Lawyers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$142,924
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$64,936
31.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$132,797
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$207,860
Kept after tax
$142,924
Worth in national money
$132,797
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for lawyers is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $207,860, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 30.18% ahead of the national figure.
- Within New York this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, lawyers ranks 9 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $207,860 the take-home is $142,924; in national-average money that behaves like $132,797. The average comes to $220,180, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For lawyers, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $207,860, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 30.18% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation New York publishes a median for, lawyers sits 9 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for lawyers in New York, on $207,860, is $142,924; deflated by the state's price level, $132,797. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $220,180 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Lawyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $85,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $207,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $391,420 |
| This salary | $207,860 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in New York | $142,924 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $154,716 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$26,417 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $191,948 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$35,542 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $207,860 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $85,200 and the ninetieth is $391,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $142,924, worked from $207,860. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 9 of 493.
- Two cautions on $132,797, the adjusted value of that $207,860 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 9 of 493 locally.
- The New York median of $207,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $85,200 to $391,420. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New York take-home of $142,924, on $207,860 for work ranking 9 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 9 of 493 in the state.
- This $132,797 adjusted figure, worked from $207,860, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 9 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 9 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $220,180, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $85,200 and the top tenth $391,420 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $132,797 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New York's own levy, $142,924 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in New York is $220,180. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($85,200) and the ninetieth ($391,420) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $132,797 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $142,924 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.