Research reveals what lawyers earn

Ever wonder how much money attorneys in Hamilton County, Ind., or Hamilton County, N.Y., make? Now you can find out, thanks to research by the ABA Journal and William D. Henderson of the Center on the Global Legal Profession at Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Using salary data and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on employed lawyers, the publication has created a handy map and breaks down county by county of the mean, and median wage per year, the number of lawyers employed in the area, and other data. Keep in mind that the data doesn’t include equity partners or solo practitioners. Check out the article for specifics and information on where lawyers earn the most or where law firm payrolls are the largest (Spoiler Alert: Indiana’s not on either list).

If you just glance at the map of the U.S., you can see where attorneys on average earn more, and it’s mostly markets you would expect – New York City; northern and southern California; Chicago; Washington, D.C.

Indiana attorneys make anywhere from $40,820 to $125,000, depending on where you live, according to the map. More populated areas like central Indiana and northwestern Indiana typically have attorneys making more than those who live in less populated areas. In Marion County, the mean wage per year is $105,999; the median wage per year is $95,030, with 3,250 attorneys employed in the Indianapolis-Carmel area. In Lake County, the mean wage per year is $92,390, and the median wage per year is $72,080 with 670 attorneys employed in the Gary metropolitan region.

In Lawrence County, there are 230 attorneys in the area with the mean and median wage per year pretty similar at around $80,000. In Kosciusko County, there are 350 attorneys in the area with the mean wage per year at $65,130 and the median wage per year just under $50,000.

It’s pretty interesting to see each county broken down. You can check it out for yourself on the ABA Journal’s website. Are you surprised by the results of the research?