Attorney hourly rates run from about $162 to $392 depending on where you are, with experience moving it further than anything else: two decades in and the average is $511 to $606, under four years and it is $182 to $212. But the hourly rate often matters less than the fee structure. Hourly, flat fee and contingency spread risk very differently, and the costs that sit outside the fee are what surprise people.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Attorney hourly rateNational range | $162 to $392 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Hourly. You pay for time, usually in six minute increments. The table above carries the range by market, and experience moves it more than geography does. Suits matters where nobody can predict how long it takes.
Flat fee. One price for a defined piece of work. Common on wills, incorporations, uncontested filings and immigration paperwork. The attorney carries the risk of it taking longer than expected, and prices that in. You get certainty.
Contingency. The attorney takes a percentage of what you recover and nothing if you recover nothing. Standard in personal injury. The percentage commonly rises if the matter goes to trial rather than settling, so ask what it is at each stage rather than accepting one number.
A matter can use more than one. Hourly for the advice, flat for the filing.
It is money held on account that hourly work is drawn against. When it runs down you are usually asked to top it up. That is normal and it is not the attorney charging twice.
What varies is whether any unused balance comes back to you at the end, and whether the retainer is refundable at all. Both answers exist and both are legitimate. Which one applies should be written in the engagement letter, and if it is not written down, ask before you send money.
The fee buys the attorney. Costs are everything else the matter consumes, and they are billed on top: court filing fees, service of process, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses, records requests, travel.
On a contingency matter this is the question that matters most. If costs are deducted before the percentage is calculated you keep more than if they are deducted after. Ask which way round it works, and ask who pays the costs if the case is lost.
The attorney you meet is not always the attorney who handles the file. Firms staff matters across partners, associates and paralegals at different rates, which is efficient and entirely normal. It stops being normal when you were sold on one person and never hear from them again.
Ask who runs the day to day, what each person bills, and who you call when you have a question.
Attorneys are licensed and disciplined by each state bar, and every one publishes a lookup showing whether a license is current and whether there is public discipline history. The state pages carry which body that is and where to find it.
State averages run from about $162 in West Virginia to about $392 in the District of Columbia, on 2023 figures. The median state average is $249.
Experience, more than geography. Attorneys with 20 to 30 years of practice average $511 to $606 an hour, and those with under four years average $182 to $212. Practice area matters too, with specialized fields at the top, as does case complexity where there are multiple parties or jurisdictions.
Court filing fees, expert witnesses, deposition and transcript costs, and paralegal and administrative time where the firm bills it separately. Ask which of these are estimated in any figure you are given.
The underlying figures are 2023, from a table we last checked in September 2026. Every range on this site carries a review date and comes down rather than sitting here undated once that date passes.