LAWYER RATES GUIDE
How much does a lawyer charge?
What attorneys bill by the hour in a state bar's 2026 survey — by seat, by years at the bar and by field of practice — what flat fees and retainers run, what the fee rules in two states require, and a free calculator that turns the survey figures into a rate for your own website.
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The short answer
The middle half of attorneys bill $275 to $465 an hour, and the median is $350 (State Bar of Michigan, 2026 Economics of Law survey — 2,102 attorneys reporting a rate; the 95th percentile is $875). Sole practitioners with an office outside the home have a median of $323, those working from a home office $300; associates $308, senior associates $350, equity partners and shareholders $425, non-equity partners $465.
The field of practice sets the rate as much as the seat does. Medians in the same survey: criminal defense $300 for either a misdemeanor or a felony; residential landlord-tenant $250; family law $325; wills, trusts and estate planning $325; real estate and immigration $350; civil litigation $375; contracts $410; business and commercial litigation $455; intellectual property $468; tax law $488; securities law $625.
Beyond the hour: a business contract review averages $550 as a flat fee on ContractsCounsel's marketplace, typically $250 to $750, and the site puts a business lawyer's hourly charge at $250 to $350; forming a multi-member LLC averaged $2,110 across 100 lawyer bids (June 2026). LawPay's 2024 benchmark (2023 figures) puts the average retainer at $1,973 for immigration, $2,172 for trusts and estates, $2,816 for criminal law, $3,163 for family law and $4,015 for bankruptcy (published September 2025).
Rates moved up 7.3% in 2025 — a record for worked rates at the average law firm, with smaller firms taking the larger share of the growth (Thomson Reuters Institute, January 2026). The employee benchmark is $76.76 an hour, the median lawyer's wage, $159,670 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages). Put a rate or a “from” fee on your website: “how much to charge as a lawyer” is put to AI assistants about 12,300 times a month, and “how much does a lawyer charge” is Googled about 4,400 times (DataForSEO, October 2026).
AT A GLANCE · NOVEMBER 2026
Lawyer rates at a glance
| The job | Typical US price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate, all attorneys in the survey (25th to 75th percentile) | $275–$465 an hour | State Bar of Michigan, read November 2026 |
| Sole practitioner, office outside the home | $267–$395 | State Bar of Michigan, read November 2026 |
| Equity partner or shareholder | $325–$595 | State Bar of Michigan, read November 2026 |
| Business contract review, typical flat-fee range | $250–$750 | ContractsCounsel, read November 2026 |
| Multi-member LLC formation, lowest to highest state average (small state samples) | $450–$2,430 | ContractsCounsel, June 2026 |
| Retainer, average by practice area (immigration lowest, bankruptcy highest) | $1,973–$4,015 | LawPay, September 2025 |
The same published figures as the full rate table below; the calculator works out a price for your own job.
FREE PRICE CALCULATOR
What should I charge for this matter?
Price hourly work by the hours it will take, or pick the seat you bill from, a flat-fee matter or the retainer that opens a file, then adjust for your field and your years at the bar. The range uses the published US figures in the table below.
Suggested price
$2,750–$4,650
hourly work, all attorneys in the survey (25th to 75th percentile), 10 hours
A starting range from a state bar's survey and a marketplace's averages — not your rate until you have checked it against the fee customarily charged where you practise and your own costs. In the US, each state's rules of professional conduct set a limit on fees — Washington's bars an unreasonable fee, Florida's a clearly excessive one; check your state bar's rules before you print a price.
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RATES · NOVEMBER 2026
Lawyer rates (2026)
What Michigan attorneys bill, read off the State Bar of Michigan's 2026 survey (the 25th to 75th percentiles of 2,102 reported rates; median $350), ContractsCounsel's marketplace averages for two business matters, and LawPay's 2024 retainer benchmark (2023 figures).
| The job | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Hourly work, all attorneys in the survey (25th to 75th percentile) | $275–$465 per hour · about $2,750–$4,650 for 10 hours · State Bar of Michigan |
| Hourly rate by who bills it (25th to 75th percentile) | Sole practitioner, office outside the home: $267–$395 · Sole practitioner, home office: $217–$367 · Associate: $262–$393 · Equity partner or shareholder: $325–$595 · State Bar of Michigan |
| Business contract review, flat fee (ContractsCounsel marketplace, typical range) | Business contract review, typical flat-fee range: $250–$750 · ContractsCounsel |
| Multi-member LLC formation, flat fee (ContractsCounsel state averages, New Hampshire to Iowa) | Multi-member LLC formation, lowest to highest state average (small state samples): $450–$2,430 · ContractsCounsel |
| Retainer to open a matter, average by practice area (2024 benchmark, 2023 figures) | Retainer, average by practice area (immigration lowest, bankruptcy highest): $1,973–$4,015 · LawPay |
| Hourly rate, all attorneys in the survey (25th to 75th percentile) | $275–$465 an hour · State Bar of Michigan |
Rates read off each publisher's page in November 2026. The calculator above uses exactly these numbers, rounded to whole dollars and to the nearest $5 from $100 up. Full source list below.
ADD-ONS AND ADJUSTMENTS
What the field and the years change
Multipliers worked from the survey's medians by field of practice and by years since bar admission, against the $350 all-attorney median (State Bar of Michigan, 2026).
| What | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Field of practice: family law, wills and estate planning | median $325 ÷ the $350 all-field median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Field of practice: criminal defense | median $300 ÷ the $350 all-field median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Field of practice: business litigation and contracts | medians $410–$455 ÷ the $350 all-field median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Field of practice: tax, intellectual property and securities | medians $468–$625 ÷ the $350 all-field median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Years since bar admission: under a year | median $265 ÷ the $350 all-years median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Years since bar admission: one to five years | median $300 ÷ the $350 all-years median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Years since bar admission: six to fifteen years | medians $325–$350 ÷ the $350 all-years median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
| Years since bar admission: sixteen to thirty-five years | medians $370–$392 ÷ the $350 all-years median · State Bar of Michigan figures |
Where a row shows a sum (a rate × a quantity, or a percentage worked out from published dollar ranges), the arithmetic is ours and the inputs are the publisher's.
THE PRICING FORMULA
How to set your rate as a lawyer
Six steps from the employee benchmark to a rate — hourly, flat or contingent — that the fee rules in your state will recognize.
Know the employee benchmark
The median lawyer earns $76.76 an hour, $159,670 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages, 863,700 employed). A practice's hourly rate sits far above it because the rent, malpractice cover, staff, software and every unbilled hour are yours.
Read the survey for your seat
Sole practitioners' median rate is $300 from a home office and $323 from an office outside it; associates' $308; equity partners' $425; non-equity partners' $465 (State Bar of Michigan, 2026). Offices with one attorney have a median of $313; offices with more than fifty, $593.
Price the field, not just the hour
The same survey's medians run from $250 for residential landlord-tenant work and $300 for criminal defense to $455 for business litigation, $488 for tax and $625 for securities law. Rate the matter by the field it sits in, not by one number for the whole practice.
Choose hourly, flat or contingent — and know what the rule asks
Washington's RPC 1.5 lists nine factors a reasonable fee is judged on, including “the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar legal services”, and asks that the basis or rate be communicated to the client, preferably in writing; a contingent fee needs a writing signed by the client, and no fee may be contingent on securing a divorce or on the amount of support or property, nor contingent at all for a criminal defendant. Check your state bar's rules.
Set the retainer or the flat fee by the matter
The average retainer to open a matter runs $1,973 (immigration) to $4,015 (bankruptcy) in LawPay's 2024 benchmark (2023 figures); a business contract review averages $550 and a multi-member LLC formation $2,110 on ContractsCounsel. Florida's rule defines a retainer as money paid to guarantee the lawyer's future availability, a flat fee as the whole price of the representation, and an advance fee as money billed against as work is done.
Raise the rate every year
Worked rates at the average law firm grew 7.3% in 2025, a record, and smaller firms captured the larger share of the year's growth (Thomson Reuters Institute, January 2026). A yearly review, told to clients ahead of time, keeps the practice level with the market.
The rate, worked through
A sole practitioner with an office in town bills $323 an hour, the survey's median for that seat. A family-law matter that takes 10 hours is $3,230; the same hours in business litigation, at that field's $455 median, are $4,550 — the field changed the fee by $1,320 before the clock did.
A $550 flat fee for a business contract review that takes an hour and a half is $367 an hour, above the median; the same fee on a review that takes three hours is $183 an hour, below the 25th percentile. A flat fee holds only when its scope is as fixed as its price.
So “contract review from $550, LLC formation from $2,110, hourly work from $300” — the marketplace's two averages and the survey's median for a sole practitioner working from home — is a fair first line for a small business practice's website. The figures are the publishers'; the sums are ours.
What to charge where you practise
Inside one state the spread is wide: the State Bar of Michigan's 2026 survey puts the median rate at $555 in downtown Detroit, $403 in Grand Rapids, $325 in Lansing, $303 in Traverse City and $275 in the Upper Peninsula. Across states, the 2023 averages LawPay publishes (citing Statista) run from $162 in West Virginia and $193 in Maine to $344 in California, $358 in New York and $392 in the District of Columbia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis's 2024 regional price parities put California at 110.7 and Arkansas at 86.9 against a US average of 100 (released February 2026) — about $387 and $304 for a $350 hour.
In the US, fees are governed by each state's rules of professional conduct, which the state supreme court or bar adopts. Washington's RPC 1.5 bars an unreasonable fee and names nine factors it is judged on — the time and skill the work needs, the fee customarily charged in the locality, the amount involved and the result, the lawyer's experience and whether the fee is fixed or contingent among them; it asks that the basis or rate be communicated preferably in writing, requires a contingent fee agreement to be in a writing signed by the client, and allows no fee contingent on securing a divorce or on the amount of support or property, and no contingent fee for a criminal defendant. Florida's Rule 4-1.5 adds a schedule for personal-injury contingency fees: without court approval, more than 33⅓% of a recovery up to $1 million before an answer is filed, or 40% after, is presumed clearly excessive (RRTFB, October 2026). Whether your state taxes legal services is set state by state. This page reports what two states' rules say; it is not legal advice — check your state bar's rules.
Outside the US, treat the dollar figures as a shape, not a price: a rate by seat and by field, a flat fee with a fixed scope and a retainer that opens the file hold everywhere, and the fee rules are your own law society's or bar's. Check what the practices near you publish.
Put your prices on your website
A price list — even “from” prices — answers a customer's first question before they pick up the phone, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote when someone asks what a lawyer costs near them.
If you build your site with Zarla, tell the editor “add a pricing section: contract review from $550, LLC formation from $2,110, hourly work from $300” and your prices go on the site, in a section you can edit any time. Want to see a finished site first? Browse law firm website templates or see how Zarla builds law firm websites.
Still setting up? Write your law firm business plan, browse law firm business name ideas, and when the prices are set, read how to get your business on Google. Raising prices you set a year ago? The price increase letter tells customers a month ahead.
Opening the practice? How to start a law firm covers the bar admission, the entity your state allows and the malpractice cover before the first rate is set.
Lawyer rates: common questions
The middle half of attorneys in the State Bar of Michigan's 2026 survey bill $275–$465 an hour, and the median is $350; the 95th percentile is $875. The calculator above prices a matter by the hours it takes, the seat you bill from and your field.
Attorneys under a year at the bar have a median rate of $265 in the same survey, one to five years $300, six to ten $325, and sixteen to thirty years $370–$392. First-year associates' median is $270.
LawPay's 2024 benchmark (2023 figures) puts the average retainer at $1,973 for immigration, $2,172 for trusts and estates, $2,710 for matrimonial work, $2,816 for criminal law, $2,860 for real estate, $3,163 for family law and $4,015 for bankruptcy. Florida's rule defines a retainer as money paid to guarantee the lawyer's future availability, apart from an advance fee that is billed against.
Flat fees fit matters with a fixed scope — a contract review averages $550 and a multi-member LLC formation $2,110 on ContractsCounsel's marketplace — and hourly billing fits work whose hours can't be known in advance. Washington's RPC 1.5 asks that the basis or rate of the fee be communicated, preferably in writing, and sets out what a flat-fee writing covers; check your state bar's rules.
The rules set the ceiling, not the market. Florida's Rule 4-1.5 presumes a personal-injury contingency fee above 33⅓% of a recovery up to $1 million before an answer is filed, or above 40% after, to be clearly excessive without court approval, with lower shares above $1 million and $2 million; Washington's rule requires a contingent fee agreement in a writing signed by the client, and allows no fee contingent on securing a divorce or on the amount of support or property, and none for a criminal defendant. Check your state bar's rules.
The median lawyer earns $76.76 an hour, $159,670 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages). A practice bills several times that because the rent, staff, malpractice cover and unbilled hours are the practice's own.
A “from” fee for a consultation or a flat-fee matter answers the first question before the call, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote. On a Zarla site, tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your matters, and change them when your rates do. Fee advertising is governed by your state bar's rules — check them before the figures go up.
Where these numbers come from
Every range on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures for what lawyers bill by the hour, by the matter and to open a file — a state bar's survey, two states' fee rules and a marketplace's averages — typical, not a rule; your costs and your market come first.
- State Bar of Michigan — 2026 Economics of Law Survey Results: Attorney Income & Billing Rate Summary (2025 data; 4,652 responses; released 7 August 2026 per the Bar's news item) — no date on the page, read November 2026
- Washington Courts — Rules of Professional Conduct, RPC 1.5 Fees (amended effective 29 April 2025; comment amended 1 September 2026) — dated September 2026, read November 2026
- The Florida Bar — Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Chapter 4, Rule 4-1.5 Fees and Costs for Legal Services (RRTFB 22 October 2026) — dated October 2026, read November 2026
- Thomson Reuters Institute — 2026 Report on the State of the US Legal Market (with Georgetown Law's Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession) — dated January 2026, read November 2026
- LawPay — Lawyer hourly rate by state (2023 state averages as published by LawPay, citing Statista; retainer averages, 2023 figures, from LawPay's 2024 Benchmark Report) — dated September 2025, read November 2026
- ContractsCounsel — Business Contract Review Cost (2026): $550 Avg Flat Fee (its own marketplace projects) — no date on the page, read November 2026
- ContractsCounsel — Multi-Member LLC Formation Pricing (100 lawyer bids on its marketplace) — dated June 2026, read November 2026
- O*NET OnLine — 23-1011.00 Lawyers (median wages, 2025; dated by the site's update) — dated October 2026, read November 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — regional price parities by state, 2024 — dated February 2026, read September 2026
Put your rates on your website
Add your town and your firm's name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line. Your consultation fee and flat-fee matters go in a pricing section you edit by chat.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.