Where Lawyers Live and How Far Their Dollar Goes
We all know the legal market is in flux, still recovering from its 2007 downturn. But that recovery isn't even across the nation. As a recent ABA attorney population survey shows, some states, like Florida, have seen their legal sectors explode over the last ten years. Others are still well behind where they once were. (Sorry, Massachusetts.)
So where is the legal population increasing today? And more importantly, how far does your money go there?
Where the Legal Market Grows and How Far Your Cash Will Go
Where lawyers live is interesting on its own. But what's even more interesting is how much they pay in rent. According to a recent salary survey released by Robert Half Legal, the average first year, large firm associate can expect to make between $116,000 and $143,500 in 2016. We'll split the difference and go with an average of $130,000. We've applied that price to state costs of living to see what that salary looks like in relative dollars. (We know, salary and cost of living are much more dependent on the city, not state. We're painting in broad strokes here.)
The list below shows not just where lawyers are, but the relative worth of their salaries in each state.
22 States Ahead of the Curve
According to the ABA, the national lawyer population increased by 17.7 percent between 2005 and 2015, coming up to 1,300,705 lawyers total. That increase wasn't even, however. The following states all came out ahead of the curve. Some, like Florida and Utah, came out way ahead.
| State | Total Lawyers | % Increase | Relative Value of $130K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 74,258 | 53.3 | 131,573 |
| Utah | 8,413 | 46.1 | 133,744 |
| North Carolina | 23,136 | 33.7 | 141,765 |
| Arizona | 16,155 | 30.6 | 133,887 |
| North Dakota | 1,665 | 27.9 | 142,233 |
| Tennessee | 17,965 | 27.8 | 143,494 |
| Wyoming | 1,778 | 27.6 | 135,694 |
| Pennsylvania | 48,992 | 27.4 | 131,846 |
| Georgia | 31,349 | 25.7 | 141,453 |
| Delaware | 2,921 | 25.4 | 128,206 |
| Texas | 86,494 | 24.6 | 134,433 |
| Nevada | 6,858 | 24.3 | 132,379 |
| Colorado | 21,094 | 23.6 | 127,205 |
| D.C. | 52,089 | 22.3 | 110,448 |
| Kentucky | 13,448 | 21.3 | 145,899 |
| New York | 172,630 | 21.1 | 112,749 |
| Indiana | 15,883 | 20.5 | 142,233 |
| Idaho | 3,736 | 20.2 | 140,088 |
| South Carolina | 10,031 | 20 | 143,650 |
| California | 165,952 | 19.1 | 115,765 |
| Maryland | 23,902 | 18.5 | 117,221 |
| Alabama | 14,630 | 18.2 | 148,239 |
11 States Treading Water -- With Some Drowning
Some states have barely maintained growth in their legal markets, others have actually experienced negative growth. Illinois, for example, has the fifth largest legal population, but it's still has less lawyers today than in 2005. Here are the states where growth hasn't exceeded 10 percent in the last ten years:
| State | Total Lawyers | % Change |
Relative Value of $130K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 4,224 | -11.8 | 132,522 |
| Massachusetts | 43,974 | -11.7 | 121,160 |
| Illinois | 63,211 | -1 | 128,713 |
| Connecticut | 18,665 | 3.8 | 119,821 |
| Vermont | 2,272 | 5.1 | 129,740 |
| Alaska | 2,456 | 6.4 | 122,642 |
| Hawaii | 4,193 | 6.7 | 111,878 |
| Ohio | 38,849 | 7.7 | 145,093 |
| Nebraska | 5,361 | 7.8 | 143,169 |
| Mississippi | 7,059 | 8.6 | 149,773 |
| New Jersey | 41,569 | 9.1 | 113,542 |
Don't see your state? Consider yourself lucky! You're doing just well enough to go unnoticed.
Related Resources:
- The Young Attorney Balancing Act: How to Have a Career and a Life (ABA's Law Practice Today)
- What Are the Best Cities for Commuting to Work? (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Greedy Power Ranking: Top 5 Affordable Cities for Young Attorneys (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- What's the 'State of the Legal Market'? It's Not Pretty: Report (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)