I-Credential
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.
Ixabiso elifunekayo ukufumana i-100% yemali efunekayo
Iinyanga zoqeqesho, ixesha elipheleleyo. Ixesha elipheleleyo lithatha ixesha elide.
Iinyanga zemali efunekayo ukuhlawula iindleko. Ayikukuba yiinyanga de ube uphambili ngokupheleleyo – ixesha loqeqesho oluphezulu livela kuqala.
Icebo: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · Imboniselo
Iinkqubo ezixhaswa yi-Agency for the
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.
Iinkqubo zolawulo lweendawo ezikhuselekileyo
Iinkampani ezili-100 eziphezulu
42,496 bar examination sittings that resulted in a pass — 2025, February and July 2025 examinations combined.
Siza kuqhubeka nokwenza oku. Le yinkqubo yonyaka yokuhamba- abantu abafumana igunya lokusebenza kunyaka omnye. Iinkcukacha zomsebenzi ziimali ezihlala zikhona, bonke abasebenza kwimisebenzi ngexesha elinye. Ukwahlula ukuhamba- kumanani ahlala ekhona kwenza ukuba kubekho inani elifunda njengexabiso lokuqesha kwaye aliyiyo enye. Xa sigcina ubalo oluhlala phantsi lwabaphathi begunya lokusebenza sipapasha inxalenye esebenza; apha asinayo, ngoko ke sipapasha ukuhamba- sihlala.
Izinto eziquka: 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) · Imboniselo
Iinkqubo zoqeqesho ezinikezelwa yi-IOM ziquka
Iminyaka emihlanu emva kokukhutshwa,
I-O 40,840 abagqibezela Law (JD), first professional degree minyaka mihlanu emva koko, 1,860 i-100% 4.6%. abasebenzayo bafumana i-10% yemali $107,773, 100% $75,568 kunye $176,111.
“Akukho nzuzo kwincwadi” ayinguye “ongenamsebenzi”. Uvavanyo lubonisa ukuba akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo. Uvavanyo lubonisa ukuba akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo. Uvavanyo lubonisa ukuba akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo. Uvavanyo lubonisa ukuba akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo, kwaye akukho msebenzi ofunyenwe kwiminyaka emibini edlulileyo.
Iinkqubo ezixhasayo: 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.
Uphi okwiqela: Icandelo lisusa izikolo ezineekhowudi ezincinci kakhulu zokupapasha kwaye lidibanisa umsindo wedatha kwisiqendu esilandelayo, ngoko ke le yimali engaphezulu kwezikolo ezikhulu ngokwaneleyo ukuxelela: Iikholeji ezili-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 eziphezulu ze-100 163 100% 97.0% iNkqubo yoKhuseleko lweNtlalontle Ukukhupha iinkqubo ezincinci zolwazi lushenxisa umyinge 0.0 i-100%
Icebo: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · Imboniselo · i-100% yemali efunekayo
Izinto ezikuvumela ukuba uzenza
Imali ixhomekeke kwimisebenzi, ayixhomekeki kwidiploma. Ezi zimisebenzi eyenza ukuba uphumelele.
| Imisebenzi | Ingaba ifuneka? | Median | I-Ofisi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | Legally required to hold the job | $159,670 | 754,500 |
Imali ephakathi yomsebenzi nomsebenzi: I-BLS, Umsebenzi osebenzayo kunye neNkqubo yoLwazi lweMivuzo, ngoMeyi 2025.
Ingaba ihlawulisa ngokwayo?
Umsebenzi ovulwa yinkqubo $159,670. I-median ethe tyaba yomsebenzi kwimisebenzi yonke esipapashayo $50,020, i-100% $109,650 kwiminyaka emibini
Funda oku njengenxulumano nemisebenzi eqhelekileyo, hayi nemisebenzi yakho. Iinkqubo ezixhasayo
Ikholelwa ekubeni ufumana umsebenzi. Yonke imifanekiso yokubuyisa imali kule ndawo ixhomekeke ekubeni iqeshwe kwimisebenzi. Lo ngumbono othi ubalo lomsebenzisi ogunyazisiweyo ophezulu lukhona uvavanyo, kwaye lumbono othi onke amanye amawebhusayithi ohlawula awenza ngokucothayo.
Izinto ofuna ukukhetha
- A bachelor's degree
- A place at an ABA-accredited law school
- A pass in the state bar examination
- A character and fitness review
Musa ukwenza oku ukuba
- 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
Iinkcukacha ze-akhawunti · Iinkqubo ezixhaswa · Khangela into enye