Money · 1 of 5
What lawyers make
Typical
$159,670
Starting out
$78,360
Top tenth
$351,600
The national median is $159,670 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $78,360. These are the published figures for lawyers as a whole, because employment lawyers are not counted separately. Within the specialty the spread is wide: a partner defending big employers earns far above the top of this range, and a legal aid lawyer representing workers earns near the bottom of it.