January 2013
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.
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Median Reported Salaries by Employer Type in the 20 Cities Providing the Most Jobs
to the Class of 2011
| PRIVATE PRACTICE | BUSINESS | GOVERNMENT | ||||
| Median Salary |
# of Salaries Reported | Median Salary |
# of Salaries Reported | Median Salary |
# of Salaries Reported | |
| Atlanta | $90,000 | 183 | $80,000 | 47 | $58,500 | 26 |
| Baltimore | 74,000 | 41 | 65,250 | 14 | 49,000 | 23 |
| Boston | 160,000 | 234 | 75,000 | 35 | 47,157 | 38 |
| Chicago | 100,000 | 530 | 65,000 | 80 | 55,937 | 68 |
| Columbus | 75,000 | 64 | 70,000 | 10 | 45,000 | 31 |
| Dallas | 135,000 | 177 | 70,000 | 34 | 55,500 | 10 |
| Denver | 100,000 | 85 | 62,500 | 21 | 60,840 | 21 |
| Houston | 115,000 | 271 | 65,000 | 59 | 57,696 | 22 |
| Los Angeles | 160,000 | 363 | 68,500 | 32 | 59,953 | 20 |
| Miami | 70,000 | 173 | 80,000 | 16 | 40,000 | 41 |
| Minneapolis/St. Paul | 100,000 | 113 | 63,500 | 34 | 48,000 | 9 |
| New Orleans | 93,000 | 59 | — | — | 50,000 | 9 |
| New York City | 160,000 | 1,507 | 75,000 | 187 | 60,000 | 123 |
| Philadelphia | 115,000 | 149 | 75,000 | 19 | 49,600 | 37 |
| Phoenix | 91,250 | 54 | 75,000 | 8 | 58,996 | 14 |
| Pittsburgh | 100,000 | 63 | 48,600 | 34 | 48,367 | 5 |
| San Diego | 85,000 | 104 | 80,000 | 25 | 60,000 | 17 |
| San Francisco | 145,000 | 220 | 75,000 | 33 | 66,000 | 22 |
| Seattle | 110,000 | 83 | 69,250 | 20 | 58,150 | 20 |
| Washington, DC | 160,000 | 545 | 67,500 | 62 | 62,467 | 354 |
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, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC, the median is best thought of as a prevailing salary since at least half of the reported firm salaries in these cities were $160,000. For these 20 cities as a whole, 46% of law firm salaries were reported as $160,000, followed by 5% reported as $145,000. However, the true percentage of law firm salaries at these amounts is less than that because of disproportionate reporting of salaries in large firms. The extent of that over-reporting varies from city to city depending on the mix of firm sizes in each city. A dash indicates that fewer than five salaries were reported.
Source: NALP Employment Report and Salary Survey for the Class of 2011
