These Are The 10 Best Cities For Attorneys

Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Attorneys, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.

To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer attorneys the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where attorneys get paid well relative to the cost of living and jobs are plentiful.

So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for attorneys.The result is this list of the best cities attorneys:

1. San Francisco
2. San Jose
3. Wilmington
4. Los Angeles
5. Newark
6. Dallas
7. Bridgeport
8. Houston
9. Philadelphia
10. Harrisburg

So there you have it — San Francisco is the best city when it comes to being a attorney.

And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a attorney? That would be Fort Smith.

Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for attorneys and for more on the top ten cities.

How we determined the best cities to be a attorneys?

Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:

• Availability of jobs
• Pay

So in order to find out the best cities for attorneys in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well attorneys get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:

• Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given city.
• Average annual salary.
• Average annual salary for entry level work.

To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living from MIT’s living wage index.

This left us with enough data for 373 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.

In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 373 where 1 was the best.

We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for attorneys in America.

So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for attorneys.

1. San Francisco, CA

Total Jobs: 10,320
Average Annual Salary: $178,110
Average Entry Level Salary: $81,450
Location Quotient: 2.29

2. San Jose, CA

Total Jobs: 5,430
Average Annual Salary: $204,010
Average Entry Level Salary: $91,390
Location Quotient: 1.21

3. Wilmington, DE

Total Jobs: 2,780
Average Annual Salary: $152,480
Average Entry Level Salary: $76,240
Location Quotient: 1.84

4. Los Angeles, CA

Total Jobs: 24,040
Average Annual Salary: $173,100
Average Entry Level Salary: $76,550
Location Quotient: 1.32

5. Newark, NJ

Total Jobs: 8,400
Average Annual Salary: $157,290
Average Entry Level Salary: $77,400
Location Quotient: 1.65

6. Dallas, TX

Total Jobs: 10,590
Average Annual Salary: $152,030
Average Entry Level Salary: $75,270
Location Quotient: 1.03

7. Bridgeport, CT

Total Jobs: 2,210
Average Annual Salary: $181,860
Average Entry Level Salary: $76,700
Location Quotient: 1.2

8. Houston, TX

Total Jobs: 12,650
Average Annual Salary: $161,590
Average Entry Level Salary: $63,400
Location Quotient: 0.98

9. Philadelphia, PA

Total Jobs: 9,120
Average Annual Salary: $139,530
Average Entry Level Salary: $58,290
Location Quotient: 2.34

10. Harrisburg, PA

Total Jobs: 2,150
Average Annual Salary: $131,220
Average Entry Level Salary: $62,630
Location Quotient: 1.55

And that’s our list of the best cities for attorneys

If you’re looking to start out your career as a attorney these are the cities that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.

If you’re curious, here are the worst cities to be a attorney in America:

1. Fort Smith
2. Michigan City
3. Staunton

Detailed List Of The Best Cities For Attorneys

Rank	State	Average Salary	Entry Level Salary	# Of People
1	San Francisco,CA	$178,110	$81,450	10,320
2	San Jose,CA	$204,010	$91,390	5,430
3	Wilmington,DE	$152,480	$76,240	2,780
4	Los Angeles,CA	$173,100	$76,550	24,040
5	Newark,NJ	$157,290	$77,400	8,400
6	Dallas,TX	$152,030	$75,270	10,590
7	Bridgeport,CT	$181,860	$76,700	2,210
8	Houston,TX	$161,590	$63,400	12,650
9	Philadelphia,PA	$139,530	$58,290	9,120
10	Harrisburg,PA	$131,220	$62,630	2,150
11	Oxnard,CA	$166,360	$89,710	1,070
12	New York,NY	$167,990	$67,380	58,650
13	Anaheim,CA	$159,630	$72,680	7,160
14	Atlanta,GA	$137,390	$57,130	12,200
15	New Orleans,LA	$129,630	$57,430	3,130
16	Lubbock,TX	$159,230	$63,230	480
17	Morgantown,WV	$126,360	$58,730	250
18	New Bern,NC	$162,980	$67,230	140
19	Austin,TX	$138,860	$55,090	5,080
20	Seattle,WA	$135,590	$62,230	7,550
21	Orlando,FL	$163,210	$59,690	5,360
22	Charleston,WV	$103,880	$59,110	880
23	Manchester,NH	$137,940	$70,740	510
24	Miami,FL	$141,430	$58,320	9,060
25	Great Falls,MT	$145,400	$55,120	150
26	Ann Arbor,MI	$142,990	$67,980	630
27	Knoxville,TN	$135,710	$62,700	1,180
28	Montgomery,AL	$111,590	$56,140	910
29	Hartford,CT	$136,160	$82,140	3,610
30	Birmingham,AL	$121,630	$54,060	2,280
31	Oakland,CA	$156,280	$67,970	4,530
32	Montgomery County,PA	$130,060	$63,150	4,080
33	Richmond,VA	$135,080	$63,070	3,650
34	Gulfport,MS	$142,920	$65,440	370
35	Phoenix,AZ	$131,970	$60,700	8,130
36	Sacramento,CA	$133,150	$69,590	5,100
37	El Paso,TX	$138,560	$68,620	740
38	Indianapolis,IN	$123,360	$54,830	3,730
39	Lake County,IL	$157,390	$63,340	1,110
40	Trenton,NJ	$128,850	$65,300	1,870
41	North Port,FL	$134,420	$57,970	1,360
42	Dover,DE	$156,640	$83,350	140
43	Anchorage,AK	$125,380	$75,600	710
44	Pittsburgh,PA	$139,500	$54,750	5,110
45	Salt Lake City,UT	$121,360	$53,750	3,190
46	Tulsa,OK	$151,830	$50,930	1,650
47	Cincinnati,OH	$121,660	$53,390	3,740
48	Boston,MA	$164,230	$61,580	12,970
49	Salem,OR	$118,320	$65,560	740
50	Denver,CO	$142,700	$56,720	8,750
51	San Diego,CA	$139,440	$64,910	6,770
52	Cleveland,OH	$114,510	$51,410	4,790
53	Columbus,OH	$110,810	$58,030	3,570
54	Portland,OR	$124,970	$60,450	4,750
55	Las Vegas,NV	$121,450	$63,280	4,000
56	Huntsville,AL	$137,400	$63,440	450
57	Jackson,TN	$139,780	$59,220	140
58	Kansas City,MO	$119,280	$49,860	4,660
59	Mobile,AL	$113,010	$55,810	550
60	Fayetteville,AR	$133,050	$51,140	610
61	Dayton,OH	$123,240	$58,150	870
62	Chicago,IL	$129,220	$54,180	23,150
63	Bismarck,ND	$100,320	$61,480	300
64	San Antonio,TX	$121,460	$54,810	3,240
65	Greenville,SC	$157,380	$50,660	1,110
66	Beaumont,TX	$122,000	$64,070	390
67	Santa Fe,NM	$94,350	$57,900	480
68	Carson City,NV	$99,970	$65,010	220
69	Silver Spring,MD	$149,580	$61,040	2,670
70	Minneapolis,MN	$134,460	$53,820	9,120
71	Lincoln,NE	$121,010	$54,740	570
72	Warren,MI	$119,340	$51,550	6,020
73	Rapid City,SD	$103,440	$58,430	210
74	Pocatello,ID	$106,940	$53,370	120
75	Nashville,TN	$125,250	$51,520	2,830
76	Santa Maria,CA	$139,230	$78,670	430
77	Boise City,ID	$102,990	$52,660	1,250
78	Reno,NV	$117,680	$63,840	740
79	Providence,RI	$127,700	$61,420	1,870
80	West Palm Beach,FL	$120,690	$52,820	5,030
81	New Haven,CT	$125,740	$72,750	1,060
82	Columbus,GA	$144,070	$57,350	230
83	Columbia,SC	$100,670	$52,190	1,860
84	Springfield,MO	$118,470	$51,450	570
85	Reading,PA	$125,740	$57,110	460
86	Little Rock,AR	$98,660	$48,220	1,890
87	Camden,NJ	$128,920	$58,700	2,800
88	College Station,TX	$135,860	$64,890	170
89	Bloomington,IL	$124,730	$50,270	740
90	Omaha,NE	$113,670	$52,950	1,620
91	St. Louis,MO	$115,210	$45,910	5,670
92	Tampa,FL	$122,190	$50,580	8,010
93	Davenport,IA	$118,650	$56,070	490
94	Raleigh,NC	$125,030	$45,630	2,980
95	Midland,MI	$121,910	$64,510	70
96	Fort Wayne,IN	$114,320	$58,010	470
97	Waco,TX	$117,550	$62,610	230
98	Fort Collins,CO	$153,660	$64,780	270
99	Columbia,MO	$112,850	$54,010	220
100	Olympia,WA	$95,350	$60,900	490