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 2017 and 2018. Class of 2019 salary data will be posted in July 2020.

Employment Status

  Class of 2018   Class of 2017  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage
Total Graduates 450*   433*  
Employment Status Known 450* 100.0% 433* 100.0%
Employed 440* 97.8% 423 97.7%
     Bar Passage Required1 427* 97.0% 416 98.4%
     J.D. Advantage1 11 2.5% 3 0.7%
     Professional1 2 0.5% 4 0.9%
     Non-Professional1 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
     Employed-Undeterminable 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Enrolled in Graduate Degree Program FT 0 0.0% 3 0.7%
Unemployed-Start Date Deferred 1 0.2% 1 0.2%
Unemployed-Not Seeking 0 0.0% 1 0.2%
Unemployed-Seeking 9 2.0% 6 1.4%
Employment Status Unknown 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 2018

  Total Full-Time   Part-Time  
    Long-Term Short-Term Long-Term Short-Term
Total Employed Graduates 440 434 4 1 1
     Bar Passage Required 427 427 0 0 0
     J.D. Advantage 11 10 0 1 0
     Professional Position 2 1 0 0 1
     Non-Professional Position 0 0 0 0 0
     Undeterminable 0 0 0 0 0

Law School/University Funded Positions

  Class of 2018   Class of 2017  
  Number Percentage of Employed Number Percentage of Employed
Law School/University Funded Positions2 5 1.1% 13 3.1%

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 2018 Class of 2017
Law Firm 81.5% 84.8%
     Solo 0.2% 0.0%
     Firm size 2-10 0.8% 1.2%
     Firm size 11-25 0.6% 0.5%
     Firm size 26-50 0.6% 0.7%
     Firm size 51-100 1.1% 0.7%
     Firm size 101-250 3.3% 1.4%
     Firm size 251-500 11.5% 11.4%
     Firm size 500+  81.9% 69.0%
     Firm size unknown 0.0% 0.0%
Business 2.1% 1.7%
Government 4.6% 3.8%
Public Interest 5.9% 5.5%
Judicial Clerkship3 5.7% 4.3%
     Federal 5.0% 3.6%
     State 0.7% 0.5%
     International 0.0% 0.2%
Academia 0.0% 0.2%
Employer type unknown 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 2018   Class of 2017  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage
Mid-Atlantic
(NJ, NY, PA)		 323 73.4% 311 73.7%
Pacific
(AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)		 26 5.9% 40 9.5%
South Atlantic
(DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)		 33 7.5% 37 8.7%
New England
(CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)		 15 3.4% 9 2.1%
East North Central
(IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)		 3 0.7% 5 1.2%
West South Central
(AR, LA, OK, TX)		 14 3.2% 2 0.5%
International 14 3.2% 13 3.1%
Mountain
(AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)		 4 0.9% 4 0.9%
West North Central
(IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD)		 2 0.4% 2 0.5%
East South Central
(AL, KY, MS, TN)		 3 0.7% 0 0.0%
U.S. Territories 3 0.7% 0 0.0%

Employment Concentration, Public and Private Employers

  Class of 2018   Class of 2017  
Location Number Percentage Number Percentage
New York 321 73.0% 304 72.0%
District of Columbia 26 5.9% 35 8.3%
California 25 5.7% 27 6.4%
International 14 3.2% 12 2.8%

Salaries of Employed Graduates4

All Employed Graduates

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  97.7% reported 99.7% reported
75th Percentile $190,000 $180,000
25th Percentile $190,000 $180,000
Median $190,000 $180,000
Mean $165,702 $162,867

Law Firm

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  99.4% reported 100.0% reported
75th Percentile $190,000 $180,000
25th Percentile $190,000 $180,000
Median $190,000 $180,000
Mean $179,516 $178,146

Judicial Clerkship

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  100.0% reported 100.0% reported
75th Percentile $69,904 $65,000
25th Percentile $52,000 $56,000
Median $68,000 $62,000
Mean $63,943 $60,456

Government

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  100.0% reported 91.7% reported
75th Percentile $71,000 $62,000
25th Percentile $57,500 $40,000
Median $60,000 $60,000
Mean $63,274 $52,727

Public Interest

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  92.3% reported 87.5% reported
75th Percentile $61,000 $60,000
25th Percentile $42,500 $45,000
Median $58,000 $56,000
Mean $54,542 $53,615

Business

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  66.7% reported 71.4% reported
75th Percentile $168,000 $200,000
25th Percentile $120,000 $120,000
Median $155,000 $125,000
Mean $139,167 $158,000

Academia

  Class of 2018 Class of 2017
  N/A N/A
75th Percentile - -
25th Percentile - -
Median - -
Mean -  - 

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