Voll Lateral Ledger
Biglaw salary scale 2026
First-year associates start at $235,000 and eighth-years reach $455,000 on the market scale in effect since July 1, 2026. Below: the scale by class year, and what firms in 12 markets are actually posting, national and regional, with the number of postings behind every range.
Scale effective July 1, 2026 · Postings last refreshed September 9, 2026
The scale
Base salary by class year, 2026
Most large national firms pay associates in lockstep: the same base salary for everyone in a class year. The ladder is still called the Cravath scale, after the firm that set it for decades. A firm announces a raise, the rest of the national market matches within weeks, and the number below is what that market pays.
Base salary only. Year-end and special bonuses are paid on top, and are announced each November.
| Class year | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 1st year | $235,000 |
| 2nd year | $245,000 |
| 3rd year | $270,000 |
| 4th year | $320,000 |
| 5th year | $385,000 |
| 6th year | $410,000 |
| 7th year | $440,000 |
| 8th year and above | $455,000 |
Source: Market associate base salary scale (the Cravath scale), set by Milbank, announced 2026-06-02, effective 2026-07-01, matched across the national market (Above the Law, Law360, Bloomberg Law, David Lat).
What the scale misses
What firms are actually posting
The scale tells you what the national market pays a class year. It does not tell you what the rest of the market pays, and plenty of good firms do not pay the scale. These ranges come from the salary ranges firms published in their own job postings for attorney roles. Postings whose midpoint is $210k or more are counted on the national track and the rest on the regional track, and the two are never averaged together, because the average describes nobody.
Posted salaries are a floor, not a ceiling. Firms post the bottom of what they will pay. Each range runs from the lower quarter of posted minimums to the upper quarter of posted maximums, and a range built on fewer than five postings is not shown. Across these markets, 63% of the 6,576 salaried attorney postings sit on the national track.
New York
1,411 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k505 postings, 126 firms | $100k to $190k297 postings, 127 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $420k761 postings, 149 firms | $110k to $200k442 postings, 161 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $225k to $425k495 postings, 144 firms | $110k to $218k396 postings, 143 firms |
District of Columbia
623 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k337 postings, 101 firms | $120k to $218k53 postings, 40 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $410k456 postings, 118 firms | $130k to $221k80 postings, 54 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $225k to $424k274 postings, 95 firms | $130k to $230k70 postings, 48 firms |
California
1,811 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k608 postings, 130 firms | $115k to $225k516 postings, 144 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $390k886 postings, 161 firms | $120k to $225k650 postings, 173 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $215k to $420k573 postings, 148 firms | $120k to $225k604 postings, 160 firms |
Illinois
553 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k212 postings, 67 firms | $100k to $200k112 postings, 62 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $403k316 postings, 81 firms | $110k to $210k148 postings, 73 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $220k to $420k202 postings, 77 firms | $110k to $216k137 postings, 62 firms |
Texas
417 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k174 postings, 55 firms | $105k to $200k89 postings, 37 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $420k250 postings, 68 firms | $110k to $200k101 postings, 47 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $225k to $420k164 postings, 61 firms | $115k to $200k105 postings, 43 firms |
Massachusetts
350 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k157 postings, 48 firms | $100k to $208k50 postings, 33 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $390k225 postings, 58 firms | $115k to $217k78 postings, 46 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $223k to $420k131 postings, 54 firms | $115k to $223k71 postings, 45 firms |
Washington
349 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $217k to $390k89 postings, 28 firms | $110k to $222k90 postings, 41 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $217k to $390k129 postings, 34 firms | $130k to $225k165 postings, 52 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $210k to $420k93 postings, 36 firms | $132k to $225k167 postings, 48 firms |
New Jersey
292 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $204k to $365k36 postings, 15 firms | $100k to $186k119 postings, 61 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $203k to $365k74 postings, 29 firms | $110k to $199k178 postings, 77 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $196k to $390k54 postings, 25 firms | $111k to $210k147 postings, 65 firms |
Pennsylvania
204 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $223k to $390k79 postings, 23 firms | $100k to $209k42 postings, 27 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $215k to $390k107 postings, 29 firms | $100k to $215k68 postings, 40 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $215k to $410k57 postings, 23 firms | $103k to $216k62 postings, 38 firms |
Colorado
242 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $208k to $365k98 postings, 39 firms | $100k to $220k56 postings, 38 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $211k to $365k134 postings, 47 firms | $110k to $219k66 postings, 44 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $201k to $368k91 postings, 42 firms | $120k to $225k59 postings, 37 firms |
Florida
189 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $395k63 postings, 31 firms | $100k to $225k31 postings, 22 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $413k112 postings, 44 firms | $118k to $220k51 postings, 34 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $215k to $435k77 postings, 38 firms | $120k to $223k51 postings, 34 firms |
Georgia
135 salaried attorney postings
| Level | National track | Regional track |
|---|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd year | $225k to $390k49 postings, 22 firms | $100k to $229k32 postings, 17 firms |
| 4th to 6th year | $225k to $390k74 postings, 27 firms | $100k to $223k38 postings, 19 firms |
| 7th to 10th year | $217k to $424k52 postings, 24 firms | $100k to $230k32 postings, 19 firms |
How the postings are gathered, cleaned and counted: methodology.
Where do you sit?
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Questions
- What is the Cravath scale?
- The lockstep base salary most large national firms pay associates by class year. It is named for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which set it for decades. Any firm can now move it: the current ladder took effect July 1, 2026, and the rest of the national market matched.
- Do all Biglaw firms pay the scale?
- No. Many national firms match it, some in every office and some only in their largest markets, and plenty of strong firms pay below it. The market tables above show both tracks side by side, so you can see how far the regional track sits from the scale in your market.
- What do regional firms pay?
- See the regional column for your market above. It is a range rather than a number, with the count of postings behind it, because regional pay varies far more than the lockstep scale does.
- When are Biglaw bonuses announced?
- Year-end bonuses are announced in November and usually paid in December; Cravath opened the 2025 season on November 18. This page adds the year's bonus table the day it is announced.
- Is a posted salary what I would be paid?
- Not necessarily. Posted salaries are a floor, not a ceiling. Firms post the bottom of their range and negotiate up from it, so treat a posted range as where the conversation starts.