March 2016
This information is being made available for prospective law school applicants and others interested in the starting salaries of new law school graduates. Want to learn more about the entry-level job market for recent law school graduates? See NALP's annual Jobs & JDs report.
<< Return to complete salary information for the Class of 2014
| PRIVATE PRACTICE | BUSINESS | GOVERNMENT | ||||
| Median | Number of Salaries Reported |
Median | Number of Salaries Reported |
Median | Number of Salaries Reported |
|
| Atlanta | $115,000 | 187 | $62,000 | 39 | $60,000 | 25 |
| Austin | 96,000 | 61 | 52,500 | 10 | 49,000 | 32 |
| Baltimore | 75,000 | 41 | 65,000 | 21 | 52,073 | 66 |
| Boston | 160,000 | 264 | 75,000 | 58 | 45,000 | 35 |
| Charlotte | 130,000 | 66 | 68,000 | 29 | * | |
| Chicago | 140,000 | 609 | 65,000 | 123 | 59,170 | 92 |
| Cleveland | 100,250 | 88 | 63,000 | 14 | 53,000 | 13 |
| Columbus | 80,000 | 57 | 46,000 | 31 | 50,000 | 39 |
| Dallas | 160,000 | 244 | 73,000 | 42 | 57,525 | 8 |
| Denver | 110,000 | 97 | 65,000 | 31 | 53,498 | 26 |
| Houston | 160,000 | 259 | 75,000 | 81 | 63,000 | 21 |
| Indianapolis | 92,500 | 80 | 60,000 | 27 | 46,494 | 40 |
| Los Angeles | 160,000 | 452 | 75,000 | 68 | 44,100 | 35 |
| Miami | 70,000 | 167 | 67,500 | 20 | 40,000 | 54 |
| Minneapolis/St. Paul | 110,000 | 144 | 60,000 | 54 | 52,000 | 22 |
| New Orleans | 95,000 | 47 | 62,000 | 5 | * | |
| New York City | 160,000 | 2,074 | 80,000 | 303 | 61,000 | 147 |
| Philadelphia | 107,500 | 210 | 72,500 | 26 | 50,199 | 31 |
| Phoenix | 80,000 | 73 | 65,000 | 21 | 58,000 | 40 |
| Pittsburgh | 80,000 | 81 | 62,000 | 23 | 42,000 | 6 |
| San Diego | 95,000 | 143 | 71,000 | 16 | 61,500 | 19 |
| San Francisco | 160,000 | 256 | 75,000 | 62 | 68,000 | 24 |
| Seattle | 110,000 | 110 | 63,500 | 36 | 60,000 | 22 |
| St. Louis | 80,000 | 95 | 66,500 | 32 | 42,250 | 10 |
| Washington, DC | 160,000 | 653 | 65,000 | 65 | 63,000 | 310 |
Note: Figures are based on salaries for reported for full-time jobs lasting at least a year. The median is the mid-point in a ranking of reported salaries. However, because salaries in large firms are quite uniform and are disproportionately reported relative to salaries in small firms, law firm medians are generally more applicable to large firms in that city. In the case of Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, the median is best thought of as a prevailing salary since one half or more of the reported firm salaries in these cities were $160,000, and in fact very few salaries were more than $160,000. Thus, in cities such as New York and Washington, DC, where most law firm jobs taken by new law graduates are in large firms, the law firm median provides a truer measure of prevailing salaries than in a city such as San Diego where many jobs are in small firms.
* Fewer than five salaries for government jobs were reported.
