what is a starting salary for attorney

by Nya Greenfelder 5 min read

According to a 2017 survey from the National Association of Law Placement, the median starting salary in all firms in the private sector for a new lawyer was $135,000. That means that half of new lawyers earned more and half earned less. For law firms with over 500 employees, the median starting wage was $160,000.

What is the estimated beginning salary of a lawyer?

A good starting salary for an attorney is $50,000 in the United States. That puts you in the 10th percentile of annual income for an attorney in the U.S., which is about what you would expect if you were new to the field. The average salary for attorneys is $86,966, but that normally requires some level of experience to achieve. Furthermore, a good starting salary for an attorney can …

How much can a lawyer expect to get paid?

Mar 09, 2022 · The average salary for an Entry-Level Attorney is $60,136. Visit PayScale to research entry-level attorney salaries by city, experience, skill, employer and more. Products

What type of lawyers make the most money?

Mar 15, 2022 · An entry-level Attorney / Lawyer with less than 1 year experience can expect to earn an average total compensation (includes tips, …

What is the starting pay for a lawyer?

Dec 13, 2021 · The estimated total pay for a Attorney is $119,607 per year in the United States area, with an average salary of $100,975 per year. These numbers represent the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users. The estimated additional pay is $18,632 per year. Additional pay …

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How much does a Lawyer make?

The average annual pay for a Lawyer in Chicago is $80,743 an year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approxima...

What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Lawyer Jobs?

San Francisco, CA($103,354)Fremont, CA($99,046)San Jose, CA($96,326)Oakland, CA($95,244)Tanaina, AK($94,892)Wasilla, AK($94,891)Hayward, CA($93,249...

What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Lawyer Jobs in the U.S.?

Corporate Lawyer($163,166)Vice President Lawyer($141,378)Online Corporate Lawyer($103,066)Flexible Corporate Lawyer($102,021)Technology Lawyer($96,...

How much does an Attorney in United States make?

The national average salary for an Attorney is $112,602 per year in United States. Filter by location to see an Attorney salaries in your area. Sal...

What is the highest salary for an Attorney in United States?

The highest salary for an Attorney in United States is $215,666 per year.

What is the lowest salary for an Attorney in United States?

The lowest salary for an Attorney in United States is $58,791 per year.

What is the an Attorney career path and salary trajectory?

If you are thinking of becoming an Attorney or planning the next step in your career, find details about the role, the career path and salary traje...

Featured Content

New research shows that each woman experiences the disparity of gender pay gap in different ways, depending on her position, age, race and education.

What is the Pay by Experience Level for Entry-Level Attorneys?

An entry-level Entry-Level Attorney with less than 1 year experience can expect to earn an average total compensation (includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of $60,405 based on 149 salaries. An early career Entry-Level Attorney with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation of $60,420 based on 147 salaries. …Read more

What Do Entry-Level Attorneys Do?

Entry-level attorneys are normally employed in larger law firms for work that must be performed by persons with legal training. As the most inexperienced lawyers at a firm, entry-level attorneys may not be asked to present a casein a courtroom.

Job Satisfaction for Entry-Level Attorney

Based on 10 responses, the job of Entry-Level Attorney has received a job satisfaction rating of 3.9 out of 5. On average, Entry-Level Attorney s are highly satisfied with their job.

Gender Breakdown

This data is based on 107 survey responses. Learn more about the gender pay gap.

Featured Content

New research shows that each woman experiences the disparity of gender pay gap in different ways, depending on her position, age, race and education.

Gender Breakdown

This data is based on 3,001 survey responses. Learn more about the gender pay gap.

How much should you negotiate?

See how your offer stacks up to other pay packages and negotiate confidently.

Recent Salary Reports

Below are the most recent attorney salary reports. Employer name has been removed to protect anonymity.

How much does an Entry Level Lawyer make?

As of Sep 2, 2021, the average annual pay for an Entry Level Lawyer in the United States is $47,318 a year.

What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Entry Level Lawyer Jobs

We’ve identified 10 cities where the typical salary for an Entry Level Lawyer job is above the national average. Topping the list is San Jose, CA, with Oakland, CA and Tanaina, AK close behind in the second and third positions.

What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Entry Level Lawyer Jobs in the U.S

We found at least five jobs related to the Entry Level Lawyer job category that pay more per year than a typical Entry Level Lawyer salary. Top examples of these roles include: Attorney Partner, Health Care Attorney, and Healthcare Attorney.

How many hours do lawyers work?

As most lawyers will tell you, though, the typical work week at a law firm tends to be a lot longer than 40 hours. According to 2017 data from U.S. New and World Report, the average salary for lawyers in the U.S. is $141,890.

How much debt do law students have?

That degree won’t come cheap: The American Bar Association reports that law students rack up an average student debt burden of $84,000 if they graduate from a public school and $122,158 if they graduate from a private school. Some of these graduates have loans from their undergraduate education, too.

Is being a lawyer a good job?

Becoming a lawyer is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, but can lead to a financially and intellectually rewarding career. If you can succeed in law school and get good jobs and internships along the way, you’ll have a good shot at a high salary.

How much should you negotiate?

See how your offer stacks up to other pay packages and negotiate confidently.

Recent Salary Reports

Below are the most recent first year attorney salary reports. Employer name has been removed to protect anonymity.

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.

General Schedule (GS)

For positions which use the General Schedule for salary assignment, updated scales are available on the Office of Personnel Management website.

Administratively Determined (AD) Pay Plan

The Administratively Determined (AD) Pay Plan is a component-specific compensation system for Assistant United States Attorneys, Supervisory Assistant United States Attorneys, Senior Litigation Counsel, Special Assistant United States Attorneys and United States Attorneys established under authority of 28 United States Code 548, Salaries, and approved by the Attorney General.

Senior Executive Service (SES)

Certain positions are classified as Senior Executive Service, and those salaries are assigned differently. Learn more about SES on the Office of Personnel Management website.

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