Becoming a lawyer is not like having a walk in the park. You have to do a hard work to be a lawyer. You have to make a hard work in a college and on the LSAT in order to get into the law school, graduate from the school of law, get the job and pass the bar exam. And the question which arises frequently is, what is a lawyer salary?
What if someone asks you about what is a lawyer salary?
Well, we have made an article for making easy for you to know about the average salary of the lawyer.
So, let’s have a look at them!
The salary of a lawyer in the U.S was $115,820 in 2015according to the Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS). The hourly lawyer salary worked out to $55.69. Most of the lawyer makes bills according to their services.
The entry-level qualifications are strictly applied. Lawyers must have got the degree of J.D and must be admitted to the bar.
According to the BLS projects between 2014 and 2024, the number of the lawyers will increase by the 6%. It is about on par with the average over all the jobs (7%).
Not all the workers work as individual clients in a court. Some of them also work in the house for non-profits and corporations, some also work for the government and some works in intervention and negotiation.
Some of the lawyers get their own practices whereas some works at huge, multi-national firms.
All the facts mentioned above can make an effect on a lawyers salary. And also the geography can. There is a famous salary aggregating site called Glassdoor.
According to Glassdoor, the average salary of the lawyer should be $106,148. But the salary of the lawyers of the New York is $114,134 and the average salary of the lawyers of the Kansas City is $89,452.
According to the report of the BLS, the top-paying state for the lawyers is actually not a state; instead, it is the District of Columbia. There, the annual rate of the lawyer is $174,480.
There are many other states which pay high rates to the lawyers, including California, Massachusetts, Delaware, and the New York.
What about the areas of metro? The areas of the metro which pays the high rate to the lawyers is San Jose-Sunnyvale, CA. There, the average rate of the lawyers is $204,010 annually.
There are many other areas of the metro which pays the high rate for the lawyers, including San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco; Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, and a New York-Jersey City-White Plains.
The highest paying metro areas don’t mean that the area which consists of the highest attraction of the lawyers. According to the BLS, the area of the metro which has the highest concentration of the lawyers is the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.
But by hearing the name of the second-highest city with the concentration may make you surprised. It is Tallahassee, FL.
Other areas of the metro which has a high concentration of the lawyers include San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco and Philadelphia.
According to the American Bar Association report, then if the student is graduated from the public school, their salary will be up to $84,000 and if the student is graduated from the private school, their salary will be up to $122,158.
Moreover, many of the students of these graduates have got loans from their undergraduate education also.
According to the survey conducted by the National Association for Law Placement, the average starting salary of those who start with the large form from 700 or more lawyers will be starting from $160,000.
Well, they are the luckiest one because they can pay back their students loans very fast. They will be able to pay faster if they work at a firm which provides the awards bonuses.
Many other lawyers also take the advantage of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It is a program which offers the debt forgiveness for the layers who practices the public interest law.
Some of the schools of law also run their own version of debt repayment for the graduates who take part in the public-interest jobs.
But there are some of the lawyers who states doubt about that they will be able to pay back what they have owned. It is not sure that every lawyer from the law school will get a six-figure salary or a fix job at all.
If you are the one who lives in the expensive city or the one who has to run the whole family, it may be difficult for you to pay each of your salaries to pay off the debt.
Becoming a lawyer is not as easy as it seems to be. It is very time-consuming as well as very expensive undertaking. But your hard works will be returned back to you, the job career of the lawyer is financially and intellectually rewarding.
If you have done a hard work in a law school and got a good job, congrats! You will get the high-salary job. It will make your life settled.
Of course, you will get a high burden with the debt after graduation. For understanding and balancing the debt with other financial goals, consult with the financial advisor for better support.
