LAWYERS PER CAPITA BY STATE

Many readers find their way to Law School Tuition Bubble by searching for the “number of attorneys per capita by state,” and discover research I did way back in the summer of 2010. Other searches bring people to the Avery Index, which used the 2000 Census with 2007 Martindale-Hubble attorney listings. We have better data available. In the past, one would have to shell out $45.00 to buy the Lawyer Statistical Report: The Legal Profession in 2000 from the ABA bookstore, which is no longer available except for a five-page excerpt on the ABA’s Market Research page. So, here’s the 2010 update, open source for all.

This page uses the number of attorneys “active and resident” according to the “ABA’s National Lawyer Population by State” document (NLPS) and population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. This does not tell us the number of inactive or nonresident attorneys, which was around 7% in the early 2000s. To give you a comparison: for the 1.2 million attorneys on the rolls, between 1970 and 2010 the ABA conferred just less than 1.5 million law degrees, though only about 759,200 people were employed as lawyers in 2008. Those numbers will be updated later when they become available.

Number of Active Lawyers Per Capita

As always, I count D.C. and Puerto Rico as states.

# STATE 2010 POPULATION # LAWYERS ACTIVE & RESIDENT (2010) # LAWYERS/10,000 RESIDENTS (2010)
1 District of Columbia 610,589 49,207 805.89
2 New York 19,577,730 157,778 80.59
3 Massachusetts 6,631,280 44,121 66.53
4 Connecticut 3,526,937 20,309 57.58
5 Illinois 12,944,410 60,069 46.41
6 New Jersey 8,732,811 40,286 46.13
7 Minnesota 5,290,447 22,585 42.69
8 California 37,266,600 153,155 41.10
9 Missouri 6,011,741 23,728 39.47
10 Louisiana 4,529,426 17,688 39.05
11 Rhode Island 1,056,870 4,098 38.77
12 Colorado 5,095,309 19,737 38.74
13 Maryland 5,737,274 22,149 38.61
14 Pennsylvania 12,632,780 47,453 37.56
15 Puerto Rico 3,791,913 13,282 35.03
16 Vermont 622,433 2,166 34.80
17 Washington 6,746,199 23,204 34.40
18 Alaska 708,862 2,418 34.11
19 Florida 18,678,049 62,875 33.66
20 Michigan 9,931,235 32,731 32.96
21 Ohio 11,532,111 37,335 32.37
22 Oklahoma 3,724,447 11,711 31.44
23 Hawaii 1,300,086 4,077 31.36
24 Texas 25,213,445 77,049 30.56
25 Oregon 3,855,536 11,766 30.52
26 Delaware 891,464 2,706 30.35
27 Wyoming 547,637 1,636 29.87
28 Montana 980,152 2,921 29.80
29 Alabama 4,729,656 13,655 28.87
30 Nebraska 1,811,072 5,149 28.43
31 Kentucky 4,339,435 12,334 28.42
32 Virginia 7,952,119 22,472 28.26
33 Kansas 2,841,121 8,009 28.19
34 Maine 1,312,939 3,663 27.90
35 Georgia 9,908,357 27,398 27.65
36 Wisconsin 5,668,519 15,078 26.60
37 New Mexico 2,033,875 5,269 25.91
38 West Virginia 1,825,513 4,725 25.88
39 Tennessee 6,338,112 16,365 25.82
40 New Hampshire 1,323,531 3,396 25.66
41 Nevada 2,654,751 6,523 24.57
42 Utah 2,830,753 6,778 23.94
43 Iowa 3,023,081 7,080 23.42
44 Mississippi 2,960,467 6,786 22.92
45 South Dakota 820,077 1,839 22.42
46 Indiana 6,445,295 13,850 21.49
47 North Carolina 9,458,888 20,226 21.38
48 North Dakota 653,778 1,397 21.37
49 Idaho 1,559,796 3,299 21.15
50 South Carolina 4,596,958 9,264 20.15
51 Arizona 6,676,627 13,384 20.05
52 Arkansas 2,910,236 5,789 19.89
USA AVERAGE 312,842,729 1,201,968 38.42

Here’s a geographic representation by state, and one by Bureau of Economic Analysis regions.

BEA REGION 2010 POPULATION # LAWYERS ACTIVE & RESIDENT (2010) # LAWYERS/10,000 RESIDENTS (2010)
New England 14,473,990 77,753 53.72
Mideast 52,532,034 319,579 66.33
Great Lakes 46,521,570 159,063 34.19
Plains 20,451,317 69,787 34.12
Southeast 78,227,216 219,577 28.07
Southwest 37,648,394 107,413 28.53
Rocky Mountain 11,013,647 34,371 31.21
Far West 52,532,034 201,143 38.29
USA REGIONS 309,050,816 1,188,686 38.46

The most recent NLPS does have the number of lawyers active and resident in 2011 but (a) we don’t have population data for each state yet, and (b) Puerto Rico and Illinois shamefully chose not to respond, which will mess the data up. There’s probably a correlation between active and resident status and bar authorities requiring high fees, CLE requirements, and mandatory pro bono work that I’m interested in investigating. The fact that Massachusetts lost 5% of its lawyers over the course of 2010 strongly suggests that many attorneys changed their status due to an inability to afford bar fees and CLEs. The ABA Market Research Department should probably start counting inactive attorneys like it did in the 2000s. We may learn much.

Number of Employed Lawyers Per Capita

Next, we have the number of employed lawyers per capita based on data supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and state government labor departments. The cumulative state totals differ from the BLS’s so I included a cumulative total separate from the BLS.

# STATE 2008 POPULATION # EMPLOYED LAWYERS (2008) # EMPLOYED LAWYERS/10,000 RESIDENTS (2008)
1 District of Columbia 590,074 42,410 718.72
2 New York 19,467,789 86,140 44.25
3 Vermont 621,049 2,070 33.33
4 Delaware 876,211 2,900 33.10
5 New Jersey 8,663,398 28,650 33.07
6 Massachusetts 6,543,595 21,600 33.01
7 Illinois 12,842,954 38,080 29.65
8 Minnesota 5,230,567 15,290 29.23
9 Florida 18,423,878 52,980 28.76
10 Colorado 4,935,213 14,090 28.55
11 Connecticut 3,502,932 9,940 28.38
12 Utah 2,727,343 7,080 25.96
13 California 36,580,371 94,900 25.94
14 Rhode Island 1,053,502 2,710 25.72
15 Virginia 7,795,424 19,780 25.37
16 Maryland 5,658,655 14,300 25.27
17 Louisiana 4,451,513 10,770 24.19
18 Hawaii 1,287,481 2,970 23.07
19 Washington 6,566,073 14,840 22.60
20 Pennsylvania 12,566,368 28,400 22.60
21 Oklahoma 3,644,025 8,100 22.23
22 Georgia 9,697,838 20,900 21.55
23 Maine 1,319,691 2,800 21.22
24 Missouri 5,956,335 11,520 19.34
25 North Dakota 641,421 1,240 19.33
26 Alaska 688,125 1,330 19.33
27 Montana 968,035 1,870 19.32
28 Nebraska 1,781,949 3,400 19.08
29 Michigan 10,002,486 19,030 19.03
30 Kansas 2,797,375 5,210 18.62
31 Nevada 2,615,772 4,840 18.50
32 Wisconsin 5,627,610 10,390 18.46
33 Texas 24,304,290 44,680 18.38
34 Arizona 6,499,377 11,880 18.28
35 Mississippi 2,940,212 5,260 17.89
36 New Mexico 1,986,763 3,550 17.87
37 New Hampshire 1,321,872 2,350 17.78
38 Idaho 1,527,506 2,710 17.74
39 Wyoming 532,981 940 17.64
40 Ohio 11,528,072 19,860 17.23
41 Alabama 4,677,464 7,910 16.91
42 West Virginia 1,814,873 2,940 16.20
43 North Carolina 9,247,134 14,310 15.48
44 Indiana 6,388,309 9,740 15.25
45 Kentucky 4,287,931 6,510 15.18
46 South Carolina 4,503,280 6,640 14.74
47 Iowa 2,993,987 4,340 14.50
48 Tennessee 6,240,456 8,720 13.97
49 Oregon 3,782,991 4,980 13.16
50 Arkansas 2,867,764 3,430 11.96
51 Puerto Rico 3,954,553 4,180 10.57
52 South Dakota 804,532 N/A N/A
STATES AVERAGE 308,329,339 765,460 24.83
USA (BLS) 308,329,339 759,200 24.62

And here is lawyer density by BEA division.

BEA DIVISION 2008 POPULATION # EMPLOYED LAWYERS (2008) # EMPLOYED LAWYERS/10,000 RESIDENTS (2008)
Middle Atlantic 40,697,555 143,190 22.80
New England 14,362,641 41,470 23.11
Pacific 48,905,041 119,020 14.21
South Atlantic 58,607,367 177,160 5.79
East North Central 46,389,431 97,100 13.14
West North Central 20,206,166 41,000 13.16
West South Central 35,267,592 66,980 11.78
Mountain 21,792,990 46,960 4.60
USA REGIONS 304,374,786 761,280 25.01
USA (BLS) 308,329,339 759,200 24.62

“Idle” Attorneys

Finally, to add some value that the Lawyer Statistical Report never would have considered, the difference between lawyers on the rolls and the number of employed lawyers varies significantly between states and regions. This creates data I call “Idle Attorneys”: lawyers who are not employed in the profession. They may be judges, legislators, businesspeople whose careers advanced due to their law degrees; or, they may be people who are unable to find careers as attorneys, are working in areas that don’t require law degrees, are choosing not to work, or are unemployed yet still maintaining their active membership. The correlation coefficient between the number of law schools per capita (omitted) and idle attorneys per capita in each state is 0.74, and in the BEA regions it’s 0.62. Using data from the Law Graduate Oversupply page, the correlation between surplus graduates per capita (omitted) and idle attorneys per capita is 0.80, but in the BEA regions it’s 0.90, though that’s a smaller sample. There isn’t quite enough information to make the causal argument that excess law school enrollments lead to excess lawyers, but it is interesting. Readers should note that the distribution is highly skewed, with a quarter of idle attorneys living in D.C., New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

# STATE (# ABA LAW SCHOOLS) # LAWYERS ACTIVE & RESIDENT (2008) # EMPLOYED LAWYERS (2008) # IDLE ATTYS # IDLE ATTYS/10,000 RESIDENTS PERCENT IDLE
1 Puerto Rico (3) 12,454 4,180 8,274 20.92 66.44%
2 Oregon (3) 11,344 4,980 6,364 16.82 56.10%
3 Massachusetts (7)* 42,501 21,600 20,901 31.94 49.18%
4 Missouri (4) 22,602 11,520 11,082 18.61 49.03%
5 Connecticut (3) 19,013 9,940 9,073 25.90 47.72%
6 Ohio (9) 36,644 19,860 16,784 14.56 45.80%
7 Kentucky (3) 11,876 6,510 5,366 12.51 45.18%
8 Alaska (0) 2,385 1,330 1,055 15.33 44.23%
9 New York (15) 150,542 86,140 64,402 33.08 42.78%
10 Tennessee (3)* 15,199 8,720 6,479 10.38 42.63%
11 Michigan (5) 32,131 19,030 13,101 13.10 40.77%
12 Alabama (3)* 13,231 7,910 5,321 11.38 40.22%
13 Arkansas (2) 5,700 3,430 2,270 7.92 39.82%
14 Texas (9) 73,505 44,680 28,825 11.86 39.22%
15 Wyoming (1) 1,537 940 597 11.20 38.84%
16 Pennsylvania (8) 46,065 28,400 17,665 14.06 38.35%
17 Illinois (9) 61,259 38,080 23,179 18.05 37.84%
18 Iowa (2) 6,959 4,340 2,619 8.75 37.63%
19 Louisiana (4) 16,965 10,770 6,195 13.92 36.52%
20 West Virginia (1) 4,618 2,940 1,678 9.25 36.34%
21 California (20)* 148,399 94,900 53,499 14.63 36.05%
22 Oklahoma (3) 12,357 8,100 4,257 11.68 34.45%
23 Montana (1) 2,844 1,870 974 10.06 34.25%
24 Kansas (2) 7,855 5,210 2,645 9.46 33.67%
25 Nebraska (2) 5,117 3,400 1,717 9.64 33.55%
26 Washington (3) 22,276 14,840 7,436 11.32 33.38%
27 Rhode Island (1) 4,055 2,710 1,345 12.77 33.17%
28 New Mexico (1) 5,267 3,550 1,717 8.64 32.60%
29 Maryland (2) 20,996 14,300 6,696 11.83 31.89%
30 Minnesota (4) 21,944 15,290 6,654 12.72 30.32%
31 New Hampshire (1) 3,309 2,350 959 7.25 28.98%
32 Indiana (4) 13,564 9,740 3,824 5.99 28.19%
33 Wisconsin (2) 14,448 10,390 4,058 7.21 28.09%
34 Hawaii (1) 4,126 2,970 1,156 8.98 28.02%
35 New Jersey (3) 39,384 28,650 10,734 12.39 27.25%
36 South Carolina (2) 8,961 6,640 2,321 5.15 25.90%
37 Colorado (2) 18,894 14,090 4,804 9.73 25.43%
38 North Carolina (7) 18,966 14,310 4,656 5.04 24.55%
39 Georgia (5) 27,227 20,900 6,327 6.52 23.24%
40 Maine (1) 3,594 2,800 794 6.02 22.09%
41 Mississippi (2) 6,723 5,260 1,463 4.98 21.76%
42 Nevada (1) 6,105 4,840 1,265 4.84 20.72%
43 Idaho (1) 3,330 2,710 620 4.06 18.62%
44 Florida (11) 59,953 52,980 6,973 3.78 11.63%
45 District of Columbia (6) 46,689 42,410 4,279 72.52 9.16%
46 North Dakota (1) 1,345 1,240 105 1.64 7.81%
47 Arizona (3) 12,793 11,880 913 1.40 7.14%
48 Virginia (8) 21,183 19,780 1,403 1.80 6.62%
49 Vermont (1) 2,183 2,070 113 1.82 5.18%
50 Utah (2) 6,215 7,080 -865 -3.17 -13.92%
51 Delaware (1) 2,526 2,900 -374 -4.27 -14.81%
N/A South Dakota (1) 1,761 N/A N/A N/A N/A
STATES AVERAGE 1,160,919 765,460 395,459 12.83 34.06%
USA (BLS) (199) 1,160,919 759,200 401,719 13.03 34.60%

Here’s a chart sorted by the number of idle attorneys per capita.


And here’s a map of idle attorneys per capita by BEA region.

BEA REGION (# ABA LAW SCHOOLS) # LAWYERS ACTIVE & RESIDENT (2008) # EMPLOYED LAWYERS (2008) # IDLE ATTORNEYS # IDLE ATTYS/10,000 RESIDENTS PERCENT IDLE
New England (14) 74,655 41,470 33,185 23.11 44.45%
Mideast (35) 306,202 202,800 103,402 21.62 33.77%
Great Lakes (29) 158,046 97,100 60,946 13.14 38.56%
Plains (16) 67,583 41,000 26,583 13.16 39.33%
Southeast (51) 210,602 160,150 50,452 6.56 23.96%
Southwest (16) 103,922 68,210 35,712 9.80 34.36%
Rocky Mountain (7) 32,820 26,690 6,130 5.73 18.68%
Far West (28) 194,635 123,860 70,775 13.74 36.36%
USA REGIONS (196) 1,148,465 761,280 387,185 12.72 33.71%
USA (BLS) (199) 1,160,919 759,200 401,719 13.03 34.06%

Fin.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 46 other followers