Ubufakazi
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.
Yini izindleko ukuthola — ingxenye ephakathi kwesigaba.
Inyanga yoqeqesho, isikhathi esigcwele. Isikhathi esincane sithatha isikhathi eside.
Amasonto emali edingekayo ukukhokhela le zindleko. Akufanele kube amasonto kuze kube udlule phambili ngazo zonke — isikhathi soqeqesho esiphezulu siqala kuqala.
Umsuka: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · isithombe
Yini lenani lemali, nokuthi yini engasekho
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.
Ingabe abantu abaningi bagcina lokhu, futhi bangaki abasebenza kule ndawo
Ngabe kukhona abathola lokhu ngonyaka ngamunye
42,496 bar examination sittings that resulted in a pass — 2025, February and July 2025 examinations combined.
Sizoqhubeka nokwenza lokhu. Le yi-flow yeminyaka - abantu abathola igunya ngonyaka owodwa. Izithombe zokuqashwa ziyi-stock ehlala, wonke umuntu esebenza emisebenzini ngesikhathi esisodwa. Ukuhlukanisa i-flow ibe yi-stock ikhiqiza inani elifundeka njenge-rate yokuqasha futhi aliyona elinye. lapho sigcina khona ukubala okuhlala kwe-credit holders sishicilela i-share esebenza; lapha asinayo enye, ngakho sishicilela i-flow futhi si stop.
Igama le-akhawunti: 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) · isithombe
Yini ekwenzeke kubantu abaqedile ukuqeqeshwa
Iminyaka emihlanu ngemuva kokuqedwa, kusuka ku-
noma 40,840 abantu abaqedile Law (JD), first professional degree futhi bebengafundanga iminyaka emine ngemuva kwalokho, 1,860 ayikho imali engenayo ebhalwe phansi — 4.6%. Abasebenza bathola umphakathi we-R1 100 000 $107,773, ngengxenye ephakathi phakathi $75,568 futhi $176,111.
“Akukho inzuzo ebhalwe phansi” akuyona “imisebenzi engasebenzi”. Umbiko we-2015 we-National Statistics Office (NSO) ukhombisa ukuthi i-10% yabasebenzi base-Afrika abasebenza ezweni lonke basebenza ngaphansi kwe-10% yemali ekhokhwa yi-NHS. Umbiko ubonisa ukuthi i-NHS ikhokhela i-10% yabasebenzi base-Afrika abasebenza ngaphansi kwe-10% yemali ekhokhwa yi-NHS. Umbiko ukhombisa ukuthi i-NHS ikhokhela i-10% yabasebenzi base-Afrika abasebenza ngaphansi kwe-10% yemali ekhokhwa yi-NHS. Umbiko ubonisa ukuthi i-NHS ikhokhela i-10% yabasebenzi base-Afrika abasebenza ngaphansi kwe-10% yemali ekhokhwa yi-NHS.
Igama lephrojekthi: 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.
Obani abakhona: completers abatholayo usizo lokufunda i-federal - cishe ingxenye yabafundi base-US, futhi enye ingxenye ayilinganisiwe lapha. Abantu abaye bafunda kabanzi bakhona emkhakheni othile. I-Isikhungo sicindezela izinhlangano ezinezinhlaka ezincane kakhulu zokushicilela futhi singeza umsindo we-statistics eqenjini, ngakho lokhu kuyinani elingaphezulu kwezinhlangano ezikhulu ngokwanele ukukhombisa: 163 100% 97.0% i-10% yemali ekhokhwa yi-IFP ezweni lonke Ukususa ama-program ancane kakhulu olwazisa ahamba nezinga 0.0 amaphuzu
Umsuka: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · isithombe · isithombe esifanayo sohlelo ngalunye esikwazi ukushicilela
Izinto ezikuvumela ukuthi ukwenze
Imali ihlobene nemisebenzi, hhayi negunya. Lawa msebenzi akusho ukuthi ufanele usebenze.
| Imisebenzi | Ingabe kudingeka? | I-median | Abasebenza |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | Legally required to hold the job | $159,670 | 754,500 |
Imali ephakathi nemisebenzi: I-BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Ingabe ikhokhela ngokwayo?
Umsebenzi ovula lokhu ukhokha umphakathi we $159,670. I-median elinganiselwe ngomsebenzi esuka kuwo wonke umsebenzi esiwushicilelayo $50,020, ngakho ipremiyamu yokuphatha lokhu kukhulunywa $109,650 unyaka ngaphambi kwezimali.
Funda lokhu njengelinganiso kumsebenzi ojwayelekile, hhayi kumsebenzi wakho. Yini le sisekelo, nokuthi yini eshiya ngaphandle
futhi icabanga ukuthi uthola umsebenzi. Wonke umbhalo wokukhokha emuva kule sayithi uhambisana nokusebenza. Lokhu kuyisinqumo sokuba umsebenzisi ogunyaziwe uthola ubalo phezulu ukhona ukubheka, futhi kuyisinqumo sokuba wonke amanye amasayithi okukhokha akwenza ngokucophelela.
Odingayo ngaphambi kokuqala
- A bachelor's degree
- A place at an ABA-accredited law school
- A pass in the state bar examination
- A character and fitness review
Ungayenzi lokhu uma
- 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
Zonke iziqinisekiso, ngesikhathi sokukhokha · Indlela lokhu kucalwa ngayo · Thola okuthile okuthile