Xisaab-celinta
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.
Waa maxay qiimaha uu leeyahay in la helo — badhtamaha qaybta.
Bilood tababarka, waqti buuxa. Waqtiga qaybta ka qaadataa waqti dheer.
Bilood ee mushaharka premium loo baahan yahay in ay ka buuxaan qiimahaas. Ma bilood ilaa aad ka hor inta kale — waqtiga tababarka kor ku xusan waa in hore.
Qoraalka: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · aragti
Waa maxay in qiimaha sawirka waa, iyo waxa ay tahay
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.
Tirada dadka haystaan, iyo inta badan oo ka shaqeeyaan ee dhulka
Tirada dadka ku kasbadaa sanad kasta
42,496 bar examination sittings that resulted in a pass — 2025, February and July 2025 examinations combined.
Waxaana aan ka dhigi in boqolkiiba. Tani waa qulqulka sanadlaha ah — dadka ku kasbaday aqoonsiga sanad. Shaqooyinka tirada waa saamiga taagan, qof kasta oo ka shaqeeya shaqada waqti isku mid ah. kala qaybinta qulqulka in saamiga soo saartaa tirada oo akhriya sida qiimaha shaqo la’aanta ah oo ma aha mid. Halka aan hayno tirada taagan ee haysta aqoonsiga waxaan daabacnaa qaybta loo shaqeeyay; halkan waxaan u lahayn mid, sidaas darteed waxaan daabacnaa qulqulka iyo joojinta.
Waxa tiradaas ku jira: 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) · aragti
Maxaa ka dhacay dadka oo dhammeeyey tababarka
Afar sano ka dib markii dhamaystirka, ka diiwaanka federaalka
Ama 40,840 dadka oo dhammeeyey Law (JD), first professional degree iyo ma ay wax ka baran afar sano ka dib, 1,860 ma laha wax mushahar ah oo ku saabsan diiwaanka oo dhan — 4.6%. Kuwa ahaa kuwa shaqeeyay ku kasbaday dhexdhexaad ah oo $107,773, la badhtamaha badhtamaha u dhexeeya $75,568 iyo $176,111.
"Ma jiro wax soo saarka ku qoran" ma aha "ka shaqayn". Miisaanka waa aan jirin wax diiwaanka mushaarka iyo wax kasta oo wanaagsan oo shaqo-abuurka mushaarka sanadka oo dhan. Qofna ma la weydiiyay haddii ay doonayaan shaqo, sidaas daraaddeed tirada dadka ka tagay shaqaalaha by doorasho - koritaanka carruurta, daryeel, safarka, ku nool qof kale oo mushaarka, ka tagay dibadda - la mid ah qof kasta oo doonayay shaqo oo aan lahayn. qofna ma daabaco kala qaybinta oo aan ka yaabay. waxa ay samayso waa in ay soo saaraan in dadka badan oo tababarkan dhamaystay oo ay waxba ka soo bixin ama wax kale afar sano ka dib, taas oo ah si dhab ah waxa mushaarka figure kor ku qoran ma kuu sheegi karo.
Waxa code-ka barnaamijkaas ku saabsan: 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.
Cidda waa in cohort: completers oo helay deeq waxbarasho federal ah - in ka badan badh ardayda dhigata USA, iyo badhka kale ma la xisaabtamo halkan. Dadka oo u tegey in ay wax ka bartaan dheeraad ah ayaa ku jira mid kasta oo tiirka. Wasaaradda hoos u haysta hay'adaha la cohorts aad u yar oo ay daabacaan iyo ku daray codka tirakoobka in ay naafada ah, sidaas darteed tani waa lacag ka badan hay'adaha ku filan oo weyn in ay warbixin: 163 ka mid ah, soo kabashada 97.0% ee Wasaaradda ee xisaabta qaranka ee barnaamijkan. Ka qaadista barnaamijyada warbixinta ugu yar ee dhaqdhaqaaqa qiimaha by 0.0 dhibcood boqolkiiba.
Qoraalka: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · aragti · tirada la mid ah ee barnaamij kasta oo aan ku daabacan karno
Waxa ay kuu ogolaanaysaa inaad sameyso
Lacagta ku saabsan shaqada, ma aha in aqoonsiga. Kuwaas waa shaqooyinka ay ku siinaysaa aad u.
| Shaqada | Ma loo baahan yahay? | Dhexdhexaad | Shaqaale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | Legally required to hold the job | $159,670 | 754,500 |
Lacagta dhexdhexaadka ah iyo shaqada: BLS Shaqada Shaqada iyo Tirakoobka Lacagta, May 2025.
Ma u bixisaa naftiisa?
Shaqada this furaysaa bixisaa mid ka mid ah $159,670. The shaqo-ku-dhiigsan midabka ka dhex shaqooyinka oo dhan aan daabacno waa $50,020, sidaas daraaddeed lacagta la siiyo si ay u qabtaan waxaa ku saabsan $109,650 sanad ka hor xisaabaadka.
Akhri in sida isbarbardhigga shaqo caadi ah, ma aha shaqadaada. Waa maxay in line baseline ah, iyo waxa ay ka tagto
Oo waxay u maleynayaan inaad shaqo hesho. Fiiri kasta oo lacagta dib u eegis ah ee goobtan waa shuruud ku ah in la siiyo shaqada. Taasi waa qiyaasta in la xisaabiyo aqoonsiga-qaadashada kor ku xusan ka jira in la tijaabiyo, iyo waa qiyaasta in kasta oo kale oo lacag ah goobta ka dhigi doonaa si qaylo leh.
Waxa aad u baahan tahay ka hor inta aadan bilaabin
- A bachelor's degree
- A place at an ABA-accredited law school
- A pass in the state bar examination
- A character and fitness review
Ha samayn haddii
- 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
Dhammaan aqoonsiga, by waqti payback · Sidaan loo xisaabiyey · Ka eeg wax kale