Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries
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Lawyers
Lawyers represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. May specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law.
Table of contents
- Average salary
- Starting salary
- Salary rank
- Salary range
- Highest paying states
- Highest paying industries
Average salary
Starting salary
Entry-level Lawyers with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $61,490 to $84,450 per year or $30 to $41 per hour. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.
Salary rank
We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Lawyers to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.
Salary range
| Level | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Highest (Top 10%) | $100+ | $208,000+ |
| Senior (Top 25%) | $91 | $189,520 |
| Middle (Mid 50%) | $61 | $126,930 |
| Junior (Bottom 25%) | $41 | $84,450 |
| No experience (Bottom 10%) | $30 | $61,490 |
Highest paying states
| State | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| DC | $95 | $197,100 |
| CA | $86 | $179,470 |
| NY | $84 | $174,060 |
| MA | $81 | $169,120 |
| CT | $76 | $158,190 |
| IL | $74 | $153,720 |
| VA | $73 | $151,970 |
| NJ | $73 | $151,550 |
| CO | $71 | $148,330 |
| TX | $69 | $142,730 |
Another simple way to increase your salary as a Lawyer is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like DC doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at DC might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.
According to BLS, the highest paid Lawyers are in the states of DC, CA, NY, MA and CT.
Highest paying industries
| Salary by industry | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Specialized Design Services | $233400 | $112.21 |
| Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing | $221000 | $106.25 |
| Motion Picture and Video Industries | $218360 | $104.98 |
| Cable and Other Subscription Programming | $216860 | $104.26 |
| Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing | $208460 | $100.22 |
| Scientific Research and Development Services | $206600 | $99.33 |
| Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing | $205640 | $98.87 |
| Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction | $203870 | $98.01 |
| Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services | $202120 | $97.18 |
| Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events | $202000 | $97.11 |
| Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities | $201880 | $97.06 |
| Home Health Care Services | $198670 | $95.51 |
| Monetary Authorities-Central Bank | $197060 | $94.74 |
| Credit Intermediation and Related Activities | $196300 | $94.37 |
| Oil and Gas Extraction | $192670 | $92.63 |
| Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing | $192000 | $92.31 |
| Specialty Hospitals | $191990 | $92.30 |
| Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing | $191870 | $92.24 |
| Nondepository Credit Intermediation | $191580 | $92.10 |
| Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers | $191260 | $91.95 |
| Natural Gas Distribution | $190600 | $91.63 |
| Communications Equipment Manufacturing | $189830 | $91.27 |
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods | $188060 | $90.41 |
| Software Publishers | $187570 | $90.18 |
| Other Food Manufacturing | $187170 | $89.99 |
| Telecommunications | $186330 | $89.58 |
| Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing | $184790 | $88.84 |
| Computer Systems Design and Related Services | $184770 | $88.83 |
| Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing | $184740 | $88.82 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | $184640 | $88.77 |
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