Lawyer salary in New York
Official occupation: 23-1011 Lawyers · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100
In New York, the median lawyer earns $207,860 a year, 30% above the United States median of $159,670.
That is the 1st-highest median among the 51 states with a published figure.
Pay is widely spread: the top 10% earn at least $391,420, 4.6 times the $85,200 that marks the bottom 10%.
New York has 91,870 of these jobs, a location quotient of 1.95: the role is 95% more concentrated here than nationally.
For context, the median across all occupations in New York is $59,670, so this role pays 3.5 times the local typical wage.
Published figures
| Measure | New York | National |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual pay Observed | $207,860 | United States: $159,670 |
| Mean annual pay Observed | $220,180 | United States: $185,840 |
| 10th percentile Observed | $85,200 | United States: $78,360 |
| 25th percentile Observed | $127,580 | United States: $102,990 |
| 75th percentile Observed | $322,120 | United States: $221,370 |
| 90th percentile Observed | $391,420 | United States: $351,600 |
| Median hourly pay Observed | $99.93 | United States: $76.76 |
| Employment (jobs) Observed | 91,870 | |
| Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed | 9.483 | |
| Location quotient Observed | 1.95 | |
| Difference from United States median ($159,670) Derived | +30% | |
| Rank among 51 states Derived | 1 | |
| Ratio to New York all-occupation median ($59,670) Derived | 3.48× | |
| 90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived | 4.59 |
Nearby in the ranking
- 1. New York$207,860
- 2. District of Columbia$195,190
- 3. California$195,080
Largest cities in New York: New York City, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.
More pay data
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.