Lawyer salary in District of Columbia
Official occupation: 23-1011 Lawyers · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100
In District of Columbia, the median lawyer earns $195,190 a year, 22% above the United States median of $159,670.
That is the 2nd-highest median among the 51 states with a published figure.
Pay is widely spread: the top 10% earn at least $392,750, 3.3 times the $120,580 that marks the bottom 10%.
District of Columbia has 33,070 of these jobs, a location quotient of 9.71: the role is 871% more concentrated here than nationally.
For context, the median across all occupations in District of Columbia is $91,540, so this role pays 2.1 times the local typical wage.
Published figures
| Measure | District of Columbia | National |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual pay Observed | $195,190 | United States: $159,670 |
| Mean annual pay Observed | $242,800 | United States: $185,840 |
| 10th percentile Observed | $120,580 | United States: $78,360 |
| 25th percentile Observed | $172,060 | United States: $102,990 |
| 75th percentile Observed | $360,310 | United States: $221,370 |
| 90th percentile Observed | $392,750 | United States: $351,600 |
| Median hourly pay Observed | $93.84 | United States: $76.76 |
| Employment (jobs) Observed | 33,070 | |
| Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed | 47.112 | |
| Location quotient Observed | 9.71 | |
| Difference from United States median ($159,670) Derived | +22% | |
| Rank among 51 states Derived | 2 | |
| Ratio to District of Columbia all-occupation median ($91,540) Derived | 2.13× | |
| 90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived | 3.26 |
Nearby in the ranking
- 1. New York$207,860
- 2. District of Columbia$195,190
- 3. California$195,080
- 4. Massachusetts$176,680
Largest cities in District of Columbia: Washington, Downtown DC, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Central 14th Street / Spring Road (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.
More pay data
- All roles in District of Columbia
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Source, method and data quality
- Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (Public domain (U.S. Government work)). Reference period: May 2025. Updates: Yearly (spring release).
- Observed figures are copied from the published table without adjustment. Derived figures (rankings, ratios and differences) are calculated by us from those observed figures. No figure on this page is modeled or estimated.
- Relative standard error (PRSE) published per estimate.
- Confidence score: 95/100. Based on the published sampling error and job count. We only publish region pages scoring 60 or more that have at least 6 observed figures.
- Place hierarchy from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Data last updated: .
- Full method: methodology.