Àwọn Àmì-ìwé

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.

$85,305–$142,508

Ohun ti o n san lati gba — aago kejì tí a bá fi pamọ́.

Oṣù kọ̀ǹpútà, akoko tó kù. Oṣù kọ̀ǹpútà kan ló kù jú lọ.

9–16

Oṣù tí a fẹ́ lati fi owó pamọ́. Kò jẹ́ oṣù tí o tí n bọ́ ní gbo - àkókò ìṣàlàyélẹ̀ tí a fi pamọ́ ní òkè.

Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn

Ohun tí àwọn à

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.

Ìgbà wò nínú àwọn eniyan náà ní yìí, àti ìgbà wò nínú iṣẹ́ nínú ààyè-iṣẹ́ náà

Ìgbà wò nínú àwọn tí wọ́ inú yìí ní gbogbo odun

42,496 bar examination sittings that resulted in a pass — 2025, February and July 2025 examinations combined.

A ko ti i padanu eyi pada si ipọnju. Ó jẹ́ ìjánu-ìjánu-ìgbà - àwọn eniyan tí wọ́ inú ìpéwọ̀n nínú odun kan. Àwọn àwọn

Àwọn àwọn: 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) · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn

Àwọn ohun tí a tí ìṣẹ̀dá nínú àwọn eniyan tí wọ́n tí ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà

Àwọn odun mẹrin lẹhin ti o ti pari, lati Federal Records

Àwọn àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ 40,840 Àwọn eniyan tí wọ́n tí kọ̀ọ̀kan Law (JD), first professional degree ati ki o ti ko ti wa ni kọ ẹkọ mẹrin ọdun lẹhin, 1,860 kò ní àwọn owó tí a fi pamọ́ ní gbogbo — 4.6%. Awọn ti o ti wa ni iṣẹ gba median ti $107,773, pẹlú àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ $75,568 àti $176,111.

“Awọn owo-ori ko si lori iwe-aṣẹ” kii ṣe “awọn ti ko ni iṣẹ”. Ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà nípa àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínu

Àwọn àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò àìṣàmúlò-ètò: 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.

Tí a bá fi àwọn àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ pamọ́ fullers ti won gba federal ọmọ ile-iwe ìmọ - nipa idaji ti US undergraduates, ati awọn miiran idaji ti ko ti a ti ayẹwo nibi. Awọn eniyan ti lọ lori si siwaju sii ẹkọ ni ko si ninu eyikeyi column. The Department suppresses institutions with cohorts too small to publish and adds statistical noise to the rest, so this is a sum over the institutions large enough to report: 163 ti wọn, ti n paṣẹ 97.0% ti a ti ṣe fun iṣẹ yii. Tí a bá fi àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò ìròyìn tí o kù jù lọ, a á gbé àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà lọ́wọ́lọ́wọ́ 0.0 Àwọn ìpèwọ̀n àwọn ìtàn.

Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn · àwọn

Ohun ti o gba ọ lórí

Àwọn owó tí a fi pamọ́ sí iṣẹ́, kò sí àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò. Àwọn yìí ní àwọn iṣẹ́ tí o fi pamọ́ sí ọ̀rọ̀ rẹ̀.

Àwọn iṣẹ́	Ṣe o fẹ́?	Àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́	Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò
Lawyers	Legally required to hold the job	$159,670	754,500

Median owo ati iṣẹ: BLS Occupational Employment ati Wage Statistics, May 2025.

Ń bá jẹ́ pé ó ń gbá owó fun ara rẹ́?

Àwọn iṣẹ́ tí a tí ìpàdé yìí párá àwọn àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò $159,670. Iṣẹ́ iṣẹ́-ìpádé nínú gbogbo iṣẹ́ ti a fi kọ́ ni $50,020, ki o si awọn premium fun titẹsi yi ni nipa $109,650 ọdun kan ṣaaju owo-ori.

Ká o bí ìṣàfarawé sí iṣẹ́ ìṣàfarawé, kò sí iṣẹ́ rẹ̀. Ohun tí ààyè-iṣẹ́ náà jẹ́, àti ohun tí o fi kùnà

Ati pe o gbagbọ pe o gba iṣẹ naa. Àwọn àwọn

Ohun ti o fẹ́ ṣaajú tí o bá bẹrẹ

A bachelor's degree
A place at an ABA-accredited law school
A pass in the state bar examination
A character and fitness review

Kò ṣẹ̀dà yìí látì jẹ́ pé

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

Gbogbo àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò, láti inú àkókò ìṣàfarawé · Bií a ṣe lè ṣé ìṣàmúlò-ètò yìí · Wárúkọ àwọn àwọn ààtò àwọn ààtò