A lawyer represents clients during legal proceedings, whether that means a criminal trial or simply drawing up paperwork. Clients can range from individuals to companies and other organizations, even classes of people or the government. What a lawyer makes in terms of gross monthly pay depends on a variety of factors, including the industry in which she works.
Lawyers made a mean annual wage of $130,490, or $62.74 an hour, as of May 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This works out to $10,874 per month before taxes. The top 10 percent of lawyers made more than $15,599 per month on average, while the bottom 10 percent made $4,510 per month. Most lawyers fall into the bureau's legal services industry, where they could make an average of $137,170 per year, or $11,430 a month.
The best-paying industry for lawyers was petroleum manufacturing, in which they made $17,980 per month on average, according to the bureau. Other high-paying industries for attorneys included motor vehicle manufacturing and specialty hospitals. Lawyers in these jobs earned an average of $15,613 and $15,384 per month, respectively.
Government jobs made up the next three largest employers for attorneys after legal services, according to the bureau. Working for the government, lawyers averaged $10,785, $6,830 or $7,755 per month, depending on if they worked in federal, state or local government, respectively.
Income by State
Where lawyers worked also made a difference in their gross monthly income, according to the bureau. The state that employed the most lawyers was California, where they were paid $13,047 monthly on average. It was followed closely by New York, where lawyers were paid $12,590 per month on average. The best-paying "state" for attorneys was the District of Columbia, where they made $13,420 per month on average.
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