1,374,720 Active Lawyers in 2026 – Salaries, Demographics, State Rankings & BigLaw Trends

Sonia Hickey, LawFuel contributing editor

Knowing how many lawyers are in the US tells you more than just a headcount.

It shows where the legal job market is heating up, how the profession is shifting demographically, what new graduates can realistically expect to earn, and how the structure of legal work is changing. 

Whether you’re considering law school, hiring counsel, or just curious about one of the country’s largest white-collar professions, the numbers tell a real story.

In this article, we’ve pulled the latest US lawyer statistics from a dozen authoritative sources to give you the most current and comprehensive picture available.

Number of lawyers in the US (2007-2025)

Top US Lawyer Statistics (Editor’s Picks)

We’ve handpicked 30+ of the latest US lawyer statistics, facts, and trends. Here are 6 that we believe will blow you away.

How Many Lawyers Are in the US?

There are 1,374,720 active lawyers in the US (American Bar Association)

This is the highest figure on record since the ABA began counting US lawyers in 1878. It works out to roughly one lawyer for every 240 Americans. The count includes everyone holding an active law license in any US state or territory, including in-house counsel, judges, and licensed attorneys in non-practicing roles.

The US lawyer population grew 1.38% from 2024 to 2025 (American Bar Association)

The US added 18,757 lawyers between 2024 and 2025. It was the first significant year-over-year jump since 2020, ending a five-year stretch where the lawyer population was essentially flat. The rebound was driven by an unusually large law school graduating class and the strongest entry-level legal job market in years.

The lawyer population has grown 5.6% over the past decade (American Bar Association)

The US has added 73,363 active lawyers since 2015. That’s a much slower pace than the 20th century, when the lawyer population grew nearly 800% between 1900 and 2000. Slower population growth, fewer law school applicants in the 2010s, and lawyers retiring later have all pulled the long-term growth rate down.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 731,340 employed lawyers (BLS)

The BLS counts lawyers differently from the ABA, which is why their number is much smaller. BLS surveys employers and excludes most self-employed lawyers and equity partners in unincorporated firms. If you want to know how many people can practice law, use the ABA. If you want to know how many people work as lawyers for an employer, use the BLS.

Lawyers by State

New York has the most lawyers of any state, at 190,015 (American Bar Association)

New York and California together account for roughly 27% of every active lawyer in the country. New York’s dominance reflects the concentration of corporate law, banking, and federal litigation in New York City, the largest legal market in the world. California follows closely with 181,048, then Texas at 99,867.

New York leads the country in lawyers per capita, with 9.6 per 1,000 residents (American Bar Association)

That’s more than double the national average of 4 per 1,000. Massachusetts ranks second at 5.7 per 1,000, and the District of Columbia tops everywhere if you count it separately. Per capita is a better way to measure a legal market’s density than total count alone.

South Carolina, Arizona, and Idaho have the fewest lawyers per capita (American Bar Association)

These three states each have about 2.1 lawyers per 1,000 residents, roughly half the national rate. Of the country’s 3,100 counties, 54 have no resident lawyer at all, and another 182 have only one or two. These “legal deserts” are concentrated in rural areas and have become a target for state bar pro bono programs.

The South region grew its lawyer population 11% over the past decade (American Bar Association)

Texas, North Carolina, Idaho, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands each grew their resident active lawyer population by more than 15% from 2015 to 2025. The Northeast lagged at 3% growth, and the Midwest actually shrank by 1.4%. Where lawyers practice has been quietly shifting south for years.

Here’s the breakdown of the top 10 states by active lawyer population:

Lawyer Demographics

41% of US lawyers are women in 2025 (American Bar Association)

Women are now 41.31% of active US lawyers, up from 34.72% a decade ago and just 27% in 2000. They’ve been the majority of law school students since 2016 and crossed 50% of law firm associates in 2023. The ABA projects gender parity in the overall lawyer population around 2026, meaning we’re right at the inflection point.

Only 24.8% of equity partners are women (NALP)

Despite making up 41% of the profession overall, women remain a minority at the top tier of law firm partnership. NALP’s 2024-25 Report on Diversity found women hold just 24.8% of equity partner seats, a 1.1 percentage point improvement from 2023. The pipeline gap is even sharper at the most profitable firms; the National Association of Women Lawyers has long tracked similar disparities at the AmLaw 200 level.

The median age of US lawyers is 46 (American Bar Association)

That’s nearly four years older than the median US worker, who’s 42.1. Out of 386 occupations the BLS tracks, lawyers rank 66th from oldest to youngest. The legal profession skews older for two reasons: a JD takes three years past undergrad, and lawyers tend to keep working past traditional retirement age.

13% of US lawyers are 65 or older (American Bar Association)

About 1 in 8 active lawyers is 65 or older, compared with just 7% of all US workers in that age bracket. This delayed retirement is one of the main reasons new graduates have been absorbed into the job market without dragging down employment rates. As that wave finally retires over the coming decade, openings should expand.

Lawyers of color make up about 21% of the profession (American Bar Association)

These figures come from the 24 states that collect race and ethnicity data, covering about 43% of all US lawyers. True national representation may be slightly higher than what the available data shows.

Here’s the breakdown of lawyers of color by group:

30% of law firm associates are lawyers of color, but only 10.2% of equity partners (NALP)

Associate diversity has nearly tripled over two decades, but the partner pipeline has not kept up. NALP’s 2024-25 data shows just 10.2% of equity partners are lawyers of color, a 0.6 percentage point gain from the prior year. Women of color crossed the 5% threshold of all partners for the first time in 2024, an incremental but notable milestone.

Lawyer Salary Statistics

The median annual wage for US lawyers is $151,160 (BLS)

That’s more than three times the median US worker wage of $49,500. The figure comes from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2024 and excludes most self-employed lawyers and equity partners, so the real top of the distribution sits well above what the headline number suggests.

The top 10% of lawyers earn more than $239,200 per year (BLS)

The 90th-percentile threshold is $239,200, but that’s actually a BLS reporting ceiling rather than a true top; any wage above $115/hour gets reported as $239,200. Partners at major law firms and senior in-house counsel commonly earn well into the seven figures. To crack the top of the lawyer pay scale, you’re looking at BigLaw partnership or specialized in-house roles at large companies.

The bottom 10% of lawyers earn less than $72,780 (BLS)

The lowest-earning 10% of lawyers concentrate on public-interest work, legal aid, government roles in low-cost-of-living regions, and the smallest firms. The spread from the bottom 10% to the top 10% is one of the widest in any white-collar profession. Where you practice and what you specialize in matters enormously for take-home pay.

Lawyer wages rose 19.2% over two years from 2021 to 2023 (American Bar Association)

That’s the biggest two-year leap in BLS records this century. The surge came from a combination of post-pandemic associate-pay raises at large law firms, persistent demand for senior practitioners, and competition for talent from in-house roles. Wage growth has since cooled but remains above the long-term trend.

The median starting salary for the class of 2024 was $95,000 (NALP)

NALP’s Jobs & JDs: Class of 2024 report found new law graduates earned a median of $95,000 across all employment types, up 5.6% from $90,000 for the class of 2023. The median rises to $160,000 for graduates who landed in private practice, although that figure actually declined 3% year-over-year because more grads ended up at smaller firms with lower pay scales.

Here’s the breakdown of lawyer wages by percentile:

Law Firm & BigLaw Statistics

The AmLaw 100 brought in $158.3 billion in revenue in 2024 (The American Lawyer)

The 100 largest US law firms by revenue grew their combined top-line 13.3% year-over-year. Profits per equity partner across the AmLaw 100 hit an average of $3.15 million, up 12.3%, while revenue per lawyer reached $1.28 million. Sixty-eight firms posted double-digit PEP growth, more than double the prior year’s count.

Kirkland & Ellis became the first US law firm to crack $10 billion in annual revenue (Above the Law)

The 2026 AmLaw 100 rankings, reflecting 2025 performance, showed Kirkland posting $10.56 billion in revenue, up 20% from the year before. The next-largest firm, Latham & Watkins, came in at $8.3 billion. Sixty-two firms cleared the $1 billion revenue threshold in 2025, up from 58 the year before, with 94 firms posting revenue gains overall.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz had the highest profits per equity partner at $12.15 million (Above the Law)

Wachtell’s PEP for 2025 was 34.5% higher than the year before, extraordinary growth for an already-elite firm. Kirkland was second at $11.12 million PEP, followed by Davis Polk at $9.8 million and Quinn Emanuel at $9.55 million. Across the entire AmLaw 100, average PEP rose 14% in 2025.

Solo practitioners run roughly 40% of all US law firms (Embroker, citing ABA data)

Despite the headlines focusing on BigLaw, the typical American law firm is small. Solo practices account for about 40% of all US law firms, and firms with fewer than six attorneys make up more than 75% of the total. The two ends of the profession, solo practitioners and AmLaw 100 partners, have less in common than two random white-collar workers in different industries.

The average AmLaw 25 partner billed $1,349 per hour in 2025 (Wolters Kluwer LegalVIEW)

Wolters Kluwer’s LegalVIEW Insights report, based on more than $200 billion in actual legal invoice data, found AmLaw 25 partner rates averaged $1,349 per hour, while the blended rate for all timekeepers at those firms reached $1,027. For specialized M&A work at top-25 firms, partner rates average $1,680 per hour, per Brightflag’s 2025 billing data.

Senior partners at the elite US firms now bill up to $4,000 per hour (LawVision, via the 2026 Early Indicators Report)

Some senior partners at the most prestigious firms are charging $2,000 to $4,000 per hour as of 2026, rates that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. At least 17 major firms set standard rates between $2,400 and $2,875 for senior partners by the end of 2025, doubling the count of firms in that bracket year-over-year. Third-year associates at top firms now bill above $1,000 per hour.

79% of legal professionals now use AI in their work (Clio)

Clio’s 2025 Legal Trends Report, covering tens of thousands of US legal professionals, found AI usage in law firms jumped from 19% in 2023 to 79% in 2025. Adoption is highest at large law firms (87%) and lower at solo firms (71%), but solo lawyers are growing their software spend at 56% annually, more than double the industry average.

In-House Counsel Statistics

The ACC has more than 48,000 in-house counsel members across 117 countries (Association of Corporate Counsel)

The Association of Corporate Counsel, the largest global organization for in-house lawyers, counts over 48,000 members at more than 12,000 organizations. In-house has been the fastest-growing segment of the US legal profession over the past two decades, as companies have increasingly built out internal legal departments rather than outsourcing all work to firms.

17% of in-house counsel anticipate a job change within the next year (ACC)

The ACC and Empsight International’s 2025 Law Department Compensation Survey, based on 1,637 in-house respondents, found 17% of in-house lawyers expect to change jobs in the next 12 months, down from 20% in 2024. The cooling reflects a tighter overall in-house market and the hiring pullback that followed the post-pandemic legal hiring surge.

The median in-house legal department spends $1.8 million on outside counsel (ACC)

ACC’s 2024 benchmarking survey of legal departments found a median outside legal spend of $1.8 million, while the top quartile of departments spent at least $11.2 million annually. As legal departments grow and matters become more complex, the share of legal work going to outside firms has been climbing along with billing rates.

Law School & Bar Exam Statistics

120,039 students were enrolled in JD programs in fall 2025 (American Bar Association)

Total JD enrollment at ABA-accredited law schools rose 4% from fall 2024. If you add LL.M., master’s, and certificate programs, total law school enrollment hits 145,116, the highest in over a decade. The growth signals that interest in legal careers is clearly back after the post-2010 slump.

42,817 students began law school in fall 2025 (American Bar Association)

The fall 2025 first-year class was 7.9% larger than the year before, the biggest 1L cohort since 2010. Of those admitted, 41,847 came in with an LSAT score, 531 with a GRE, 127 via the JD-Next test, and 312 without any standardized test at all. Application volume is up another 20%+ for the 2026 cycle, so the next class is on track to be even larger.

93.4% of the class of 2024 were employed within 10 months of graduation (NALP)

NALP’s Jobs & JDs: Class of 2024 report set the record for highest-ever law graduate employment rate in nearly four decades of tracking, beating the previous record set by the class of 2023. Only 5.1% of the class of 2024 grads were unemployed as of March 2025, an all-time low. Of employed graduates, 84.3% landed jobs requiring or anticipating bar admission, also a record.

Just 0.8% of the class of 2024 went solo, a record low (NALP)

Of the 38,937 graduates from the class of 2024, only 174 started their own solo practice straight out of law school, a record low. The figure has been dropping steadily since 2011, when solo practice was a much more common landing spot for new grads. The legal job market is now strong enough that even the largest graduating class since 2012 had no need to fall back on hanging out a shingle.

The first-time bar pass rate in 2025 was 84.10% (American Bar Association)

First-time pass rates climbed from 83.02% in 2024. The “ultimate” two-year pass rate, the share of grads who pass any bar within two years of graduation, reached 92.15% to 92.25% for the class of 2023. Schools must keep their two-year pass rate above 75% to maintain ABA accreditation.

The July 2025 bar exam had a national MBE mean of 142.4 (National Conference of Bar Examiners)

The Multistate Bar Examination’s national mean scaled score hit 142.4 in July 2025, the highest July MBE mean since 2013, excluding pandemic-affected 2020 administrations. About 46,959 candidates sat for the July 2025 MBE, and roughly 77% were first-time test-takers. Strong first-timer performance drove the overall increase.

Lawyer Mental Health & Well-Being

33% of lawyers reported experiencing depression in 2025 (ALM Intelligence Mental Health Survey)

ALM and Law.com’s 2025 Mental Health Survey of more than 3,100 legal professionals found self-reported depression dropped three points to 33%, the lowest reading since 2019. Anxiety affected 68.7% of respondents, also down slightly. It’s the first measurable improvement in lawyer mental health since the end of the pandemic, though severe stressors remain widespread.

28% of lawyers met clinical criteria for depression in the landmark ABA-Hazelden study (ABA & Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation)

The 2016 ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation study of nearly 13,000 attorneys remains the foundational national dataset on lawyer behavioral health. It found 28% of lawyers experience depression, 19% experience anxiety, 21% qualify as problem drinkers, and 11% report drug-use issues. The ABA, the New York City Bar, and the University of Minnesota are now running a 10-year follow-up study to refresh the data.

Between 10% and 12% of lawyers have contemplated suicide (ABA Committee on Litigation)

That rate is more than double the 4.2% rate in the general US adult population. The ABA cites overcommitment to work, perfectionism, billable-hour pressure, and isolation as key drivers. Lawyer assistance programs operate in every US state; most are free and confidential, and bar associations widely encourage their use.

43% of legal professionals say mental health and substance use are at “crisis level” in the profession (ALM Intelligence)

That figure dropped six percentage points from 2024, an improvement, but still alarmingly high. About 36% of attorneys reported being able to use all of their allotted time off in 2025, suggesting law firms are taking workload concerns more seriously than they did even a few years ago. Over 70% of respondents said political polarization is now affecting their mental health.

US Lawyer Job Outlook

Lawyer employment is projected to grow 4% from 2024 to 2034 (BLS)

The projected growth rate for lawyers is roughly in line with the 3% average across all US occupations. Demand drivers include continued business and individual demand for legal services, while pricing pressure, automation, and outsourcing of routine work pull growth down a bit below historical norms.

About 31,500 lawyer job openings are projected each year through 2034 (BLS)

Most of those openings come from replacement need, lawyers leaving the profession through retirement or career changes, rather than newly created roles. With roughly 39,000 to 43,000 JD graduates entering the profession each year, supply is running ahead of net new demand. The strong 2024 employment outcomes suggest the market is absorbing graduates better than it did in the post-2010 oversupply era.

Conclusion

The US legal profession is bigger, busier, and more financially extreme than it has ever been.

There are now 1,374,720 active lawyers in the country. The class of 2024 set an employment record, AmLaw 100 firms posted their best year in a generation, and AI has gone from novelty to mainstream tool in just two years. At the same time, 1 in 8 lawyers is past traditional retirement age, women are still vastly underrepresented in equity partnerships, and roughly a third of lawyers report depression.

Looking ahead, the next ABA Profile of the Legal Profession drops in late 2026 and will tell us whether the rebound that started in 2025 has held, or whether it was a one-year bump driven by an unusually large class of graduates landing in an unusually strong job market.

FAQ

How many lawyers are there in the US in 2026?

The most recent verified count is 1,374,720 active lawyers as of 2025, per the American Bar Association. The 2026 figure won’t be released until late 2026.

What factors affect the size of the US lawyer population?

The two biggest drivers are law school graduation rates and retirement rates among older lawyers. Bar exam pass rates and changes to admission requirements also matter at the margin.

Why is knowing the lawyer count important?

It tells you how competitive the legal job market is, where demand is concentrated geographically, and how the profession is changing year over year. The number is a starting point for both prospective law students and clients trying to understand the legal market.

How much does a US lawyer make on average?

The median annual wage was $151,160 in May 2024, per the BLS. New law graduates earn a median of $95,000 in their first job, per NALP. Senior partners at top AmLaw firms commonly earn well into the seven figures. Wachtell led the AmLaw 100 in 2025 with profits per equity partner of $12.15 million.

Which state has the most lawyers per capita?

New York leads at 9.6 active lawyers per 1,000 residents, more than double the national average of 4 per 1,000. Massachusetts and the District of Columbia round out the top three.