How Much Should I Charge as a Lawyer?

Understanding how your hourly rate compares to what other lawyers charge provides valuable insight into how competitive your rates are and helps you make strategic decisions regarding your billing rate. 

Every year, Clio’s researchers analyze aggregated and anonymized data from tens of thousands of legal professionals working across all states and practice areas to determine the average cost for an hour of legal services in the United States. Each iteration of the Legal Trends Report includes annual data on average hourly rates and key performance indicators (KPIs) to help analyze lawyer and law firm productivity, efficiency, and revenue generation. 

Average lawyer hourly rates by state

The following chart provides the average lawyer hourly rate by state at a glance.

State
Average Lawyer Hourly Rate 2024
Average Lawyer Hourly Rate 2023
Alaska $300 Currently unavailable
Alabama $246 $208
Arkansas $271 $242
Arizona $287 $266
California $391 $344
Colorado $302 $261
Connecticut $384 $342
District of Columbia $462 $392
Delaware $423 $344
Florida $335 $297
Georgia $340 $286
Hawaii $312 Currently unavailable
Iowa $254 $202
Idaho $267 $233
Illinois $349 $305
Indiana $278 $242
Kansas $292 $227
Kentucky $236 $204
Louisiana $266 $245
Massachusetts $318 $285
Maryland $344 $310
Maine $236 $193
Michigan $294 $266
Minnesota $305 $271
Missouri $280 $249
Mississippi $242 $217
Montana $234 $199
North Carolina $295 $254
North Dakota $285 $253
Nebraska $256 $218
New Hampshire $294 $248
New Jersey $348 $306
New Mexico $261 $242
Nevada $330 $311
New York $398 $358
Ohio $268 $224
Oklahoma $257 $235
Oregon $296 $255
Pennsylvania $302 $288
Rhode Island $317 $240
South Carolina $287 $249
South Dakota $245 $199
Tennessee $281 $233
Texas $345 $300
Utah $291 $250
Virginia $351 $295
Vermont $267 $226
Washington $322 $288
Wisconsin $278 $231
West Virginia $195 $162
Wyoming $290 $241

 

Guide to lawyer rate information for each state

Each lawyer rate information state page provides detailed information regarding average hourly rates and KPIs. Here’s how to interpret the information covered in each section.

Hourly rates by practice area

These are average hourly rates by practice area in each state. These rates include hourly rates for lawyers and cover common practice areas.

Hourly rates versus adjusted hourly rates

These rates are divided into average hourly rates in each state for law firms, attorneys, and non-lawyers (non-lawyer rates may include non-lawyer staff such as paralegals, legal assistants, firm managers, or other administrative staff).

Adjusted hourly rates have been adjusted to reflect the cost of living for each state.

Key performance indicators (KPIs): utilization, realization, and collection rates

The right KPIs provide valuable insights into a law firm’s performance. This information helps lawyers understand how they and their staff contribute to revenue generation and can be instrumental in identifying areas for continuous improvement.
Every lawyer should be familiar with the following KPIs:
  1. Utilization rate: How much of a typical eight-hour work day is spent on billable hours for clients.
  2. Realization rate: The number of billable hours—after discounting and write-offs—that actually make it onto a client’s bill
  3. Collection rate: How many of these billed hours are actually paid by clients.

Hourly rates over the last five reports

For comparison, and to see trends over time, we provide the average and adjusted hourly rates for law firms, attorneys, and non-lawyers over the past five Legal Trends Reports.

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    Methodology for hourly rate calculations

    Clio’s hourly rate calculations compare aggregated and anonymized billing data from tens of thousands of legal professionals working across all states and practice areas. For more information on the methodology used in this analysis, please download the report and refer to the Methodology section in the Appendix.

Get more insights for your law firm

Staying on top of the right data and trends can help you make the best decisions for your practice. That’s why the Legal Trends Report provides information on the most important issues faced within the legal profession. Amid inflation, rising interest rates, and volatile employment markets, we provide key insights on how global trends have impacted business and productivity among law firms.

Read the Legal Trends Report