Employment and Salary Information

  1. Careers
  2. Employment Statistics
  3. Employment and Salary Information

To further assist our prospective students as they consider enrolling in law school, we have published employment and salary information for the classes of 2021, 2020 and 2019. 

Employment Status

  Class of 2021   Class of 2020   Class of 2019  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Total Graduates 460   428   431  
Employment Status Known 460 100% 428 100.0% 431 100.0%
Employed 451 98% 415 97.0% 426 98.8%
     Bar Passage Required1 446 97% 406 94.9% 421 97.7%
     J.D. Advantage1 3 0.7% 9 2.1% 4 0.9%
     Professional1 2 0.4% 0 0.0% 1 0.2%
     Non-Professional1 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
     Employed-Undeterminable 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Enrolled in Graduate Degree Program FT 1 0.2% 2 0.5% 1 0.2%
Unemployed-Start Date Deferred 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 0.2%
Unemployed-Not Seeking 3 0.7% 3 0.7% 0 0.0%
Unemployed-Seeking 5 1.1% 8 1.9% 3 0.7%
Employment Status Unknown 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

1 This is a percentage of employed students.
* These numbers have been updated to reflect the number of ABA reported graduates.

Employed Graduates: Further Detail, Class of 2021

  Total Full-Time   Part-Time  
    Long-Term Short-Term Long-Term Short-Term
Total Employed Graduates 451 451 0 0 0
     Bar Passage Required 446 446 0 0 0
     J.D. Advantage 3 3 0 0 0
     Professional Position 2 2 0 0 0
     Non-Professional Position 0 0 0 0 0
     Undeterminable 0 0 0 0 0

Law School/University Funded Positions

  Class of 2021   Class of 2020   Class of 2019  
  Number Percentage of Employed Number Percentage of Employed Number Percentage of Employed
Law School/University Funded Positions2 6 1.3% 6 1.4% 6 1.4%

2 These fellowships in public interest law and government service are funded at a minimum of $40,000 and last a minimum of one year. A J.D. degree is required and fellows are eligible for Columbia Law School's Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). 

Percentage of Employed Graduates by Employment Type

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
Law Firm 80% 83.4% 82.6%
     Firm size 1-10 0.6 0.6% 0.3%
     Firm size 11-25 0.0% 1.2% 0.3%
     Firm size 26-50 1.4% 1.2% 1.7%
     Firm size 51-100 0.8% 0.3% 0.3%
     Firm size 101-250 4.4% 2.0% 2.6%
     Firm size 251-500 9.7% 9.8% 8.8%
     Firm size 500+  83.1% 85.0% 86.1%
     Firm size unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Business 0.9% 1.0% 0.7%
Government 4.7% 3.4% 5.4%
Public Interest 7.8% 6.5% 5.9%
Judicial Clerkship3 6.7% 5.8% 5.4%
     Federal 5.8% 5.1%  
     State 0.7% 0.5%  
     International 0.2% 0.2%  
Academia 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Employer type unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

3 The judicial clerkship percentage includes only those graduates who clerked for a judge as a first job after graduation. 

Employment by Geographic Location

  Class of 2021   Class of 2020   Class of 2019  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Mid-Atlantic
(NJ, NY, PA)		 313 69.4% 297 71.6% 307 72.1%
Pacific
(AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)		 44 9.8% 42 10.1% 40 9.4%
South Atlantic
(DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)		 39 8.6% 38 9.2% 33 7.7%
New England
(CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)		 15 3.3% 13 3.1% 13 3.1%
East North Central
(IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)		 5 1.1% 5 1.2% 9 2.1%
West South Central
(AR, LA, OK, TX)		 11 2.4% 4 1.0% 8 1.9%
Non-US locations 15 3.3% 11 2.7% 12 2.8%
Mountain
(AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)		 6 1.3% 2 0.5% 3 0.7%
West North Central
(IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD)		 0 0.0% 2 0.5% 1 0.2%
East South Central
(AL, KY, MS, TN)		 3 0.7% 1 0.2% 0 0.0%
U.S. Territories 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Employment Concentration, Public and Private Employers

  Class of 2021   Class of 2020   Class of 2019   Class of 2018  
Location Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
New York 308 68.3% 293 70.6% 307 72.1% 321 73.0%
District of Columbia 24 5.3% 31 7.5% 31 7.3% 26 5.9%
California 40 8.9% 40 9.6% 37 8.7% 25 5.7%
Non-US locations 15 3.3% 11 2.7% 7   14 3.2%

Salaries of Employed Graduates4

All Employed Graduates

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  99.8% reported 99.8% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
25th Percentile $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
Median $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
Mean $185,192 $168,314 $166,319

Law Firm

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  100% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
25th Percentile $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
Median $215,000 $190,000 $190,000
Mean $212,600 $187,832 $187,286

Judicial Clerkship

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  96.7% reported 95.8% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $72,750 $73,962 $70,000
25th Percentile $64,822 $62,000 $55,000
Median $70,000 $71,000 $66,991
Mean $67,754 $69,128 $63,788

Government

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  100% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $73,962 $86,000 $71,000
25th Percentile $69,000 $60,000 $63,000
Median $70,225 $69,500 $69,000
Mean $79,548 $70,227 $70,868

Public Interest

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  100% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $70,000 $65,000 $65,000
25th Percentile $47,000 $45,000 $40,000
Median $64,260 $55,000 $60,000
Mean $61,100 $55,145 $56,324

Business

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  0% reported 0% reported 0% reported
75th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median - - -
Mean - - -

Academia

  Class of 2021 Class of 2020 Class of 2019
  N/A N/A N/A
75th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median - - -
Mean - - - 

4 Salaries of graduates employed in full-time, long-term positions.