So, you’re thinking of being a lawyer — congratulations (or maybe condolences) are in order. But where is actually the best place to start your legal career? While many default to the country’s largest cities because that’s where Biglaw has settled, the best place to be a lawyer may not be so cut and dry.
Enter the latest ranking into the legal space. Everyone knows lawyers love them some rankings and SmartAsset has run with a new ranking that assesses the best states (and the District of Columbia) to practice law. Their methodology balances six factors: the number of lawyers per 1,000 workers, average annual income, five-year earnings, five-year job growth, median home value and the percentage of law offices relative to total businesses. With home values thrown in there, you know some of the bigger legal markets — think New York and California — will take a bit of a hit but lawyers are packed into those jurisdictions so one imagines they’ll still make the cut.
So which states top SmartAsset’s list of the best place to work for lawyers? Here’s the top 10:
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- District of Columbia
- California
- Florida
- New York
- Georgia
- Colorado
- Texas
- Connecticut
And way down at the bottom of the list is a tie for last between Idaho and Maine (Delaware and North Dakota were excluded from the ranking due to insufficient data). Other fun data from the ranking is that D.C. has the highest average annual income for a lawyer at $192,530 (California comes in #2 and New York 3).
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).