Lawyer demographics statistics show a large, mature, and geographically concentrated U.S. profession. The American Bar Association counted 1,322,649 active lawyers on January 1, 2024. The profession has also become more gender-diverse over time, while women and lawyers of color remain less represented in senior law-firm roles than among newer entrants.
Contents
- How many lawyers are in the United States?
- Age profile of lawyers
- Gender demographics
- Where lawyers are located
- States with the fastest growth and decline
- Law-firm pipeline and diversity
How many lawyers are in the United States?
The ABA reported 1,322,649 active lawyers as of January 1, 2024. That total was more than 41,000 higher than in 2014, a 3.2% increase over the decade. The active lawyer population peaked at 1.352 million in 2019, so the 2024 count was below that earlier high point. These figures describe active lawyers, not every person who has earned a law degree.
The profession’s long-term expansion has been substantial. From 1900 to 2000, the number of lawyers rose from 114,460 to just over 1 million, a 793% increase. From 2000 to 2024, the count increased from 1,022,462 to 1,322,649, a 29% gain. The ABA also reported a 76% increase during the 1970s, when the number of lawyers rose from 326,000 in 1970 to 574,000 in 1980.
| Period | Lawyer count or change | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 114,460 | ABA Demographics |
| 1970 | 326,000 | ABA Demographics |
| 1980 | 574,000 | ABA Demographics |
| 2000 | 1,022,462 | ABA Demographics |
| 2019 | 1.352 million peak | ABA Demographics |
| January 1, 2024 | 1,322,649 | ABA Demographics |
The historical figures are useful for showing the profession’s scale over time, but they should not be treated as a single perfectly uniform series without checking the underlying historical definitions. The current headline figure is specifically an active-lawyer count measured on January 1, 2024.
Age profile of lawyers
Lawyers were older, on median, than the overall U.S. workforce in 2023. The ABA reported a median lawyer age of 46, compared with 42.1 for all U.S. workers. Among 386 Bureau of Labor Statistics occupations ranked from oldest to youngest by median age, lawyers ranked No. 66.
Older lawyers represented a notable share of the profession. More than 13% of lawyers were age 65 or older in 2023, compared with about 7% of all U.S. workers. At the other end of the distribution, 0.0% of lawyers were ages 16 to 19 and 0.3% were ages 20 to 24.
The ABA’s 2023 age distribution was:
- Ages 16 to 19: 0.0%
- Ages 20 to 24: 0.3%
- Ages 25 to 34: 18.6%
- Ages 35 to 44: 28.9%
- Ages 45 to 54: 21.2%
- Ages 55 to 64: 17.9%
- Ages 65 and over: 13.1%
The largest reported age group was 35 to 44, at 28.9%. The next-largest was 45 to 54, at 21.2%. Together, the 35-to-54 age bands accounted for 50.1% of lawyers in the reported distribution. That is a descriptive combination of the published percentages, not a separate estimate of career stage or years of practice.
Gender demographics
Women represented 41% of lawyers in 2024, while men represented 58%, according to ABA Demographics. The reported percentages do not sum to 100%, which means the figures should be presented as reported rather than converted into a more precise binary split.
Women’s share has increased markedly over the long term. Women were only 3% of lawyers from 1950 to 1970, 8% in 1980, 20% in 1991, and 27% in 2000. The share then reached 36% in 2014 and 41% in 2024. The decade comparison from 2014 to 2024 is therefore a five-percentage-point increase in the reported share.
Law-firm data provides a more detailed view of where women are represented within the profession. In 2023, women made up 50.3% of law-firm associates, but 28% of law-firm partners. In 2024, NALP reported that women partners represented 27.76% of partners at reporting U.S. law firms, women lawyers overall represented 40.87% of law-firm lawyers, women counsel represented 38.79% of counsel, and women represented 55.65% of non-traditional-track or staff attorneys.
NALP also reported that women made up 55.44% of summer associates in 2024. These figures describe different law-firm roles and reporting populations, so the associate, partner, counsel, staff-attorney, and summer-associate percentages should not be read as one single workforce denominator.
Where lawyers are located
Lawyers are concentrated in a small number of states. In 2024, New York had 187,656 resident lawyers and California had 175,883. Texas had 98,345, Florida had 80,080, and Illinois had 62,093. Other states among the largest reported resident-lawyer populations included Pennsylvania with 47,519, Massachusetts with 40,075, New Jersey with 39,311, Ohio with 36,488, and Michigan with 34,366.
New York and California together held 28% of the nation’s lawyers in 2024, according to ABA Demographics. North Dakota had the fewest lawyers among the 50 states, with 1,663.
Population-adjusted measures show a different pattern from raw headcount. New York had 9.6 lawyers per 1,000 residents in 2024, followed by Massachusetts at 5.7 and California at 4.5. South Carolina had a little more than 2 lawyers per 1,000 residents. A state can therefore rank high in total lawyers while having a different position on lawyers per resident.
The ABA also reported lawyer location quotients for metropolitan areas in 2023. A location quotient compares an area’s concentration of lawyers with the national concentration; the figures below are reported indices, not percentages:
| Metro area | Lawyer location quotient, 2023 | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Washington, D.C. | 3.25 | ABA Demographics |
| Tallahassee | 2.34 | ABA Demographics |
| Miami | 2.15 | ABA Demographics |
| New York City | 1.99 | ABA Demographics |
| Trenton | 1.89 | ABA Demographics |
The four continental U.S. metro areas with the lowest reported lawyer location quotients were Battle Creek, Michigan, at 0.19; Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at 0.20; Morristown, Tennessee, at 0.20; and Elkhart, Indiana, at 0.20. The contrast illustrates how legal employment can be especially concentrated in government, business, and major urban centers.
States with the fastest growth and decline
State-level change was uneven over the decade ending in the ABA’s 2024 comparison. Florida’s lawyer population grew 17%, while Montana’s grew just under 17%. Nebraska and Texas each grew 16%.
Other states moved in the opposite direction. Alabama’s lawyer population declined 15% over the past decade. Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island each declined 9%. In total, 24 states reported declines in the number of lawyers over the past decade.
These are percentage changes in lawyer populations over the stated decade, not forecasts. They also do not establish why a state’s count changed. Possible explanations would require additional evidence about licensing, migration, retirement, law-school graduates, and reporting methods, none of which is quantified in the figures here.
Law-firm pipeline and diversity
Law-school and law-firm figures show a pipeline with stronger representation at entry and associate levels than at partnership levels. In 2023, women were 56% of students in ABA-accredited law schools, 50.3% of law-firm associates, and 28% of law-firm partners, according to ABA Demographics.
The same source reported that lawyers of color made up 30% of law-firm associates but 12% of all law-firm partners in 2023. NALP’s 2024 figures placed partners of color at 12.01% and counsel of color at 13.67%. Staff attorneys of color represented 23.83% of staff attorneys, and summer associates of color represented 43.07% of summer associates.
NALP’s 2024 summer-associate figures included 17.94% Asian summer associates, 10.24% Black summer associates, 5.14% multiracial summer associates, and 26.08% women of color. These categories may overlap, so they should not be added together as though they were mutually exclusive groups.
For partners, ABA Demographics reported the following 2023 shares by racial or ethnic category: Asian lawyers, 4.9%; Hispanic lawyers, 3.0%; Black lawyers, 2.5%; multiracial lawyers, 1.4%; Native American or Alaska Native lawyers, 0.2%; and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander lawyers, 0.1%. The source also reported that 12% of all law-firm partners were lawyers of color. Because the category definitions and reporting populations matter, the detailed categories should be kept alongside, rather than substituted for, the overall figure.
NALP additionally reported that military veterans made up 2.00% of partners, 1.62% of associates, and 1.75% of summer associates at reporting law firms in 2024. It reported 108 gender non-binary lawyers and 32 gender non-binary summer associates across participating offices and firms. The reporting coverage was 93% of offices and firms for veteran counts, including zero, and 78.3% for gender non-binary lawyer counts, including zero.
Disability and LGBTQ representation were also reported in the ABA’s 2023 law-firm data. Across 785 law offices, 4,774 lawyers identified as LGBTQ, representing 4.6% of the 104,485 lawyers at those firms. LGBTQ lawyers represented 11.7% of law-firm summer associates. Across 635 law offices, 1,616 lawyers reported having disabilities; 1.4% of partners and roughly 2.4% of associates reported having a disability.
The coverage notes are important when interpreting these numbers. Counts from participating offices, reporting firms, or specific role groups describe those reporting populations and should not automatically be generalized to every lawyer in the United States.