Twenty years of law first, then you decide. There are only about 27,000 of these jobs in the whole country.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$153,990
Part-time local court
$46,950
Senior state or appellate
$221,710
The national median is $153,990 a year, and the bottom tenth are near $46,950. That low end is mostly part-time municipal and justice-of-the-peace positions, some of which are not even full-time jobs. Federal judges sit above the top of this survey range entirely.
$249,900 a year
A United States district judge in 2026
Set by Congress and identical everywhere in the country. Circuit judges are paid $264,900, associate justices of the Supreme Court $306,600, and the Chief Justice $320,700.
Less than partner pay
Most people take the bench after years in practice
A partner at a large law firm usually earns more than a judge does. People take the job for the work and the standing, not to increase their income.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is an in state public bachelor's degree, the law school admission test, a public in state law school at roughly $30,000 a year, and the bar exam with a commercial preparation course. The high end is the higher undergraduate rate plus a private law school at $55,000 a year or more. Nothing about becoming a judge itself costs money: you are appointed or elected after years of practice, though in the states that elect judges a campaign is a real expense that is not counted here. Prosecutor and public defender work, the usual road to the bench, qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which clears the remaining federal balance after ten years of payments.
Law graduates often carry six figures of debt. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) clears the remainder after 10 years of payments in government work, and prosecutor and public defender jobs, the usual road to the bench, both qualify.
A pension
State judges are usually in a generous state retirement plan. Federal judges can take senior status and keep their salary for life.
Life tenure at the federal level
Article III judges hold office during good behavior, and their pay cannot be reduced while they serve.
Staff
Law clerks, a courtroom deputy and a court reporter. You are not researching alone at midnight.
Predictable hours
Court runs on a calendar. It is one of the few senior legal jobs without billable hours.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
This is a second career, not a first one. Nobody becomes a judge in their twenties.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
English, government, history and debate. Judges read and argue for a living.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Any major. Take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), which is the test every accredited law school accepts.
Law school
3 years
Three years for a Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Grades, legal writing and law review matter more here than anywhere else.
Pass the bar exam
A few months after law school
Each state admits its own lawyers. You must be a member in good standing before any bench will consider you.
Practice law
10 to 20 years
Prosecutor, public defender, litigator or government attorney. Most judges have 10 to 20 years behind them.
Elected or appointed
Varies
Depending on your state, you either run for the seat or are nominated by a governor, a commission or the president.
English
Judicial opinions are writing. Bad writing makes bad law.
Government and civics
How the courts fit with legislatures and agencies is the actual subject.
History
Precedent is history with consequences attached.
Debate or speech
You will listen to argument all day and have to interrupt it well.
Federal judges under Article III of the Constitution are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and then hold office for life during good behavior. Magistrate judges are appointed by the district judges of their court for renewable eight-year terms and must have been a member of a state bar in good standing for at least five years. Bankruptcy judges are appointed by the circuit courts for 14-year terms. States run their own systems: some elect judges outright, some have a governor appoint from a commission's shortlist and then hold a retention vote. Nearly all judging happens at the state level.
Accredited law schools
Every state requires a degree from a law school its bar accepts. The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is accepted by all of them.
In-state public law schools
Far cheaper if you are a resident, and strongly connected to that state's courts and prosecutors.
A public interest route
Prosecutor and public defender offices hire straight out of law school and produce a large share of trial judges.
Judicial clerkships
A year or two working for a judge right after law school is the clearest look at the job you will ever get.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Prosecutor
The most common background for trial judges. You are in court constantly from your first year.
Public defender
Same courtroom volume from the other side, and increasingly common on the bench.
Magistrate or commissioner
Handles warrants, pretrial matters and smaller cases. A real judicial job and a step toward a full seat.
City or county attorney
Local government law, plus the political relationships that appointments often run through.
A spotless record
Every bar complaint, debt and old case is examined. Appointments have been lost over very little.
Trial experience
Judges who have never run a trial struggle to run one from the bench.
Community standing
In elected states you are running a campaign, with signs and fundraising.
Patience
Most of the day is listening to people who are not being brief.
Thousands of hearings each year are decided not in a courthouse but inside federal and state agencies, by administrative law judges who rule on disability claims, immigration, licensing and benefits. They are hired through a competitive process rather than elected or appointed politically, the work is full time, and it is by far the most reachable judging job for a lawyer without political connections.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Read the morning's motions and the clerk's memos before court opens. Then the calendar: arraignments, pleas, sentencing, or a civil motion where two lawyers argue for an hour over a document. Rulings from the bench where you can, reserved decisions where you cannot. Afternoons in chambers reading briefs, working through drafts with your law clerks, and writing. Trials take over completely for days or weeks at a time.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
About 98% of all cases in the country are handled by state courts, and roughly 70 million cases were filed in them in 2024. Federal courts get the attention, but state judges do nearly all of the work.
The Constitution says the salary of an Article III judge may not be reduced while they hold office. It exists so that no president or Congress can punish a judge financially for a ruling they dislike.
That is every judge, magistrate and magistrate judge in the country combined, with roughly 900 openings projected over an entire decade. It is one of the smallest professions on this site.
To be appointed a federal magistrate judge you must have been a member in good standing of a state's highest court bar for at least five years. It is the shortest legal apprenticeship any federal judgeship accepts.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.