25 Best States for Lawyers

After spending a lot of time and money in law school, you want to make sure you’re in a great place for your career, which is where the best states for lawyers comes in handy.

Law is one of the most profitable fields, and lawyers are often considered some of the richest people in the community. The lawyers on Law & Order or most recently The People vs. OJ Simpson (they were real people, too, but you get my point) show that they’re competent, smart, and quick-witted. Not everyone can become a lawyer since it takes both college and law school and then on top of that the BAR exam in whatever state you want to practice. It costs a lot of money and nerve. It is, however, one of the most well-paying and respectable professions. In reality, there aren’t very many lawyers in the US. According to the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are only 609,930 lawyers. If we look at how the US has a population of about 300 million, you’ll see that there’s only about one lawyer per 500 people.

Since there are many types of law, there are a variety of types of lawyers. They’re generally split into two basic fields: criminal and civil. There are many specialized fields as well like family, corporate, financial, contract, constitutional, human rights, international, environmental, administrative law, and more. Probably the most challenging field is criminal law, which is most profitable in most countries. No matter the field, though, lawyers are paid well across the board. In the US, the mean hourly pay is $65.51 and the mean annual salary is $136,260, which is more than the average pay for all professions.

The main conditions for a lawyer’s work environment are that they earn enough money and they are not restricted by the state, which means the state has a developed legal system. To check out more about lawyer demands and the best cities for the lawyers, check out our list of 11 Cities with the Highest Demand for Lawyers. Since the US is a huge country with a lot of states, some cities are good and some are bad depending on salary and cost of living. In this article, however, we’re going to choose the best states for lawyers. To create this list, we’ve chosen the states where the salary is highest and the cost of living is lowest. We took the average pay and cost of living index from MERIC, the Missouri Department of Economic Development. We combined the two factors to get the average and rankings for our list. Here are the results:

25. Kansas

Hourly wage: $50.86

Cost of Living Index: 89.9

This state has 3,690 lawyers. If we look at the unemployment rate in this state, which is 4.2%, we can conclude that this state has a social responsibility to its own citizens, and in general, it provides good working and living condition.

24. Washington

Hourly wage: $59.62

Cost of Living Index: 105.2

Washington is a well-known state that isn’t much expensive. This state has 10,870 lawyers.

23. New York

Hourly wage: $74.55

Cost of Living Index: 131

New York employs 72,100 lawyers.

22. New Jersey

Hourly wage: $70.18

Cost of Living Index: 121.9

19,900 lawyers work in New Jersey.

21. California

Hourly wage: $78.37

Cost of Living Index: 135.9

California is very expensive. Only two states have a higher living cost index on Metric living cost index list than California. 72,790 lawyers work here.

20. Mississippi

Hourly wage: $49.6

Cost of Living Index: 85.9

The lawyer community has only 3,090 people.

19. Ohio

Hourly wage: $54.5

Cost of Living Index: 93.8

Ohio has about 15,770 lawyers. This state has a good relation between hourly wage and cost of living indicator, which is why it ranks on our list of the 25 best states for lawyers.

18. Utah

Hourly wage: $54.59

Cost of Living Index: 93

Utah has a very strong economy based mostly on petroleum products, tourism, and information technology. 4,420 lawyers work here as well.

17. Indiana

Hourly wage: $53

Cost of Living Index: 89.5

Indiana is very cheap for a living according to the cost of living index, which is 89.5. The number of lawyers in Indiana is 7,280.

16. Michigan

Hourly wage: $53.33

Cost of Living Index: 89

Michigan is also considered as a cheap state for lawyers. Hourly wage is $53.33. The numbers of lawyers in this state is 14,230.

15. Alabama

Hourly wage: $55.2

Cost of Living Index: 91.2

There are 5,240 in Alabama. This small number of lawyers in this state gives them the opportunity to choose which aspect of law they will cover or even better choice to cover all aspects of law which have deficit working labor.

14. Missouri

Hourly wage: $55.04

Cost of Living Index: 90.4

The hourly wage in Missouri is $55.04. The living cost index is 90.4 and this state has 9,800 lawyers.

13. Minnesota

Hourly wage: $61.69

Cost of Living Index: 100.8

In Minnesota there are 10,690 lawyers.

12. Arizona

Hourly wage: $60.41

Cost of Living Index: 98

This country has acceptable hourly wages for lawyers if we take into consideration the value of living cost index, which is 98.

11. Pennsylvania

Hourly wage: $63.02

Cost of Living Index: 101.4

Pennsylvania as the fifth most populous state in the US has 24,510 lawyers. The balance between two main indicators is good for this position of this list.

10. Florida

Hourly wage: $61.56

Cost of Living Index: 98.3

Florida is 22nd most expensive state in the United States and the third most populous. According to the numbers of lawyers, this is also the third state in the country. It has 46,770 lawyers.

9. Colorado

Hourly wage: $65.33

Cost of Living Index: 103.8

Colorado has a very balanced economy. The state has very low unemployment rate and the economy based on the tourism industry. Because of that, it is a good place for lawyers and there are 11,620 here.

8. Oklahoma

Hourly wage: $56.2

Cost of Living Index: 89.2

Next in line on our list of  best states for lawyers is Oklahoma that has very small number of lawyers, standing at 6,710.

7. North Carolina

Hourly wage: $59.59

Cost of Living Index: 93.9

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this state in 2010 was marked as the ninth wealthiest state in the country. If we see the economy through our indicators we will see that states proved good working conditions for lawyers. This state has 12,110 lawyers.

6. Illinois

Hourly wage: $60.54

Cost of Living Index: 94.6

Lawyers like to work in Illinois mostly because of the very good hourly wage and low cost of living. 30,220 lawyers work here.

5. Virginia

Hourly wage: $64.99

Cost of Living Index: 100.8

We are continuing our list of  best states for lawyers with Virginia that has 16,620 lawyers and is one of the best states to be a lawyer.

4. Tennessee

Hourly wage: $60.35

Cost of Living Index: 89.4

This state is 16th most populous state in the United States. The unemployment rate is 4.9 and the living cost index is 89.4.

3. Georgia

Hourly wage: $62.84

Cost of Living Index: 91.4

If you have just graduated from college and looking for the best state for practice law, Georgia, one of the best states for lawyers on our list is a good example for you. 15,130 lawyers work in this state.

2. Delaware

Hourly wage: $73.24

Cost of Living Index: 101.4

According to the number of lawyers in this state, we could say that is a very undercover market with a lot of possibilities. Only 2,970 lawyers work here. Looking at the GDP growth, we can conclude that is not very well ranked country in the United States but somehow the lawyer’s sector is very popular and well paid in this state.

1. Texas

Hourly wage: $68.98

Cost of Living Index: 90.7

The first place on the best states for lawyers list is Texas. This is the best place for lawyers for developing their business, starting a family, and having a good life filled with entertainment. 46,770 lawyers already work here.