Legal services

About

The top three occupations in the Legal services Industry Group are lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, paralegals & legal assistants, and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive. On average, full-time employees in the Legal services Industry Group work 44.9 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $126,109. Part-time employees in the same industry work 21.5 hours and earn an average annual salary of $45,507.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Legal services Industry Group are District of Columbia (West) PUMA, DC, District of Columbia (Central) PUMA, DC, and Coral Gables City, Pinecrest Village & Kendall (South) PUMA, FL.

The workforce of Legal services Industry Group in 2021 was 1,493,759 people, with 59.4% woman, and 40.6% men.

In 2021, 79.2% of the workforce in the Legal services Industry Group was White (1,183,705 people), of which 57.6% were women and 42.4% men.

Photo by Douglas Palmer

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services

Employment & Salaries

A snapshot of workforce, wages, and opportunities in the Legal services Industry Group.

The workforce in Legal services Industry Group was 1,493,759 people and is concentrated in California (188,958 workers). The average annual salary was $115,223, being $55,627 more than the national average salary, which was $59,596.

Monthly Employment

Start Year

Y-Axis

2.53%

Year-over-year growth

Employment change between February 2022 and February 2023

As of February 2023, there are 937k people employed in the Legal Services industry. This represents a 2.53% increase in employment when compared to February 2022.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Legal Services over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Employment by Location

The states that concentrated the largest workforce in 2021 were California (189k), New York (149k), and Florida (120k).

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by workforce for Legal services Industry Group.

Yearly Wage Ranking

In 2021, Legal services Industry Group had an average annual wage of $115,223, $55,627 more than the average national salary of $59,596.

The graph shows the position of Legal services Industry Group in the ranking of industries by average annual wage.

Wage Distribution

0.502

WAGE GINI

Legal services has a wage GINI of 0.502, which is more than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Legal services (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Legal services Industry Group workers compared to the entire workforce in the country.

Occupations

A review of jobs and wages in the Legal services Industry Group.

Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers are the most common position with 667,432 workers, but the Legal services Industry Group employs a relatively high number of Paralegals & legal assistants and Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive.

The highest average salary in Legal services goes to Chief executives & legislators.

Occupations Distribution

The graph shows the distribution of employees in the Legal services Industry Group according to occupations. In 2021, the occupations that concentrated the largest number of employees in this industry were lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers (667,432 people), paralegals & legal assistants (333,104 people), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (78,950 people)

Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$166,868

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$5,259

$79,887

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$2,405

On average, Male workers in the Legal services Industry Group make 2.09 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Legal services Industry Group.

Business

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Legal services Industry Group. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries.

The industrial flow illustrates the intermediate inputs and the use of outputs of the Legal services Industry Group.

The Legal services Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry.

California and Florida stand out as the states with the largest number of establishments in the Legal services Industry Group.

Industrial Flow

The closest comparable data for Legal services is from Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services.

Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Legal services Industry Group, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Legal services Industry Group is Professional and business services.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Intermediate Inputs

The closest comparable data for Legal services is from Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services.

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Legal services Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

Use of Output by Other Industries

The closest comparable data for Legal services is from Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services.

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Professional and business services Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Legal services Industry Group in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Legal services Industry Group for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

Establishments

States with more establishments in 2016

California
46,126
Florida
36,744
Texas
28,680

The charts shows the distribution of establishments in the Legal services industry by states and the number of establishments according to size.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Legal services Industry Group in the US.

Of the total workforce, 59.4% corresponds to women and 40.6% men. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $166,868 and $79,887.

81.8% of workers have a graduate degree, bachelors degree or some college.

Gender and Age

886,927

Women

59.4%

606,832

Men

40.6%

The workforce of Legal services industry in 2021 was 1,493,759 people, with 59.4% woman, and 40.6% men.

The visualization shows the distribution of the workforce by gender and age in Legal services industry.

Races

In 2021, 79.2% of the workforce in the Legal services industry was White (1,183,705 people), of which 57.6% were women and 42.4% men.

Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black and Two or More Races.

Educational Levels

The main educational levels achieved by the Legal services workers in 2021 were graduate degree (716,139 people), bachelors degree (301,598 people), and some college (204,673 people).

The chart shows the Legal services workforce by gender and educational level.

Projections

Growth projections of the Legal services industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 7.66% in the next ten years. The Legal services industry has a lower projected workforce growth at −0.826%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (16.8%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (24.2%).

Job Growth

−0.826%

Estimated Job Growth

10-year Projection

7.66%

National Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Legal services. This industry is expected to grow less than than 7.66%, the average rate of national job growth.

Output Growth

16.8%

Estimate Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in output of the Legal services industry.

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