There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a public defender. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.97 an hour? That's $60,259 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 50,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many public defenders 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 analytical skills, interpersonal skills and problem-solving skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a public defender, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.4% of public defenders included mental health, while 14.3% of resumes included criminal cases, and 12.5% of resumes included legal advice. 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 public defender job title. But what industry to start with? Most public defenders actually find jobs in the health care and government industries.
If you're interested in becoming a public defender, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 16.1% of public defenders have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 9.3% of public defenders have master's degrees. Even though most public defenders 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 public defender. When we researched the most common majors for a public defender, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on public defender resumes include master's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a public defender. In fact, many public defender jobs require experience in a role such as law clerk. Meanwhile, many public defenders also have previous career experience in roles such as legal extern or attorney.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a public defender can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as attorney, progress to a title such as partner and then eventually end up with the title partner.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
Chicago, IL • Private
Austin, TX • Public
Boston, MA • Private
Tallahassee, FL • Public
University of Richmond, VA • Private
Davis, CA • Public
Seattle, WA • Public
Boston, MA • Private
Athens, GA • Public
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, 14.4% of public defenders listed mental health on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and interpersonal skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a public defender. The best states for people in this position are California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Washington. Public defenders make the most in California with an average salary of $97,129. Whereas in Hawaii and Nevada, they would average $91,352 and $81,793, respectively. While public defenders would only make an average of $78,202 in Washington, 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. California
$97,129
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$81,794
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$76,959
Avg. Salary