Judicial Law Clerks Salary - BLS OEWS Wage Benchmarks
SOC 23-1012 · National · May 2025 OEWS Data
Median Annual Salary
$64,917
$31.21/hr
Verified BLS OEWS data · Updated May 18, 2026
Source: BLS OEWS · Published May 15, 2026
Next refresh: May 2027
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The national median salary for Judicial Law Clerks is $64,917 per year ($31.21/hr) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. The middle 50% of earners make between $52,874 and $80,434 annually. Top earners at the 90th percentile reach $113,152 per year. There are approximately 13,290 judicial law clerks employed in the United States.
About This Role
BLS Standard Occupational Classification 2018
Assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents.
Career Outlook
BLS Employment Projections · 2024-2034
10-year growth
+2.5%
About as fast as average
Annual openings
1K
per year, on avg
Workforce today
15K
as of 2024
Why those openings exist
4% from new growth96% from people leaving the role
Most openings come from replacement, not growth. Retention matters more than recruiting here.
Typical entry requirements
Education
Doctoral or professional degree
Experience
None
On-the-job training
None
Industry Wage Breakdown
Top 2 industries by employment · median annual wage, sector-specific
Industry
Workforce
Median Pay
State Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)
NAICS 999200
8K
$67,340
Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)
NAICS 999300
6K
$62,760
Wage Percentiles
Hourly & annualized (2,080 hours)
Percentile
Hourly Rate
Annual Salary
P10
$22.20
$46,176
P25
$25.42
$52,874
P50MEDIAN
$31.21
$64,917
P75
$38.67
$80,434
P90
$54.40
$113,152
Market Context Signal
JOLTS · professional sector
Cooling
Openings Rate
4.2%
Quits Rate
2.0%
Professional & Business Services openings tumbled 318K in March -- the largest single-sector drop in this release. Openings rate fell from 5.5% to 4.2%. Layoffs jumped to 527K (+99K). White-collar demand has cooled abruptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average judicial law clerks salary?
The national median salary for Judicial Law Clerks is $64,917 per year ($31.21/hr) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 data. The middle 50% earn between $52,874 and $80,434 annually.
How much do top-earning judicial law clerks make?
The 90th percentile salary for Judicial Law Clerks is $113,152 per year ($54.40/hr). The 75th percentile is $80,434 per year.
What is the entry-level salary for judicial law clerks?
Entry-level Judicial Law Clerks (10th percentile) earn approximately $46,176 per year ($22.20/hr). The 25th percentile is $52,874 per year.
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. OEWS surveys roughly 1.1 million establishments annually. It is the most comprehensive employer-reported wage dataset in the United States.
P10 through P90 percentiles represent the wage distribution across all surveyed employers (not self-reported by workers). Geographic adjustments use BLS-derived cost multipliers calibrated from regional wage variation.
Wages are estimates. Individual compensation depends on experience, education, employer size, industry, and negotiation. Use this as benchmark context, not absolute ground truth.
CompSignal is a free labor market intelligence tool built for HR, compensation, and talent acquisition teams. We make BLS data, the same primary source Mercer and Radford cross-reference in their paid surveys, searchable and actionable without an enterprise subscription.
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