Because of Biglaw’s bountiful compensation, the authorized occupation has lengthy been identified for its flashy salaries, however even with their beneficiant paychecks, some associates reside a lot bigger than others — and it’s all due to the place they stay.
The National Jurist lately determined to dig into the information to find out which cities, when adjusted for value of dwelling, “strike the proper steadiness between compensation and affordability” for legislation college graduates. Right here’s their methodology:
To establish the highest cities for legislation agency jobs, we used imply wage knowledge from the Nationwide Affiliation for Regulation Placement’s Class of 2023 report and adjusted it for cost-of-living variations throughout the nation.
So, which cities are one of the best for legislation agency associates primarily based on this calculation? The place can they get one of the best mixture of excessive compensation with a low value of dwelling?
With out additional ado, these are the ten cities the place associates can stretch their salaries the furthest (adjusted salaries famous):
- Houston, TX: $291,436
- Austin, TX: $265,151
- Dallas, TX: $260,436
- Washington, DC: $259,341
- Chicago, IL: $243,116
- Los Angeles, CA: $241,341
- Minneapolis, MN: $231,640
- Charlotte, NC: $229,400
- Boston, MA: $225,990
- Salt Lake Metropolis, UT: $225,330
Click on here to see the remainder of the record.
And what concerning the worst cities for associates by way of making their cash work for them? Right here’s extra from the National Jurist:
The perfect cities for brand spanking new grads aren’t at all times the flashiest — they’re locations the place salaries stretch additional, debt turns into extra manageable, and younger legal professionals can construct careers with out sacrificing life-style.
It could be time for legal professionals to say sayonara to large East and West Coast cities and transfer to Texas to actually take pleasure in their salaries.
Biggest salaries, recalculated [National Jurist]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Regulation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be happy to email her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You may observe her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join together with her on LinkedIn.
