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In 2024, the locations with the highest concentration of Legal degree recipients are New York, NY, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, CA. In 2024, the locations with a relatively high number of Legal degree recipients are Vineyards, FL, South Royalton, VT, and Grundy, VA. The most common degree awarded to students studying Legal is a professional doctorate.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Legal and the types of students that study this field. Georgetown University awards the most degrees in Legal in the US, but Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Legal.
Tuition costs for Legal majors are, on average, $8,502 for in-state public colleges, and $50,380 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Legal programs are Public, 2-year institutions (344 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above (34,424 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Legal, is Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above (34,424 completions in 2024).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Legal programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
Georgetown University has the most Legal degree recipients, with 1,476 degrees awarded in 2024.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Legal.
Out of all institutions that offer Legal programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Brooklyn Law School has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Legal, with 100%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Legal by year.
Information on the businesses and industries that employ Legal graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.
The average salary for Legal majors is $96,466 and the most common occupations are Paralegals & legal assistants, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Other managers.
The industry that employs the most Legal majors is Legal services, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Machinery, equipment, & supplies merchant wholesalers .
The average salary for Legal majors is $96,466 and the most common occupations are Paralegals & legal assistants, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Other managers.
This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Legal majors.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Legal majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Legal majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
The most common occupations for Legal majors, by number of employees, are Paralegals & legal assistants, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Other managers.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Legal majors working as Paralegals & legal assistants, Judicial law clerks, and Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Legal majors are Athletes and sports competitors, Radiologic technologists and technicians, and Geoscientists and hydrologists, except geographers.
The number of Legal graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.18%, from 97,164 in 2023 to 100,249 in 2024.
The largest single share of Legal graduates go on to work as Paralegals & legal assistants (13.8%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Legal by share of the total number of graduates.
The most common industries that employ Legal majors, by number of employees, are Legal services, Justice, public order, & safety activities , and Elementary & secondary schools.
The highest paying industries of Legal majors, by average wage, are Machinery, equipment, & supplies merchant wholesalers , Apparel, piece goods, & notions merchant wholesalers, and Other motor vehicle dealers.
The number of Legal graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.18%, from 97,164 in 2023 to 100,249 in 2024.
The industry which employs the most Legal graduates by share is Legal services, followed by Justice, public order, & safety activities . This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Legal.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Legal majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Legal majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Legal. The most common ages of employees with this major are 48 and 39 years old, which represent 3.24% and 3.15% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Legal are Professional Doctorate, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
The most common degree types held by the working population in Legal are Bachelors Degree, Professional degree, and Masters Degree.
This chart shows the granted degrees by sex at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Legal.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Legal for each race & ethnicity.
In 2024, White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.
This chart illustrates the differences by sex for each race & ethnicity of Professional Doctorate recipients in Legal.
White Female students, who earn most of the degrees in this field, are the most common combination of race/ethnicity and sex.
There are a relatively high number of people that were born in Europe that hold Legal degrees (24 times more than expected), and the most common country of origin by total numbers for non-US students earning a degree in this field is Mexico (810 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Legal field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Legal majors need many skills, but most especially Active Listening. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Legal majors need more than the average amount of Negotiation, Persuasion, and Speaking.
These two visualizations, one a radial chart and one a bar chart, show the same information, a rating of how necessary the following skills are for Legal majors. Toggle between "value" and "RCA" to see the absolute rating of that skill (value) and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA), or how much greater or lesser that skill's rating is than the average. The longer the bar or the closer the line comes to the circumference of the circle, the more important that skill is. The importance of Negotiation is very distinctive for majors, but the Active Listening, Speaking, and Reading Comprehension are the three most important skills for people in the field.
Photo by Brian Turner