? Get the answer and more spending data here.
 

Data behind the news

Last week, the Biden administration proposed changes to the nation’s asylum system, altering when migrants can be found ineligible to apply for (or receive) asylum. Here’s how many people seek asylum in the US.

President Joe Biden recently paused an arms shipment to Israel due to concerns about an assault on the city of Rafah, officials said. See the data on the aid the US has given Israel.

A federal judge fined a Tennessee-based cleaning company nearly $650,000 for hiring dozens of children to work in meatpacking plants. Is child labor increasing in the US? Get the answers.

Weekly fact quiz time: Let’s see if you know the latest data.
 

One last fact
Map showing where people lack health insurance

In 2022, the share of people without health insurance ranged from 2.4% in Massachusetts to 16.6% in Texas. Nine states had uninsured rates above 10%, while nine more and Washington, DC, had rates below 5%.

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David Keech
Author: David Keech

David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]

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