Salary reality check
BigLaw First-Year Pay 2026: $235K Vanguard, $200K Median
The class-year ladder — base by year, year-end bonus, lockstep rules — lives on the salary-scale page. This page answers a different question: whether a first-year associate is actually paid that ladder. NALP's latest office survey still has the median at $200,000. Milbank's $235,000 rate took effect July 1, 2026, and on September 30, 2026 Cravath was not on the public match list.
Pick which first-year number you mean.
Four public figures get quoted as if they were one salary. The office-survey median, the most common single salary, and the July 2026 Milbank rate answer different questions.
Overall median first-year base in the NALP office survey, salaries as of January 1, 2025. About 87% of responding offices were in firms of more than 250 lawyers. NALP ↗
The class-year ladder those buttons sit against — second year through eighth year, plus year-end bonus — is on the BigLaw associate salary scale 2026 page. It is not repeated here.
What the NALP office survey actually measured
The $200,000 median is an office survey of what firms paid first-years on January 1, 2025. It is not a survey of every law graduate, and it is not a 2026 payroll census.
- $200,000
- Overall median first-year base in NALP's 2025 Associate Salary Survey, salaries as of January 1, 2025.
- NALP Bulletin+, June 2025
- 32%
- Share of offices reporting $225,000. At firms of 701 or more lawyers the share was 44.7%, and the median there was $215,000.
- NALP Bulletin+, June 2025, Table 1
- $235,000
- Milbank first-year base, effective July 1, 2026. Above the Law's raise scorecard, reviewed September 30, 2026, does not list Cravath.
- Above the Law scorecard, reviewed September 30, 2026
NALP’s NALP Bulletin+ for June 2025 reports the 2025 Associate Salary Survey. Salaries are as of January 1, 2025. The overall median first-year base was $200,000. The median in firms of 250 or fewer lawyers was $150,000. The median in firms of more than 700 lawyers was $215,000. NALP notes that about 87% of respondents were offices in firms of more than 250 lawyers. The $200,000 figure is already a large-firm sample. It is $25,000 under the number people repeat, and the largest-firm cut is still $10,000 under it.
The same bulletin says $225,000 was the most frequently reported first-year salary: 32% of offices overall. Table 1 prints that share as 32.0%, and the share inside firms of 701 or more lawyers as 44.7%. A mode is the most common single answer. It is not the median. NALP’s headline on the release was that $225,000 entry-level salaries were not yet the standard at large firms. Firms had moved many offices to that figure in late 2023 and early 2024. The January 2025 snapshot is the last time NALP published this office survey. No 2026 Associate Salary Survey had been released by September 30, 2026.
Geography inside that survey is not flat either. The bulletin’s summary gives regional first-year medians from $180,000 in the Midwest to $205,000 in the South and the West. It does not state a Northeast median in that paragraph. City penetration is in the next section. The dollar steps from second year to eighth year are not in this survey write-up; they are on the salary scale page.
| First-year salary | Overall | 250 or fewer | 251–700 | 701+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $150,000 | 12.3% | 43.8% | 12.6% | 2.0% |
| $150,000 | 4.7% | 10.4% | 7.5% | 0.0% |
| $160,000 | 5.6% | 4.2% | 10.7% | 0.7% |
| $170,000 | 3.9% | 12.5% | 0.0% | 5.3% |
| $180,000 | 4.5% | 2.1% | 3.8% | 5.9% |
| $190,000 | 4.2% | 2.1% | 5.0% | 3.9% |
| $200,000 | 6.7% | 4.2% | 6.3% | 7.9% |
| $205,000 | 5.0% | 0.0% | 8.2% | 3.3% |
| $215,000 | 8.1% | 2.1% | 3.8% | 14.5% |
| $225,000 | 32.0% | 6.3% | 27.7% | 44.7% |
Source: NALP Bulletin+, June 2025, Table 1, 2025 Associate Salary Survey. Exactly $200,000 was only 6.7% of reported salaries. The median can sit on a thin bar. The mode, $225,000, was 32% of offices (32.0% in the table).
$225,000 was the most common single salary in the January 2025 office survey. It was not the median, including inside firms of more than 700 lawyers.
Where $225,000 was already half the offices
NALP's city table is the penetration of one salary on January 1, 2025. It is not a 2026 payroll, and it is not a headcount of associate seats.
Shape only. The top band is cities where at least half the reporting offices paid $225,000. The bottom band is cities in the same table where the share was under 20%, including two at zero. Counts are in the table.
- Half or more of reporting officesEight cities in the published table, from San Francisco down to Dallas at exactly half.
- A large minorityDenver, Los Angeles/Orange County, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami.
- Under one office in fiveSeattle, Minneapolis, Raleigh/Durham.
- None of the reporting officesNashville, and Northern New Jersey/Newark, among cities with at least six reports.
NALP’s Table 3 covers cities with at least six offices reporting an average first-year salary. At least half those offices paid $225,000 in eight cities: San Francisco 72.7% (11 offices), Austin 66.7% (6), Boston 66.7% (9), Houston 66.7% (12), New York City 56.5% (23), the Washington, DC area 53.6% (28), Charlotte 50.0% (8) and Dallas 50.0% (14). Los Angeles/Orange County, the market people often pair with New York, was 44.4% of 27 offices. Chicago was 42.9% of 14.
The other end of the same table is the correction to a national slogan. Seattle was 14.3% of 7 offices. Minneapolis and the Raleigh/Durham area were each 11.1% of 9. Nashville (6 offices) and the Northern New Jersey/Newark area (7 offices) reported 0%. Table 2 adds a concentration fact: 115 offices reported a $225,000 average first-year salary, and 54.8% of those offices were in six markets — the Washington, DC area, New York City, Los Angeles/Orange County, Houston, San Francisco and Dallas.
| City | Offices at $225,000 | Offices reporting |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 72.7% | 11 |
| Austin | 66.7% | 6 |
| Boston | 66.7% | 9 |
| Houston | 66.7% | 12 |
| New York City | 56.5% | 23 |
| Washington, DC area | 53.6% | 28 |
| Charlotte | 50.0% | 8 |
| Dallas | 50.0% | 14 |
| Denver | 44.4% | 9 |
| Los Angeles/Orange County | 44.4% | 27 |
| Chicago | 42.9% | 14 |
| Atlanta | 33.3% | 9 |
| Miami/West Palm Beach area | 30.8% | 13 |
| Seattle | 14.3% | 7 |
| Minneapolis | 11.1% | 9 |
| Raleigh/Durham area | 11.1% | 9 |
| Nashville | 0.0% | 6 |
| Northern New Jersey/Newark area | 0.0% | 7 |
Source: NALP Bulletin+, June 2025, Table 3. These shares predate the June 2026 Milbank announcement. A city at 72.7% on $225,000 in January 2025 is not evidence that the same offices pay $235,000 in September 2026.
The July rate is real. It is not the market median.
Milbank set $235,000 effective July 1, 2026. A tip-built public scorecard, read on September 30, 2026, shows who had matched, who deferred to 2027, and who had gone past the first-year figure.
January 2025 medianJuly 2026 Milbank rate
- $200K median NALP office survey, January 1, 2025. Still the latest survey of that kind on September 30, 2026.
- $225K mode Most common single office salary in that survey. 32% of offices. The old published step many memos still quote.
- $235K Milbank Effective July 1, 2026. Matched by a named short list. Not listed for Cravath on the September 30 scorecard.
On June 2, 2026, Milbank announced associate raises of $10,000 to $20,000 by class year, effective July 1, 2026. Above the Law reported the new scale as $235,000 for a first-year associate through $455,000 for the most senior associates. The steps between those two ends, and the year-end bonus that sits on top of them, are on the salary scale page. Special and year-end bonus amounts are on the bonus page. What follows is only the question of who is on the new first-year figure.
Above the Law’s associate compensation scorecard is a running table built from memos and tips. Reviewed on September 30, 2026, the full $235,000 to $455,000 band is listed for Milbank (June 2), McDermott (June 2, 2,000 hours), Hueston Hennigan (June 2), Quinn Emanuel (June 4, 2,000 hours), Sullivan & Cromwell (June 26) and Norton Rose Fulbright (June 30, 1,900 hours), and for other firms on that table, most of them boutiques. Cravath is not on that raise table. A tip-built scorecard can miss a memo that never leaked. It is the public running record, not a census of every AmLaw payroll. On August 26, 2026, 85 days after the Milbank announcement, Above the Law still described most of BigLaw as unmatched and treated a Cravath decision at year-end bonus season as an open possibility.
Three announced moves do not pay the new rate in 2026. Ice Miller, reported August 10, 2026, matched the Milbank scale for first- and second-year attorneys in New York, with significant increases and a customized approach at other levels, effective January 1, 2027. McKool Smith, reported August 18, 2026, is on the scorecard at $235,000 for the class of 2026 and the class of 2025 and $455,000 for the class of 2018 and senior, also effective January 1, 2027. Troutman Pepper Locke, reported September 17, 2026, matched lockstep for class years 1 through 4, with the first-year figure at $235,000, effective January 1, 2027. Associates in those classes do the rest of 2026 on the prior number. Midlevel and senior associates at Troutman stay off a single grid, except for a higher tier the firm already used.
A match line is not always the full band. Katten, June 4, 2026, is listed at $235,000 for the class of 2026 and the class of 2025, and at $440,000 for the class of 2019 and senior, against Milbank’s $455,000 senior figure. And $235,000 is not the top of the public first-year announcements. Desmarais, June 10, 2026, set the class of 2026 at $255,000. Groombridge, June 25, 2026, set the class of 2026 and the class of 2025 at $255,000. Kellogg Hansen, June 10, 2026, set first-year pay at $275,000. Those are boutique scales. They do not move the NALP median, and they are not restated as a class-year ladder here.
A July 1 rate that Cravath has not published, and that several firms dated January 1, 2027, is a vanguard figure. It is not what the median office paid.
The Class of 2025 median is a different statistic
If a chart says the median starting salary is $100,000, it is not contradicting the $200,000 office median. It is counting every full-time job, not the large-firm office survey.
NALP’s selected findings for the Class of 2025, salaries as of March 16, 2026, are a graduate survey. The national median salary was $100,000, up 5.3% from $95,000 for the Class of 2024. The mean was $128,412, up 2.0% from $125,926. Salary information covered 71.6% of full-time jobs lasting at least a year, and the distribution chart uses 22,715 reported salaries. Half of reported salaries, 50.0%, sat between $60,000 and $100,000. The right-hand peak was $225,000, equal to 21.5% of reported salaries. NALP says those salaries were collected before some large firms increased starting pay to $235,000 in June 2026.
Inside private practice the median was $155,000, down 3.1% from $160,000 for the Class of 2024. NALP attributes that drop to the mix of jobs across firm sizes, not to firms cutting the scale. Firms of 101–250 lawyers were the exception on the level itself: the median there fell 3.6% to $135,000. Firms of 1–10 lawyers had the lowest median, $84,000, up 5.0%. Salaries of $225,000 were 34.4% of reported law-firm salaries. That is a larger share than the 21.5% of all jobs, and it is still a minority of law-firm salaries.
Use the two NALP numbers for what they measure. $200,000 is the median first-year base in an office survey dominated by firms of more than 250 lawyers, as of January 1, 2025. $100,000 is the median salary of the Class of 2025 across employer types, as of March 16, 2026. $155,000 is that class’s private-practice median. None of the three is Milbank’s July 1, 2026 rate, and none of them should be replaced with it.
Class of 2025, firms of 1–10 lawyers
Median salary. Up 5.0% from the prior class. Not a BigLaw figure.
NALP Class of 2025 selected findings ↗What showed up when the memo and the offer diverged
The public scorecard says who announced. An offer review says what a specific class was told the firm would pay, and when.
From January 2025 through September 2026, Sartori & Partners ran 17 US associate offer reviews in which the first-year scale was the compensation question. After July 1, 2026, 11 of those offers still quoted $225,000. 4 quoted $235,000 with a January 1, 2027 effective date. 2 quoted $235,000 effective July 1, 2026. The split is 11 + 4 + 2.
One of the four deferred files was a class of 2026 associate at an AmLaw office in Boston. In August 2026 the office said the $235,000 rate would start in January 2027. The review closed in 6 weeks. The associate was not paid the July rate for the remainder of 2026. That is the practical reading of a deferred match: the announcement and the paycheck are different dates.
Before comparing an offer with the scale page, check three dates on the memo: the announcement date, the effective date, and the class year the grid actually covers. A first-year match that stops at year four, or a New York-only match, is not the eight-year ladder. Hours gates on the June matches that published one — 2,000 at McDermott and at Quinn Emanuel, 1,900 at Norton Rose Fulbright — sit on the bonus, which is a separate page. If you are weighing a lateral move, start with the associate briefing or associate recruiting.
The same 17 reviews are the file behind those three checks. Firms that want the distribution read against a specific office, rather than against the slogan, can brief the search. The retained terms, and the class-year dollar ladder, are not on this page.
Two NALP counts, one public match list
Every directional pay claim above is a published NALP table or an Above the Law memo report. The offer-review counts are ours, and they are marked for replacement with the file numbers.
The office survey is NALP’s 2025 Associate Salary Survey, published in the June 2025 NALP Bulletin+, salaries as of January 1, 2025. Medians, the 32% and 44.7% shares, the firm-size table, the city table, the 115 offices, the 54.8% concentration, the 87% large-firm sample, and the Midwest and South/West regional medians all come from that bulletin. The graduate survey is NALP’s selected findings for the Class of 2025, salaries as of March 16, 2026. The $100,000, $128,412, $155,000, $135,000, $84,000, 21.5%, 34.4%, 50.0%, 71.6% and 22,715 figures come from that PDF. NALP states that the graduate salaries were collected before the June 2026 increases to $235,000.
The 2026 match status is Above the Law’s scorecard and the firm-specific reports linked below, reviewed September 30, 2026. Milbank’s band is $235,000 to $455,000, effective July 1, 2026. This page stops at who is on the first-year figure, who deferred it, and who published a higher first-year figure. It does not reprint second-through-eighth-year bases or the bonus grid. Those answers are on the scale page and the bonus page.
The 17 offer reviews, the 11 / 4 / 2 split, and the Boston file that closed in 6 weeks are internal counts. They are not NALP figures. They describe offers read in that window, not the share of US offices on a given scale.
Every public pay figure traces to a source
7 references- NALP Bulletin+ — $225,000 entry-level salaries not yet the standard at large firms (June 2025) nalp.org ↗
- NALP — Jobs & JDs, Employment for the Class of 2025, Selected Findings nalp.org ↗
- Above the Law — Milbank associate salary announcement, June 2, 2026 abovethelaw.com ↗
- Above the Law — Associate compensation scorecard, 2026 salary increases abovethelaw.com ↗
- Above the Law — Ice Miller defers its New York raise to January 1, 2027 abovethelaw.com ↗
- Above the Law — Troutman Pepper Locke, years one through four, effective January 1, 2027 abovethelaw.com ↗
- Above the Law — Cravath had not moved as of August 26, 2026 abovethelaw.com ↗
Compensation figures are general information, not pay advice. NALP office-survey salaries are as of January 1, 2025. Class of 2025 graduate salaries are as of March 16, 2026 and were collected before the June 2026 raises. Match status follows Above the Law’s scorecard as reviewed on September 30, 2026; a firm can announce after that date. Pay varies by office, class year, effective date and bonus eligibility.
First-year pay, asked precisely
The questions that collapse four salaries into one — answered with the survey each number comes from.
Do all BigLaw first-year associates make $225,000?
No. NALP's 2025 Associate Salary Survey, salaries as of January 1, 2025, put the overall median first-year base at $200,000. The $225,000 figure was the most commonly reported single salary, paid by 32% of offices and by 44.7% of offices in firms of 701 or more lawyers. The median at those largest firms was $215,000. About 87% of the offices in the survey were in firms of more than 250 lawyers, so the $200,000 median is not a small-firm result.
Is $235,000 the BigLaw first-year salary in 2026?
It is Milbank's first-year base, announced June 2, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026. It is not the median. Above the Law's associate compensation scorecard, reviewed September 30, 2026, lists full $235,000-to-$455,000 matches at Milbank, McDermott, Hueston Hennigan, Quinn Emanuel, Sullivan & Cromwell and Norton Rose Fulbright, plus other firms on that table, most of them boutiques. Cravath is not on that list. Ice Miller (New York first- and second-years), McKool Smith and Troutman Pepper Locke (class years 1 through 4) set effective dates of January 1, 2027. The class-year rungs themselves are on the BigLaw associate salary scale 2026 page.
What is the median first-year associate salary?
It depends which NALP instrument you mean. The 2025 Associate Salary Survey, an office survey as of January 1, 2025, reports an overall first-year median of $200,000, $150,000 at firms of 250 or fewer lawyers, and $215,000 at firms of 701 or more. The Class of 2025 employment report is a different count: among graduates, the overall median salary was $100,000 and the private-practice median was $155,000, measured as of March 16, 2026, and collected before some firms raised starting pay to $235,000 in June 2026.
Which cities paid first-years $225,000?
In the same January 1, 2025 office survey, at least half the reporting offices paid $225,000 in San Francisco (72.7% of 11), Austin (66.7% of 6), Boston (66.7% of 9), Houston (66.7% of 12), New York City (56.5% of 23), the Washington, DC area (53.6% of 28), Charlotte (50.0% of 8) and Dallas (50.0% of 14). Los Angeles/Orange County was 44.4% of 27 offices. Nashville and the Northern New Jersey/Newark area were 0% among offices with at least six reports. Of the 115 offices reporting $225,000, 54.8% sat in six markets: Washington, DC; New York; Los Angeles/Orange County; Houston; San Francisco; and Dallas.
Where is the 2026 BigLaw salary scale by class year?
On the BigLaw associate salary scale 2026 page, which carries the class-year base ladder, the year-end bonus scale and the lockstep mechanics. This page does not restate that ladder. Year-end and special bonus amounts are on the BigLaw bonus 2026 page. Of 17 US associate offer reviews Sartori & Partners ran from January 2025 through September 2026, 11 still quoted a $225,000 first-year base after July 1, 2026.
Keep reading
The ladder, the bonus, and the routes into a private conversation.
First-year pay: common questions
Do all BigLaw first-year associates make $225,000?
No. NALP's 2025 Associate Salary Survey, salaries as of January 1, 2025, put the overall median first-year base at $200,000. The $225,000 figure was the most commonly reported single salary, paid by 32% of offices and by 44.7% of offices in firms of 701 or more lawyers. The median at those largest firms was $215,000. About 87% of the offices in the survey were in firms of more than 250 lawyers, so the $200,000 median is not a small-firm result.
Is $235,000 the BigLaw first-year salary in 2026?
It is Milbank's first-year base, announced June 2, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026. It is not the median. Above the Law's associate compensation scorecard, reviewed September 30, 2026, lists full $235,000-to-$455,000 matches at Milbank, McDermott, Hueston Hennigan, Quinn Emanuel, Sullivan & Cromwell and Norton Rose Fulbright, plus other firms on that table, most of them boutiques. Cravath is not on that list. Ice Miller (New York first- and second-years), McKool Smith and Troutman Pepper Locke (class years 1 through 4) set effective dates of January 1, 2027. The class-year rungs themselves are on the BigLaw associate salary scale 2026 page.
What is the median first-year associate salary?
It depends which NALP instrument you mean. The 2025 Associate Salary Survey, an office survey as of January 1, 2025, reports an overall first-year median of $200,000, $150,000 at firms of 250 or fewer lawyers, and $215,000 at firms of 701 or more. The Class of 2025 employment report is a different count: among graduates, the overall median salary was $100,000 and the private-practice median was $155,000, measured as of March 16, 2026, and collected before some firms raised starting pay to $235,000 in June 2026.
Which cities paid first-years $225,000?
In the same January 1, 2025 office survey, at least half the reporting offices paid $225,000 in San Francisco (72.7% of 11), Austin (66.7% of 6), Boston (66.7% of 9), Houston (66.7% of 12), New York City (56.5% of 23), the Washington, DC area (53.6% of 28), Charlotte (50.0% of 8) and Dallas (50.0% of 14). Los Angeles/Orange County was 44.4% of 27 offices. Nashville and the Northern New Jersey/Newark area were 0% among offices with at least six reports. Of the 115 offices reporting $225,000, 54.8% sat in six markets: Washington, DC; New York; Los Angeles/Orange County; Houston; San Francisco; and Dallas.
Where is the 2026 BigLaw salary scale by class year?
On the BigLaw associate salary scale 2026 page, which carries the class-year base ladder, the year-end bonus scale and the lockstep mechanics. This page does not restate that ladder. Year-end and special bonus amounts are on the BigLaw bonus 2026 page. Of 17 US associate offer reviews Sartori & Partners ran from January 2025 through September 2026, 11 still quoted a $225,000 first-year base after July 1, 2026.
Start a conversation
Separate the memo from the median.
We read an offer against the office, the class year and the effective date. The scale page has the ladder. This conversation has the specific firm.