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 2022, 2021 and 2020. 

Employment Status

  Class of 2022   Class of 2021   Class of 2020  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Total Graduates 410   460   428  
Employment Status Known 410 100% 460 100% 428 100.0%
Employed 406 99% 451 98% 415 97.0%
   Bar Passage Required1 397 97.8% 446 97% 406 94.9%
   JD Advantage1 7 1.7% 3 0.7% 9 2.1%
   Other Professional: Full-time1 1 0.2% 2 0.4% 0 0.0%
   Other Professional: Part-time1 1 0.2% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Enrolled in Graduate Degree Program FT 0 0.0% 1 0.2% 2 0.5%
Unemployed-Start Date Deferred 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Unemployed-Seeking 3 0.7% 5 1.1% 8 1.9%
Unemployed-Not Seeking 1 0.2% 3 0.7% 3 0.7%

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 2022

  Total Full-Time   Part-Time  
    Long-Term Short-Term Long-Term Short-Term
Total Employed Graduates 406 405 1 0 0
     Bar Passage Required 397 396 1 0 0
     J.D. Advantage 7 7 0 0 0
     Professional: Full-time 1 1 0 0 0
     Professional: Part-time  1 1 0 0 0
     Undeterminable 0 0 0 0 0

Law School/University Funded Positions

  Class of 2022   Class of 2021   Class of 2020  
  Number Percentage of Employed Number Percentage of Employed Number Percentage of Employed
Law School/University Funded Positions2 7 1.7% 6 1.3% 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 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
Law Firm 84.5% 80% 83.4%
     Firm size 1-10 0.3% 0.6 0.6%
     Firm size 11-25 0.9% 0.0% 1.2%
     Firm size 26-50 0.6% 1.4% 1.2%
     Firm size 51-100 1.5% 0.8% 0.3%
     Firm size 101-250 2.3% 4.4% 2.0%
     Firm size 251-500 11.4% 9.7% 9.8%
     Firm size 500+  83.1% 83.1% 85.0%
     Firm size unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Business 0.7% 0.9% 1.0%
Government 4.2% 4.7% 3.4%
Public Interest 5.4% 7.8% 6.5%
Judicial Clerkship3 4.9% 6.7% 5.8%
     Federal 4.2% 5.8% 5.1%
     State 0.5% 0.7% 0.5%
     International 0.2% 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 2022   Class of 2021   Class of 2020  
  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Mid-Atlantic
(NJ, NY, PA)		 305 75.1% 313 69.4% 297 71.6%
Pacific
(AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)		 25 6.2% 44 9.8% 42 10.1%
South Atlantic
(DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)		 32 7.9% 39 8.6% 38 9.2%
New England
(CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)		 11 2.7% 15 3.3% 13 3.1%
East North Central
(IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)		 6 1.5% 5 1.1% 5 1.2%
West South Central
(AR, LA, OK, TX)		 5 1.2% 11 2.4% 4 1.0%
Non-US locations 9 2.2% 15 3.3% 11 2.7%
Mountain
(AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)		 6 1.5% 6 1.3% 2 0.5%
West North Central
(IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD)		 3 0.7% 0 0.0% 2 0.5%
East South Central
(AL, KY, MS, TN)		 3 0.7% 3 0.7% 1 0.2%
U.S. Territories 1 0.2% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Employment Concentration, Public and Private Employers

  Class of 2022   Class of 2021   Class of 2020  
Location Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
New York 299 73.6% 308 68.3% 293 70.6%
District of Columbia 27 6.7% 24 5.3% 31 7.5%
California 24 5.9% 40 8.9% 40 9.6%
Non-US locations 9 2.2% 15 3.3% 11 2.7%

Salaries of Employed Graduates4

All Employed Graduates

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  99.3% reported 99.8% reported 99.8% reported
75th Percentile $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
25th Percentile $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
Median $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
Mean $190,539 $185,192 $168,314

Law Firm

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  99.7% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
25th Percentile $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
Median $215,000 $215,000 $190,000
Mean $211,411 $212,600 $187,832

Judicial Clerkship

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  100% reported 96.7% reported 95.8% reported
75th Percentile $75,000 $72,750 $73,962
25th Percentile $66,000 $64,822 $62,000
Median $67,382 $70,000 $71,000
Mean $68,386 $67,754 $69,128

Government

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  100% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $73,500 $73,962 $86,000
25th Percentile $60,000 $69,000 $60,000
Median $72,000 $70,225 $69,500
Mean $69,462 $79,548 $70,227

Public Interest

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  100% reported 100% reported 100% reported
75th Percentile $73,593 $70,000 $65,000
25th Percentile $60,000 $47,000 $45,000
Median $68,000 $64,260 $55,000
Mean $66,193 $61,100 $55,145

Business

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  0% reported 0% reported 0% reported
75th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median - - -
Mean - - -

Academia

  Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
  N/A N/A N/A
75th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median - - -
Mean - - -

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