Where do lawyers live?

By: Katie Nagy

      I often hear people in college say where they are going to live after they graduate. I overhear conversations like, “I want to be an writer, so I’m moving to New York City” or, “I want to work in the music business, so I’m going to Los Angeles”. It seems to be a common preconception among college students that you will most likely have to move to a new city in order to have your desired job. I always pictured law as a job that you could do anywhere, whether a big city like New York, or a small town in Texas that no one has ever heard of. When I started to research this topic, I was surprised to learn that where you practice law has an impact on your salary. These are the top five cities with the highest median income for lawyers (Patrice):

1) San Jose, California- $184, 600

2) Danbury, Connecticut- $174, 540

3) San Francisco, California- $172, 080

4) Napa, California- $171,380

5) Dothan, Alabama- $170, 390

                                                                           

      According to the U.S. News and World Report, lawyers have a median salary of $112, 760, so every city on this list makes at least $57,000 more per year than the national income (Patrice para. 3). It does not take professional analysts to notice something interesting on this list; the state of California fills 3 out of the 5 spots for higher incomes. If a young lawyer coming out of law school was using this list to base their decision on where to move, California would look like a safe bet. When looking at the reason why these 5 states have a higher income for lawyers, it often comes down to what companies/corporation are also located in that state. San Jose, California is located in the Silicon Valley, and with over 6,000 technology corporations, there are a lot of opportunities for lawyers to make big bucks. The city of Danbury in Connecticut hosts a huge pharmaceutical company and a federal prison, both of which give lawyers reason to move into the city. San Francisco has a lot of wealthy companies in the city, for example the social media website Twitter, and Napa Valley is home to corporations like Bell Products. The last city- Dothan- is not a well-known city, and there are no big, wealthy corporations like in the other cities on the list, but it is the location of the legal trade group, The National Trial Lawyers (Patrice para. 4). 

     I find it interesting enough to note that corporations are almost always the reason for higher salaries of lawyers, and I find it safe to assume that corporate lawyers most often have higher incomes than trial lawyers. While I do believe that income is an important factor to look at when deciding where to live, or what career you want in the future, I also believe there are a lot more crucial components that come into deciding important matters in someone’s life.

Works Cited

Map of USA. Digital image. Free Large Images. Free Large Images, n.d. Web. 30 

        Sept. 2015.

Patrice, Joe. "Where Is The Best Place To Live For A Lawyer?" Above the

          Law. Breaking Media Inc., 12 June 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.