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.