What can comparisons of lawyers per capita by state tell us about whether there are too many law schools or law students graduating from them? Pretty much nothing, but understandably it’s an intuitive approach. At least, that’s what I thought in 2010 when I started this blog, but when I learned about better measures of attorney demand I focused on those instead, leaving the lawyers-per-capita analysis as a novelty.
But as novelties go, this one is popular, so I maintain it. Here’s an introduction to the datasets I use:
The best source for lawyer populations nationally and by state is the “ABA’s National Lawyer Population by State” count (NLPS), which measures the number of “active and resident” attorneys. The NLPS usually does not tell us the number of inactive or nonresident attorneys, but the Lawyer Statistical Report at one time calculated those at 4.8 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. To give a comparison: For the 1.3 million attorneys on the rolls in 2018, between 1970 and 2018 ABA law schools conferred just over 1.8 million law degrees and state bars issued more than 2.3 million law licenses (by examination and diploma privilege, which includes many duplicates). According to the Current Population Survey, 1.2 million attorneys were working in the United States in 2018, but the Labor Department’s Employment Projections program places the figure at 823,900 (2018).
As for the denominator, national and state populations appear via FRED. Easy peasy. But before continuing, a quick warning:
WARNING: I suspect some people, including university administrators, have used the data on this page to argue that there is an attorney shortage in one state or another. This is very, very, very wrong. There is no evidence of a general shortage of lawyers anywhere in the United States. Those who use these data to argue that deliberately mislead their audiences by failing to recognize that having a law license and working as an attorney are not the same thing. Please be honest with your audience by understanding the entire page as presented. Furthermore, demand for legal services is dependent on the level of economic activity in a region, so it makes sense that sparsely populated states have lower lawyer densities. For more information, read the Lawyer Overproduction page.
Moving forward…
Number of Active & Resident Lawyers Per Capita
Here is a table ranking active-and-resident lawyer concentrations by each state (I’m counting the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as states to keep terminology simple and consistent). Some states include nonresident active attorneys or resident nonactive attorneys in their lawyer counts. The bottom of the table contains lawyer-per-capita information for Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regions. I prefer these to Census regions because BEA regions group the District of Columbia with more northern states, especially New York. I think this better illustrates the legal profession’s geography than including D.C. in the South would.
NO. LAWYERS PER CAPITA BY STATE (2018) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
RANK | STATE | POPULATION (MILLIONS) | NO. ACTIVE AND RESIDENT LAWYERS | NO. LAWYERS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS |
1. | District of Columbia | 702,455,000 | 53,778 | 765.6 |
2. | New York | 19,542,209,000 | 179,600 | 91.9 |
3. | Maryland | 6,042,718,000 | 40,309 | 66.7 |
4. | Massachusetts | 6,902,149,000 | 42,926 | 62.2 |
5. | Connecticut | 3,572,665,000 | 21,341 | 59.7 |
6. | Illinois | 12,741,080,000 | 63,422 | 49.8 |
7. | New Jersey | 8,908,520,000 | 41,021 | 46.0 |
8. | Minnesota | 5,611,179,000 | 25,252 | 45.0 |
9. | Puerto Rico | 3,195,153,000 | 14,008 | 43.8 |
10. | California | 39,557,045,000 | 170,044 | 43.0 |
11. | Louisiana | 4,659,978,000 | 18,918 | 40.6 |
12. | Missouri | 6,126,452,000 | 24,754 | 40.4 |
13. | Rhode Island | 1,057,315,000 | 4,154 | 39.3 |
14. | Pennsylvania | 12,807,060,000 | 50,112 | 39.1 |
15. | Colorado | 5,695,564,000 | 21,099 | 37.0 |
16. | Florida | 21,299,325,000 | 78,244 | 36.7 |
17. | Vermont | 626,299,000 | 2,227 | 35.6 |
18. | Michigan | 9,995,915,000 | 35,362 | 35.4 |
19. | Washington | 7,535,591,000 | 26,057 | 34.6 |
20. | Ohio | 11,689,442,000 | 37,873 | 32.4 |
21. | Texas | 28,701,845,000 | 90,485 | 31.5 |
22. | Alaska | 737,438,000 | 2,311 | 31.3 |
23. | Georgia | 10,519,475,000 | 32,802 | 31.2 |
24. | Delaware | 967,171,000 | 2,978 | 30.8 |
25. | Alabama | 4,887,871,000 | 14,822 | 30.3 |
26. | Kentucky | 4,468,402,000 | 13,540 | 30.3 |
27. | Hawaii | 1,420,491,000 | 4,261 | 30.0 |
28. | Montana | 1,062,305,000 | 3,179 | 29.9 |
29. | Maine | 1,338,404,000 | 3,988 | 29.8 |
30. | Wyoming | 577,737,000 | 1,716 | 29.7 |
31. | Oklahoma | 3,943,079,000 | 11,695 | 29.7 |
32. | Oregon | 4,190,713,000 | 12,427 | 29.7 |
33. | Nebraska | 1,929,268,000 | 5,565 | 28.8 |
34. | Virginia | 8,517,685,000 | 24,208 | 28.4 |
35. | Kansas | 2,911,505,000 | 8,131 | 27.9 |
36. | Tennessee | 6,770,010,000 | 18,695 | 27.6 |
37. | West Virginia | 1,805,832,000 | 4,849 | 26.9 |
38. | Wisconsin | 5,813,568,000 | 15,539 | 26.7 |
39. | Utah | 3,161,105,000 | 8,285 | 26.2 |
40. | New Hampshire | 1,356,458,000 | 3,523 | 26.0 |
41. | New Mexico | 2,095,428,000 | 5,428 | 25.9 |
42. | Nevada | 3,034,392,000 | 7,333 | 24.2 |
43. | Indiana | 6,691,878,000 | 15,826 | 23.6 |
44. | Iowa | 3,156,145,000 | 7,454 | 23.6 |
45. | Arkansas | 3,013,825,000 | 7,080 | 23.5 |
46. | Mississippi | 2,986,530,000 | 7,007 | 23.5 |
47. | North Carolina | 10,383,620,000 | 24,087 | 23.2 |
48. | South Dakota | 882,235,000 | 1,995 | 22.6 |
49. | North Dakota | 760,077,000 | 1,694 | 22.3 |
50. | Idaho | 1,754,208,000 | 3,882 | 22.1 |
51. | Arizona | 7,171,646,000 | 15,601 | 21.8 |
52. | South Carolina | 5,084,127,000 | 10,445 | 20.5 |
U.S.A. AVERAGE (EXCL. P.R.) | 327,167,434,000 | 1,327,324 | 40.6 | |
NO. LAWYERS PER CAPITA BY BEA REGION (2018) | ||||
BEA REGION | POPULATION (MILLIONS) | NO. ACTIVE AND RESIDENT LAWYERS | NO. LAWYERS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS | |
New England | 14,853,290,000 | 78,159 | 52.6 | |
Mideast | 48,970,133,000 | 367,798 | 75.1 | |
Great Lakes | 46,931,883,000 | 168,022 | 35.8 | |
Plains | 21,376,861,000 | 74,845 | 35.0 | |
Southeast | 84,396,680,000 | 254,697 | 30.2 | |
Southwest | 41,911,998,000 | 123,209 | 29.4 | |
Rocky Mountains | 12,250,919,000 | 38,161 | 31.1 | |
Far West | 56,475,670,000 | 222,433 | 39.4 |
Here’s a geographic representation of the above data by state.
And here is the same data by BEA region along with a chart depicting the change in lawyer concentration by region since 1989.
There might be a correlation between active and resident status and bar authorities that require significant fees, CLE requirements, and pro bono work.
Number of Employed Lawyers Per Capita
Next, here are the numbers of employed lawyers per capita by state based on data supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and state government labor departments. The cumulative state total excludes Puerto Rico and the states that did not provide attorney employment information for 2016.
NO. EMPLOYED LAWYERS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS (2016) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
RANK | STATE/REGION | POPULATION | NO. EMPLOYED LAWYERS | NO. EMPLOYED LAWYERS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS |
1. | District of Columbia | 686,575 | 39,360 | 573.28 |
2. | New York | 19,641,589 | 84,230 | 42.88 |
3. | Rhode Island | 1,057,063 | 4,050 | 38.31 |
4. | Delaware | 949,216 | 3,270 | 34.45 |
5. | Connecticut | 3,578,674 | 12,260 | 34.26 |
6. | Massachusetts | 6,826,022 | 22,220 | 32.55 |
7. | Vermont | 623,644 | 1,950 | 31.27 |
8. | New Jersey | 8,874,516 | 26,610 | 29.98 |
9. | Florida | 20,629,982 | 60,180 | 29.17 |
10. | Illinois | 12,826,895 | 36,210 | 28.23 |
11. | North Dakota | 754,353 | 2,080 | 27.57 |
12. | Colorado | 5,540,921 | 14,630 | 26.40 |
13. | Virginia | 8,410,946 | 21,530 | 25.60 |
14. | California | 39,209,127 | 97,400 | 24.84 |
15. | Pennsylvania | 12,783,538 | 31,640 | 24.75 |
16. | Maryland | 6,004,692 | 14,520 | 24.18 |
17. | Montana | 1,040,863 | 2,490 | 23.92 |
18. | Minnesota | 5,523,409 | 12,640 | 22.88 |
19. | Maine | 1,331,370 | 3,000 | 22.53 |
20. | Washington | 7,294,680 | 15,510 | 21.26 |
21. | Oklahoma | 3,926,769 | 8,280 | 21.09 |
22. | Nevada | 2,919,772 | 6,070 | 20.79 |
23. | Missouri | 6,087,203 | 12,220 | 20.07 |
24. | Oregon | 4,091,404 | 8,180 | 19.99 |
25. | Georgia | 10,304,763 | 20,570 | 19.96 |
26. | Nebraska | 1,905,924 | 3,720 | 19.52 |
27. | Texas | 27,937,492 | 54,160 | 19.39 |
28. | Michigan | 9,951,890 | 18,770 | 18.86 |
29. | Hawaii | 1,428,105 | 2,690 | 18.84 |
30. | Utah | 3,042,613 | 5,550 | 18.24 |
31. | Louisiana | 4,678,215 | 8,390 | 17.93 |
32. | West Virginia | 1,830,929 | 3,230 | 17.64 |
33. | Wyoming | 584,290 | 1,020 | 17.46 |
34. | Ohio | 11,635,003 | 20,150 | 17.32 |
35. | New Mexico | 2,092,789 | 3,600 | 17.20 |
36. | Arizona | 6,945,452 | 11,830 | 17.03 |
37. | South Carolina | 4,958,235 | 8,160 | 16.46 |
38. | Kansas | 2,911,263 | 4,750 | 16.32 |
39. | Wisconsin | 5,772,958 | 9,370 | 16.23 |
40. | Indiana | 6,633,344 | 10,500 | 15.83 |
41. | Kentucky | 4,438,229 | 6,850 | 15.43 |
42. | Tennessee | 6,645,011 | 9,660 | 14.54 |
43. | New Hampshire | 1,342,373 | 1,950 | 14.53 |
44. | North Carolina | 10,156,679 | 14,430 | 14.21 |
45. | Alabama | 4,864,745 | 6,860 | 14.10 |
46. | Alaska | 741,504 | 1,030 | 13.89 |
47. | Mississippi | 2,988,298 | 4,150 | 13.89 |
48. | Iowa | 3,131,785 | 4,330 | 13.83 |
49. | Arkansas | 2,990,410 | 3,900 | 13.04 |
50. | Puerto Rico | 3,406,495 | 4,260 | 12.51 |
51. | South Dakota | 862,890 | 970 | 11.24 |
52. | Idaho | 1,682,930 | 1,460 | 8.68 |
U.S.A. (STATES, EXCL. P.R.) | 323,071,342 | 782,580 | 24.22 | |
U.S.A. (BLS, EXCL. P.R.) | 323,071,342 | 792,500 | 24.53 | |
New England | 14,759,146 | 45,430 | 30.78 | |
Mideast | 48,940,126 | 199,630 | 40.79 | |
Great Lakes | 46,820,090 | 95,000 | 20.29 | |
Plains | 21,176,827 | 40,710 | 19.22 | |
Southeast | 82,896,442 | 167,910 | 20.26 | |
Southwest | 40,902,502 | 77,870 | 19.04 | |
Rocky Mountains | 11,891,617 | 25,150 | 21.15 | |
Far West | 55,684,592 | 130,880 | 23.50 |
‘Excess Attorneys’
Finally, “Excess Attorneys” attempts to measure the number of licensed attorneys who are not directly employed as lawyers. It is the difference between lawyers on the rolls and the number of employed lawyers as determined by state governments. “Excess Attorneys” may be judges, politicians, businesspeople whose careers advanced due to their law degrees; or, they may be people who were unable to find careers as lawyers, are working in fields that don’t require law degrees, are choosing not to work, or are unemployed yet still maintaining active licenses. Alternatively, they could simply indicate the measurement gap between employed lawyers measured by the Current Population Survey and the Employment Projections program, a phenomenon discussed in the Lawyer Overproduction page.
Interestingly, two states have negative “Excess Attorney” counts. Delaware’s may be attributable to commuting lawyers, but North Dakota’s, small a state though it is, is more inexplicable.
NO. ‘EXCESS ATTORNEYS’ PER CAPITA (2016) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RANK | STATE/REGION | NO. LAWYERS ACTIVE AND RESIDENT | NO. EMPLOYED LAWYERS | NO. EXCESS LAWYERS | NO. EXCESS LAWYERS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS | PERCENT EXCESS |
1. | Puerto Rico | 13,673 | 4,260 | 9,413 | 27.63 | 68.8% |
2. | Idaho | 3,714 | 1,460 | 2,254 | 13.39 | 60.7% |
3. | Alaska | 2,439 | 1,030 | 1,409 | 19.00 | 57.8% |
4. | Louisiana | 19,099 | 8,390 | 10,709 | 22.89 | 56.1% |
5. | Alabama | 14,666 | 6,860 | 7,806 | 16.05 | 53.2% |
6. | New York | 175,195 | 84,230 | 90,965 | 46.31 | 51.9% |
7. | Missouri | 24,922 | 12,220 | 12,702 | 20.87 | 51.0% |
8. | South Dakota | 1,960 | 970 | 990 | 11.47 | 50.5% |
9. | Minnesota | 24,952 | 12,640 | 12,312 | 22.29 | 49.3% |
10. | Kentucky | 13,451 | 6,850 | 6,601 | 14.87 | 49.1% |
11. | Massachusetts | 43,221 | 22,220 | 21,001 | 30.77 | 48.6% |
12. | Ohio | 38,237 | 20,150 | 18,087 | 15.55 | 47.3% |
13. | Tennessee | 18,288 | 9,660 | 8,628 | 12.98 | 47.2% |
14. | Arkansas | 7,320 | 3,900 | 3,420 | 11.44 | 46.7% |
15. | Michigan | 35,087 | 18,770 | 16,317 | 16.40 | 46.5% |
16. | New Hampshire | 3,506 | 1,950 | 1,556 | 11.59 | 44.4% |
17. | Indiana | 18,546 | 10,500 | 8,046 | 12.13 | 43.4% |
18. | Connecticut | 21,517 | 12,260 | 9,257 | 25.87 | 43.0% |
19. | Iowa | 7,560 | 4,330 | 3,230 | 10.31 | 42.7% |
20. | Illinois | 63,060 | 36,210 | 26,850 | 20.93 | 42.6% |
21. | Kansas | 8,234 | 4,750 | 3,484 | 11.97 | 42.3% |
22. | California | 167,690 | 97,400 | 70,290 | 17.93 | 41.9% |
23. | Mississippi | 7,094 | 4,150 | 2,944 | 9.85 | 41.5% |
24. | Wyoming | 1,715 | 1,020 | 695 | 11.89 | 40.5% |
25. | Maryland | 24,142 | 14,520 | 9,622 | 16.02 | 39.9% |
26. | Washington | 25,577 | 15,510 | 10,067 | 13.80 | 39.4% |
27. | Texas | 87,957 | 54,160 | 33,797 | 12.10 | 38.4% |
28. | Oklahoma | 13,431 | 8,280 | 5,151 | 13.12 | 38.4% |
29. | North Carolina | 23,325 | 14,430 | 8,895 | 8.76 | 38.1% |
30. | Wisconsin | 15,072 | 9,370 | 5,702 | 9.88 | 37.8% |
31. | Hawaii | 4,224 | 2,690 | 1,534 | 10.74 | 36.3% |
32. | Pennsylvania | 49,644 | 31,640 | 18,004 | 14.08 | 36.3% |
33. | New Jersey | 41,569 | 26,610 | 14,959 | 16.86 | 36.0% |
34. | New Mexico | 5,581 | 3,600 | 1,981 | 9.47 | 35.5% |
35. | Georgia | 31,499 | 20,570 | 10,929 | 10.61 | 34.7% |
36. | Utah | 8,468 | 5,550 | 2,918 | 9.59 | 34.5% |
37. | Oregon | 12,475 | 8,180 | 4,295 | 10.50 | 34.4% |
38. | West Virginia | 4,922 | 3,230 | 1,692 | 9.24 | 34.4% |
39. | Colorado | 21,781 | 14,630 | 7,151 | 12.91 | 32.8% |
40. | Nebraska | 5,506 | 3,720 | 1,786 | 9.37 | 32.4% |
41. | Arizona | 15,926 | 11,830 | 4,096 | 5.90 | 25.7% |
42. | District of Columbia | 52,711 | 39,360 | 13,351 | 194.46 | 25.3% |
43. | Maine | 3,931 | 3,000 | 931 | 6.99 | 23.7% |
44. | Montana | 3,140 | 2,490 | 650 | 6.24 | 20.7% |
45. | Florida | 75,697 | 60,180 | 15,517 | 7.52 | 20.5% |
46. | South Carolina | 10,208 | 8,160 | 2,048 | 4.13 | 20.1% |
47. | Vermont | 2,326 | 1,950 | 376 | 6.03 | 16.2% |
48. | Nevada | 7,219 | 6,070 | 1,149 | 3.94 | 15.9% |
49. | Virginia | 24,193 | 21,530 | 2,663 | 3.17 | 11.0% |
50. | Rhode Island | 4,219 | 4,050 | 169 | 1.60 | 4.0% |
51. | Delaware | 2,952 | 3,270 | -318 | -3.35 | -10.8% |
52. | North Dakota | 1,669 | 2,080 | -411 | -5.45 | -24.6% |
U.S.A. (STATES, EXCL. P.R.) | 1,300,837 | 782,580 | 518,257 | 16.04 | 39.8% | |
U.S.A. (BLS, EXCL. P.R.) | 1,300,837 | 792,500 | 508,337 | 15.99 | 39.1% | |
New England | 78,720 | 45,430 | 33,290 | 22.56 | 42.3% | |
Mideast | 346,213 | 199,630 | 146,583 | 29.95 | 42.3% | |
Great Lakes | 170,002 | 95,000 | 75,002 | 16.02 | 44.1% | |
Plains | 74,803 | 40,710 | 34,093 | 16.10 | 45.6% | |
Southeast | 249,762 | 167,910 | 81,852 | 9.87 | 32.8% | |
Southwest | 122,895 | 77,870 | 45,025 | 11.01 | 36.6% | |
Rocky Mountains | 38,818 | 25,150 | 13,668 | 11.49 | 35.2% | |
Far West | 219,624 | 130,880 | 88,744 | 15.94 | 40.4% |
For fun, here’s a chart sorted by the number of “Excess Attorneys” per capita by state.
And here’s a map of “Excess Attorneys” per capita by BEA region. The concentration in the northeast is quite apparent.
Fin.