Legal industry statistics
Legal industry statistics 2026
About 441,000 of the 864,800 US lawyer jobs in 2024 were in legal services. We got that by taking 51% of the BLS job count.
By DocDiffAI Editorial Team · ·
Lawyer jobs in legal services, 2024.
0.51 × 864,800 = 441,048, or about 441,000 jobs
The count you can quote
BLS says lawyers held about 864,800 jobs in 2024. It also says 51% of those jobs were in legal services. 0.51 × 864,800 = 441,048, or about 441,000 jobs.
That is jobs, not law firms. BLS does not post a big-firm sales table.
Lawyer jobs
Private legal-services jobs averaged 1,220,652 in 2025, BLS says in its yearly jobs file (QCEW). That is up from 1,131,433 in 2020. This count is all jobs in legal services, not only lawyers.
| Period | Value | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1,131,433 | n/a |
| 2021 | 1,153,983 | +2.0% |
| 2022 | 1,175,877 | +1.9% |
| 2023 | 1,181,363 | +0.5% |
| 2024 | 1,196,618 | +1.3% |
| 2025 | 1,220,652 | +2.0% |
- Lawyers held about 864,800 jobs in 2024, BLS says.
- 51.0% of those lawyer jobs were in legal services, BLS says. That is about 441,048 jobs.
- The mid pay for lawyers was $151,160 a year in May 2024, BLS says.
- BLS sees lawyer jobs growing 4% from 2024 to 2034. That is a gain of 35,900 jobs (864,800 to 900,700).
Bankruptcy cases
US bankruptcy courts logged 574,314 cases in the year ended 31 December 2025. That was 11.0% above 2024. Of those, 24,737 were business cases and 549,577 were not.
| Period | Value | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 413,616 | n/a |
| 2022 | 387,721 | -6.3% |
| 2023 | 452,990 | +16.8% |
| 2024 | 517,308 | +14.2% |
| 2025 | 574,314 | +11.0% |
Offices, 2018 to 2023
Census counted 181,092 legal services offices in 2023. That is 2.4% below 2018 (185,639).
| Period | Value | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 185,639 | n/a |
| 2019 | 183,949 | -0.9% |
| 2020 | 183,420 | -0.3% |
| 2021 | 182,493 | -0.5% |
| 2022 | 181,941 | -0.3% |
| 2023 | 181,092 | -0.5% |
Sales and federal courts
Census put 2026 first-quarter legal services sales at $119.2 billion. That was 14.0% above the first quarter of 2025. If we add the four 2025 quarters, the sum is $445.8 billion.
US district courts logged 382,692 filings in the year ended 30 September 2025. That was 6.1% above 2024. The court office adds civil cases and criminal defendants for that total.
Common questions
How many US lawyer jobs were in legal services in 2024?
About 441,000. BLS says lawyers held about 864,800 jobs, and 51% of those jobs were in legal services. 0.51 × 864,800 = 441,048.
Are office counts and lawyer statistics the same?
No. Census counts legal services offices. BLS counts jobs. They are different surveys. Do not mix them.
Where do the legal industry statistics come from?
Lawyer jobs come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Private legal-services jobs come from the BLS yearly jobs file. Bankruptcy cases come from US Courts Table F-2.
Previous years
The office table keeps 2018 through 2023. The jobs and bankruptcy tables keep later years on this same URL.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Lawyers
- BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
- US Courts, Bankruptcy Filings, Table F-2
- US Census Bureau, Quarterly Services Survey current tables
- US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023
- US Courts, Judicial Business 2025
Each line names the source. These are not DocDiffAI customer counts. You can download the Census rows we used. See also construction statistics and insurance statistics.
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