Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates
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Speciality
OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Arbitrate, advise, adjudicate, or administer justice in a court of law. May sentence defendant in criminal cases according to government statutes or sentencing guidelines. May determine liability of defendant in civil cases. May perform wedding ceremonies.
This career appears to require experience.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($138K): International Relations
Largest undergraduate program (20.0% of workers): Political Science and Government
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Titles for this career often contain these words
JudgeCourtJusticeMagistrateDistrictPoliceCircuitCountyCriminalMunicipalSuperiorTrialAdministrativeAppellateBallotProcessingBankruptcyChanceryMasterChiefAppealsElectionGeneralImmigrationJuristPeaceJuvenileLegalRefereeMagisterialPresidingProbateTribal
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Responsibilities and activities

Judges and hearing officers typically do the following:

  • Research legal issues
  • Read and evaluate information from documents, such as motions, claim applications, and records
  • Preside over hearings and listen to and read arguments by opposing parties
  • Determine if the information presented supports the charge, claim, or dispute
  • Decide if the procedure is being conducted according to the rules and law
  • Apply laws or precedents to reach judgments and to resolve disputes between parties
  • Write opinions, decisions, and instructions regarding cases, claims, and disputes

Judges commonly preside over trials and hearings of cases regarding nearly every aspect of society, from individual traffic offenses to issues concerning the rights of large corporations. Judges listen to arguments and determine if the evidence presented deserves a trial. In criminal cases, judges may decide that people charged with crimes should be held in jail until the trial, or they may set conditions for their release. They also approve search warrants and arrest warrants.

Judges interpret the law to determine how a trial will proceed, which is particularly important when unusual circumstances arise for which standard procedures have not been established. They ensure that hearings and trials are conducted fairly and that the legal rights of all involved parties are protected.

In trials in which juries are selected to decide the case, judges instruct jurors on applicable laws and direct them to consider the facts from the evidence. For other trials, judges decide the case. A judge who determines guilt in criminal cases may impose a sentence or penalty on the guilty party. In civil cases, the judge may award relief, such as compensation for damages, to the parties who win lawsuits.

Judges use various forms of technology, such as electronic databases and software, to manage cases and to prepare for trials. In some cases, a judge may manage the court’s administrative and clerical staff.

The following are examples of types of judges and hearing officers:

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates preside over trials and hearings. They typically work in local, state, and federal courts.

In local and state court systems, they have a variety of titles, such as municipal court judge, county court judge, and justice of the peace. Traffic violations, misdemeanors, small-claims cases, and pretrial hearings make up the bulk of these judges’ work.

In federal and state court systems, district court judges and general trial court judges have authority over any case in their system. Appellate court judges rule on a small number of cases, by reviewing decisions of the lower courts and lawyers’ written and oral arguments.

Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers usually work for local, state, and federal government agencies. They decide many issues, such as whether a person is eligible for workers’ compensation benefits or whether employment discrimination occurred.

Salary
Median salary: $141,080 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $81,100 and $174,050.
$141K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K
Note: The salaries for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates have been top-coded by the BLS; in 2019, all annual salaries larger than # are recorded as #.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$64K$104K$106K$107K$101K$82K$105K$97K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
050K100K150K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Time Pressure (99%)
  • High Conflict Frequency (89%)
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (89%)
  • Consequence of Error (67%)
  • Physically Aggressive People (40%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Critical-thinking skills
Judges and hearing officers must apply rules of law. They cannot let their own personal assumptions interfere with the proceedings. For example, they must base their decisions on specific meanings of the law when evaluating and deciding whether a person is a threat to others and must be sent to jail.
Decisionmaking skills
Judges and hearing officers must be able to weigh the facts, to apply the law and rules, and to make a decision relatively quickly.
Listening skills
Judges and hearing officers evaluate information, so they must pay close attention to what is being said.
Reading skills
Judges and hearing officers must be able to distinguish important facts from large amounts of sometimes complex information and then evaluate the facts objectively.
Writing skills
Judges and hearing officers write recommendations and decisions on appeals and disputes. They must be able to write their decisions clearly so that all sides understand the decision.
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates typically hold a doctoral or professional degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates

Although there may be a few positions available for those with a bachelor’s degree, a law degree is typically required for most jobs as a local, state, or federal judge or hearing officer.

In addition to earning a law degree, federal administrative law judges must pass a competitive exam from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Earning a law degree usually takes 7 years of full-time study after high school: 4 years of undergraduate study, followed by 3 years of law school. Law degree programs include courses such as constitutional law, contracts, property law, civil procedure, and legal writing.

Most judges and magistrates must be appointed or elected into their positions, a procedure that often requires political support. Many local and state judges are appointed to serve fixed renewable terms, ranging from 4 to 14 years. A few judges, such as appellate court judges, are appointed for life. Judicial nominating commissions screen candidates for judgeships in many states and for some federal judgeships.

For specific state information, including information on the number of judgeships by state, term lengths, and requirements for qualification, visit the National Center for State Courts.

Details: Licensing and certification recommended for judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates

Most judges and hearing officers are required to have a law license. In addition, they typically must maintain their law license and good standing with their state bar association while working as a judge or hearing officer.

Education level of Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
About 93% of lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals have a graduate-level education, and 98% have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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College majors held by lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
This table shows the college majors held by people working as lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$53K$149K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
Political Science an...HistoryEnglish Language and...EconomicsPsychologyBusiness Management ...General BusinessPhilosophy and Relig...Criminal Justice and...AccountingAll other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals (ACS for all specialties)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
7% of Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 7% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 67% of careers.
7%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$95K$91K$103K$123K$68K$87K$81K$89K$0$50,000$100,000$150,000$200,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedFederal governmentState governmentLocal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals and gender
With 39% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 51% of careers.
Gender of Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
Men (61%)
Women (39%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$88K$101K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
39%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%. The situation is a little better for lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals, with the median salary for men 15% higher than the median salary for women.
15%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals.
Race/origin of lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
White (86% )
Black (6% )
Asian (5% )
Multiracial (2% )
Other (1% )
Hispanic (0% )
American Indian (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$75K$84K$86K$86K$92K$92K$96K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KOtherHispanicBlackAmerican IndianMultiracialAsianWhite
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.