How Much Do Federal Judges Make? Salaries, Benefits, and Limits

Federal judges make between $229,908 and $320,700 a year in 2026. The Chief Justice of the United States sits at the top of the scale at $320,700; district judges, the trial-level judges most people encounter, earn $249,900. Magistrate and bankruptcy judges anchor the bottom of the range at $229,908. Every judge at a given level earns the same base pay, whether they sit in Manhattan or rural Montana.¹

Salaries by Court Level in 2026

Article III judges, the ones the Constitution grants lifetime appointments, are paid on a four-tier scale:

Chief Justice of the United States: $320,700
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court: $306,600
Circuit Judges (Courts of Appeals): $264,900
District Judges (trial courts): $249,900

The spread between the Chief Justice and a district judge is about $70,800.¹²³

Magistrate and Bankruptcy Judge Pay

Not every federal judge holds a lifetime appointment. Magistrate judges and bankruptcy judges serve fixed terms, and their salaries are pegged to 92 percent of a district judge’s pay. At the current district judge salary of $249,900, that works out to $229,908 for both roles.¹

The term lengths differ. Full-time magistrate judges serve renewable eight-year terms and are chosen by the district judges of their court; part-time magistrates serve four-year terms.⁴ Bankruptcy judges serve 14-year terms.⁵ Neither role carries the constitutional protection against salary reduction that Article III judges have, though in practice their pay moves with the district judge scale.

How the Pay Gets Adjusted

Judicial pay adjustments are governed by 28 U.S.C. § 461, which ties raises to the Employment Cost Index. When General Schedule pay for federal civil servants goes up, judges become eligible for a percentage increase based on the most recent ECI change, capped at whatever other federal employees receive that year.⁶

Congress can block the adjustment, and it has. Lawmakers froze judicial pay in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2010. Those freezes compounded and left salaries well below where consistent annual adjustments would have put them. The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 created the adjustment mechanism to preserve purchasing power, but raises still require congressional cooperation in practice.⁷ The Constitution stops Congress from cutting a sitting judge’s salary directly; declining to authorize a raise achieves a slower erosion through inflation.

How It Compares to Private Practice

The gap between judicial pay and top private-sector legal pay is large. Equity partners at the biggest firms average several million dollars a year. Senior associates at leading firms often out-earn every federal judge below the Supreme Court, and a district judge on $249,900 earns less than a mid-level associate at many large firms in major cities.

Chief Justices have publicly warned that this gap discourages experienced lawyers from accepting appointments and pushes sitting judges toward the private sector. What draws people to the bench is mostly not the paycheck: lifetime tenure, public service, and a strong retirement package. Virtually every Article III judge took a significant pay cut to take the job.

Benefits That Come With the Job

Federal judges get the same core benefits available to other federal employees:

Health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, with no pre-existing condition exclusions.⁸
Dental and vision coverage through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program.⁸
Life insurance through the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Program.⁸
Optional long-term care insurance covering nursing home care, assisted living, home health, and hospice.⁸

Judges appointed after 1983 also pay into Social Security and Medicare on the same terms as other workers.

Retirement and Senior Status

Federal judges have one of the most favorable retirement setups in government. Under 28 U.S.C. § 371, a judge can retire or take senior status once age and years of service line up in one of these combinations:

Age 65 with 15 years of service
Age 66 with 14 years of service
Age 67 with 13 years of service
Age 68 with 12 years of service
Age 69 with 11 years of service
Age 70 with 10 years of service

Each pair adds up to 80, which is why this is often called the Rule of 80.⁹

A judge who fully retires receives a lifetime annuity equal to the salary they were earning at retirement. Most judges instead choose senior status, keeping a reduced caseload and continuing to receive the current salary of an active judge, including any future raises. A senior judge’s pay tracks active colleagues; a fully retired judge’s annuity is frozen at their departure salary.

The trade-off with senior status is that the work has to continue. To draw full active-judge pay, a senior judge must be certified each year as performing at least three months’ worth of what an average active judge handles. That work can be courtroom proceedings, settlement conferences, writing opinions, or administrative duties. A disability that prevents meeting the threshold does not disqualify a judge from certification, and a shortfall in one year can be made up the next.⁹

Judges can also opt into the Judicial Survivors’ Annuities System, which pays a surviving spouse or dependent children after the judge’s death. Participation is voluntary and requires a written election.¹⁰

Limits on Earning Money on the Side

Federal judges cannot freely supplement their salary. The Judicial Conference bars judges from accepting honoraria for speeches and appearances. Judges who qualify as “covered senior employees” under judiciary ethics rules cannot earn outside income exceeding 15 percent of the Level II Executive Schedule rate; that ceiling applies to wages, professional fees, and other compensation for services.

Teaching is permitted, but only with prior approval. Books and other creative works longer than an article fall outside the honoraria ban, so judges can collect royalties on those. Every judge files an annual financial disclosure report, so outside income, investments, and potential conflicts are public record.

1
United States Courts. Judicial Compensation
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 5 – Salaries of Justices
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 135 – Salaries of District Judges
4
United States Courts. Types of Federal Judges
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 152 – Appointment of Bankruptcy Judges
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 461 – Adjustments in Certain Salaries
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5318 – Adjustments in Rates of Pay
8
United States Courts. Your Federal Insurance Programs
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 371 – Retirement on Salary; Retirement in Senior Status
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 376 – Annuities for Survivors of Certain Judicial Officials