Court Interpreter Overview
Working as a Court Interpreter
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a court interpreter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.08 an hour? That's $45,930 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 19% and produce 14,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Court Interpreter Do
There are certain skills that many court interpreters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, cultural sensitivity and dexterity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a court interpreter, we found that a lot of resumes listed 31.6% of court interpreters included court proceedings, while 30.9% of resumes included vice versa, and 17.4% of resumes included executive office. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the court interpreter job title. But what industry to start with? Most court interpreters actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
How To Become a Court Interpreter
If you're interested in becoming a court interpreter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 41.9% of court interpreters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 25.0% of court interpreters have master's degrees. Even though most court interpreters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a court interpreter. When we researched the most common majors for a court interpreter, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on court interpreter resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a court interpreter. In fact, many court interpreter jobs require experience in a role such as interpreter. Meanwhile, many court interpreters also have previous career experience in roles such as interpreter and translator or medical interpreter.
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Court Interpreter Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of office manager you might progress to a role such as operations manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title principal.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Court Interpreter
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Wisconsin Government Court Interpreter Program Manager Court Interpreter Program Manager | Wisconsin Government Wisconsin Government | 12/10/2020 12/10/2020 | $56,64012/10/2020 $56,640 |
State of Ct Judicial Branch Court Interpreter II Court Interpreter II | State of Ct Judicial Branch State of Ct Judicial Branch | 09/30/2020 09/30/2020 | $56,08009/30/2020 $56,080 |
Florida Department of Transportation Supervising Court Interpreter Supervising Court Interpreter | Florida Department of Transportation Florida Department of Transportation | 09/23/2020 09/23/2020 | $61,90609/23/2020 $61,906 |
State of Florida Supervising Court Interpreter Supervising Court Interpreter | State of Florida State of Florida | 09/22/2020 09/22/2020 | $61,90609/22/2020 $61,906 |
United States Courts English/Spanish Court Interpreter English/Spanish Court Interpreter | United States Courts United States Courts | 09/02/2020 09/02/2020 | $64,34609/02/2020 $64,346 |
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Top Colleges for Court Interpreters
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
4. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Public
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
6. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
7. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
8. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
9. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
10. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
Top Skills For a Court Interpreter
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 31.6% of court interpreters listed court proceedings on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and cultural sensitivity are important as well.
- Court Proceedings, 31.6%
- Vice Versa, 30.9%
- Executive Office, 17.4%
- Spanish Language, 9.6%
- Legal Documents, 2.0%
- Other Skills, 8.5% See All Court Interpreter Skills
Best States For a Court Interpreter
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a court interpreter. The best states for people in this position are New York, New Jersey, California, and Maryland. Court interpreters make the most in New York with an average salary of $60,024. Whereas in New Jersey and California, they would average $59,196 and $57,368, respectively. While court interpreters would only make an average of $56,067 in Maryland, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$80,202
Avg. Salary
2. New Mexico
$53,854
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$54,523
Avg. Salary