Dintiúir
Law licence (law degree and bar exam)
The most expensive credential on this site by a wide margin, leading to the best-paid occupation on it. Three years, six figures of debt, and a national exam that 37% of sittings fail.
Cad a chosnaíonn sé a fháil — an leath lár an raon.
Míonna oiliúna, lánaimseartha. Páirt-am a thógann níos faide.
Míonna den phréimh pá a theastaíonn chun an costas sin a chlúdach, ní míonna go dtí go mbeidh tú chun tosaigh ar an iomlán – tagann an t-am oiliúna thuas ar dtús.
Foinse: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · amharc
Cad é an figiúr costais sin, agus cad nach bhfuil ann
Six figures, and this is only the borrowed part. That range is median cumulative FEDERAL LOAN DEBT at completion, not a tuition sticker price and not total cost. It is what completers actually borrowed, so it excludes grants, savings, family money, employer funding and living costs — which makes it a FLOOR on what the credential costs, never a ceiling. The low and high figures are the 25th and 75th percentiles across the institutions that report a figure for this programme, so a quarter of institutions sit below the low end. College Scorecard pools two award years into each figure; the release used here is dated 10 June 2026.
Three years full time for the degree, after a bachelor's, then a bar examination and a character-and-fitness review before admission. Part-time programmes run four years.
Admission is per state and each maintains its own continuing legal education requirement and annual fees.
Cé mhéad duine a shealbhaíonn é seo, agus cé mhéad atá ag obair sa réimse
Cé mhéad duine a thuilleann é seo gach bliain
42,496 bar examination sittings that resulted in a pass — 2025, February and July 2025 examinations combined.
Nílimid ag casadh sin isteach i céatadán. Is é seo an sreabhadh bliantúil — na daoine a thuill an creidiúnú i mbliain amháin. Tá figiúirí fostaíochta stoc seasta, gach duine ag obair sa ghairm ag an am céanna. Roinnt sreabhadh i stoc tháirgeann uimhir a léann cosúil le ráta fostaíochta agus nach bhfuil sé amháin. I gcás ina bhfuil muid ag comhaireamh seasta de shealbhóirí creidiúnaithe fhoilsiú againn an sciar fostaithe; anseo ní mór dúinn ceann, mar sin a fhoilsiú againn an sreabhadh agus stop.
Cad a chuimsíonn an comhaireamh sin: 67,442 people sat a US bar examination in 2025 and 42,496 passed, a 63% pass rate. It counts SITTINGS rather than people: someone who failed in February and passed in July appears in both columns, and someone admitted in two states can appear twice. It is a one-year flow and not a count of anyone holding a licence to practise today.
The American Bar Association publishes a standing count of US lawyers — about 1.37 million in 2025 — but only rounded to two decimal places of a million, and its underlying survey PDF is not publicly retrievable. We use the exact bar-exam flow rather than a rounded stock, which means this page shows how many qualify each year and no percentage.
National Conference of Bar Examiners, 2025 Statistics — Persons Taking and Passing the Bar Examination (People newly credentialed during one year) · amharc
Cad a tharla do na daoine a chríochnaigh an oiliúint
Ceithre bliana tar éis a chríochnú, ó thaifid cónaidhme
De 40,840 daoine a chríochnaigh Law (JD), first professional degree agus ní raibh siad ag staidéar a thuilleadh ceithre bliana ina dhiaidh sin, 1,860 ní raibh aon tuilleamh ar taifead aige ar chor ar bith — 4.6%. Thuill na cinn a bhí ag obair median de $107,773, leis an leath lár idir $75,568 agus $176,111.
Ní hionann “gan tuilleamh ar thaifead” agus “dífhostaithe”. Is é an tomhas ná nach raibh aon taifead pá agus aon ioncam dearfach féinfhostaíochta acu don bhliain ar fad. Níor cuireadh ceist ar aon duine an raibh siad ag iarraidh obair a dhéanamh, mar sin tá daoine a d’fhág an lucht oibre de rogha féin – ag tógáil leanaí, ag tabhairt aire, ag taisteal, ag maireachtáil ar ioncam duine eile, ag bogadh thar lear – sa chomhaireamh in éineacht le gach duine a d’iarr post agus nach raibh post acu. Ní fhoilsíonn aon duine an scoilt agus ní dhéanfaimid buille faoi thuairim air. Is é a bhunaíonn sé ná cé mhéad duine a chríochnaigh an oiliúint seo agus nach raibh aon rud á thuilleamh acu uaidh nó ó aon rud eile ceithre bliana ina dhiaidh sin, rud nach féidir leis an bhfigiúr pá thuas a insint duit.
Cad a chumhdaíonn an cód cláir sin: CIP 22.01 at first-professional level is the Juris Doctor. The figure is about law graduates, not admitted lawyers: it counts everyone who finished the degree, including those who never sat or never passed a bar examination. That is the right population for the question "was law school worth it" and the wrong one for "how many lawyers are out of work".
This measures law graduates, not admitted lawyers: everyone who finished the degree is in it, including those who never sat or never passed a bar examination.
Cé atá sa chohórt: Tá an Roinn ag cur institiúidí a bhfuil cohóirteanna ró-bheag chun a fhoilsiú as an áireamh agus cuireann sí torann staitistiúil leis an gcuid eile, mar sin is suim é seo thar na hinstitiúidí atá mór go leor chun tuairisciú: 163 cuid acu, a ghnóthú 97.0% de chomhaireamh náisiúnta na Roinne féin don chlár seo. Ag titim na cláir tuairiscithe is lú bogann an ráta ag 0.0 pointí céatadáin.
Foinse: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · amharc · an figiúr céanna do gach clár is féidir linn a fhoilsiú
Cad a ligeann sé duit a dhéanamh
Baineann an pá leis an bpost, ní leis an gcreidiúnas, agus is iad seo na gairmeacha a gcáilíonn sé duit dóibh.
| Job | An bhfuil sé riachtanach? | Meán | Fostaithe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | Legally required to hold the job | $159,670 | 754,500 |
Pá agus fostaíocht mheánmhéide: Staitisticí Fostaíochta agus Pá Ceirde BLS, Bealtaine 2025.
An íocann sé as féin?
Íocann an post seo unlocks meánmhéid de $159,670. Is é an meánmhéid ualaithe fostaíochta i ngach slí bheatha a fhoilsímid ná $50,020, mar sin tá an préimh le haghaidh a shealbhú seo faoi $109,650 bliain roimh cháin.
Léigh go bhfuil comparáid le meán-phost, ní le do phost. Cad é an bonnlíne sin, agus cad a fhágann sé amach
Agus glacann sé leis go bhfaigheann tú an post. Tá gach figiúr aisíocaíochta ar an suíomh seo coinníollach ar a bheith fostaithe san obair. Is é sin an toimhde go bhfuil an comhaireamh sealbhóir creidiúna thuas ann chun tástáil a dhéanamh, agus is é an toimhde go ndéanann gach suíomh pá eile go ciúin.
Cad atá uait sula dtosaíonn tú
- A bachelor's degree
- A place at an ABA-accredited law school
- A pass in the state bar examination
- A character and fitness review
Ná déan é seo má
- you are borrowing the full amount without a clear route to the higher-paying half of the profession — the pay distribution here is famously bimodal and the median hides it
- you assume passing is routine — 37% of bar examination sittings in 2025 did not pass
Gach dintiúir, de réir tréimhse aisíocaíochta · Conas a ríomhtar é seo · Cuardaigh rud éigin eile