Growth in the number of lawyers practising in the world’s largest legal services market has resumed after a five-year pause. According to new figures from the American Bar Association, the country has 1.37 million lawyers - up from 1.35 million in 2024. The 1.8% increase is the first significant rise since 2020, the ABA’s 2025 Profile of the Legal Profession states. 

In total, the number of resident active lawyers in the US has grown by 5.6% to 73,363 over the past 10 years, the report states. The figures suggest that the stereotypical picture of the lawyer remains true, with male lawyers accounting for 58% of those practising. Meanwhile what the ABA called 'a small uptick in African American, Asian and Hispanic lawyers' was countered by 'a small decline in Native American and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander lawyers'.

The spurt in growth was due to an unusually large 2024 graduating class: 12% larger than any class since 2012. The ABA, which has been collecting population figures since 1878, said previous bursts of expansion occurred in the late 1940s, the late 1970s/early 1980s and the early 1990s.  

States with the highest number of active lawyers in 2025 were New York (190,015); California (181,048); Texas (99,867); Florida (80,976); District of Columbia (65,824); Illinois (61,945); Pennsylvania (47,764); Massachusetts (42,653); New Jersey (39,670); and Ohio (37,086). However the states with the highest rate of lawyer population growth were Oklahoma, Arkansas, Delaware, Utah and Massachusetts.