Judges in the United States are paid anywhere from under $70,000 a year for part-time municipal seats to $320,700 for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Federal judges earn between roughly $230,000 and $320,700 in 2026, set by statute and uniform across the country. State judges vary widely by state and by the level of court, with high court justices in large states clearing $280,000 and rural traffic court judges sometimes working part-time for a fraction of that.
Federal District and Circuit Court Pay
A United States District Court judge earns $249,900 in 2026.1United States Courts. Judicial Compensation That figure is the same whether the judge sits in rural Montana or Manhattan. Federal judicial pay is set by statute and does not vary by location.
Judges on the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals earn more. A circuit judge is paid about $264,900 a year in 2026.1United States Courts. Judicial Compensation The roughly $15,000 gap between the two levels reflects the appellate court’s role in reviewing lower-court decisions and setting binding precedent within its circuit.
Supreme Court Justices
The Supreme Court sits at the top of the federal pay scale. In 2026, each Associate Justice earns $306,600 and the Chief Justice earns $320,700.1United States Courts. Judicial Compensation Those numbers are the ceiling of regular judicial pay in the United States. They remain well below what many lawyers of similar caliber earn in private practice.
Magistrate, Bankruptcy, and Administrative Law Judges
Not every federal judge has a lifetime appointment. Magistrate judges handle preliminary hearings, discovery disputes, and certain misdemeanor trials. Bankruptcy judges oversee debtor cases under the federal bankruptcy code. Both serve fixed terms and are paid at 92 percent of a district judge’s salary, which works out to $229,908 in 2026.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 634 – Compensation3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 153 – Salaries, Character of Service Part-time magistrates earn less, with a statutory floor of $100 a year and a ceiling of half the full-time rate.
Administrative law judges work inside federal agencies rather than the courts, hearing evidence and issuing decisions in agency disputes. The Social Security Administration alone employs hundreds of them. Their pay follows a separate three-level scale under 5 U.S.C. § 5372.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5372 – Administrative Law Judges Most start at AL-3, rate A, which pays $131,700 in 2026, and advance through six rates topping out at $182,400 at AL-3/F. The highest ALJ level, AL-1, is capped at Executive Schedule Level IV pay, which is $197,200 in 2026.5Federal Register. January 2026 Pay Schedules Advancement takes 52 weeks at each of the first three steps and 104 weeks at each of the last two.6U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Salary Table No. 2026-ALJ
State Court Judges
State judicial pay is a patchwork. Each state legislature or compensation commission sets its own rates, and there is no federal minimum. Two judges doing nearly identical work in neighboring states can easily be $50,000 apart.
State Supreme Court Justices
Justices on state high courts generally earn between roughly $180,000 and $280,000 or more. Smaller states with lower costs of living tend to cluster near the bottom of that range. California and New York, and other large states, pay significantly more. Some states use independent commissions that benchmark judicial pay against private-sector legal salaries every few years. Others require a legislative vote for any raise, which can turn judicial pay into a political issue that stalls.
General Jurisdiction Trial Judges
Trial judges who handle felonies and high-value civil cases typically earn between $150,000 and $230,000. In states where counties supplement state pay, two judges on the same court can earn different amounts depending on where they sit.
Limited Jurisdiction and Municipal Judges
Judges handling traffic, small claims, and misdemeanor dockets sit at the low end of the scale. Big-city positions can be full-time and pay close to what general trial judges earn. In rural areas and small towns, the role is often part-time and can start below $70,000. Whether the seat is elected or appointed by a city council affects not only pay but also whether benefits like health insurance and pension contributions come with the job.
How the Numbers Change Over Time
Federal judicial pay adjusts automatically under 28 U.S.C. § 461, which ties it to the Employment Cost Index and links judicial raises to General Schedule pay increases.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 461 – Adjustments in Certain Salaries The formula dates to the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 and is meant to keep judicial purchasing power in step with inflation.
The word “automatic” is doing some work in that sentence. Congress can block the adjustment and has done so in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2010, even as other federal workers received their scheduled raises. Those freezes compounded, and the cumulative effect eroded judicial pay significantly against inflation and private legal salaries over the years. The Constitution bars reducing a sitting Article III judge’s salary, but withholding a scheduled raise has never been struck down.
State mechanisms vary. A few states set automatic cost-of-living adjustments in statute — Maine allows up to 3 percent per year based on the Consumer Price Index — though legislatures have suspended those formulas when budgets tighten. Most states rely on periodic legislative votes or on compensation commissions whose recommendations still need legislative approval, which is how state judicial raises can go years without moving.
Senior Status and Retirement
Federal judges with lifetime appointments can take senior status under 28 U.S.C. § 371 once they meet the “Rule of 80”: age plus years of service totaling at least 80, with a minimum age of 65 and at least 10 years on the bench.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 371 – Retirement on Salary; Retirement in Senior Status A judge who qualifies can step back from a full docket while continuing to draw the full salary of the office. So a 70-year-old judge with 10 years of service qualifies, as does a 65-year-old with 15 years, and other combinations in between.
To keep receiving future pay raises, a senior judge must be certified each year as carrying at least a quarter of a full-time caseload. Judges who stop working entirely stay on senior status at their last salary but no longer collect increases.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 371 – Retirement on Salary; Retirement in Senior Status The arrangement keeps experienced judges available for backlog work, and senior judges handle a significant share of federal litigation.
Federal judges have no mandatory retirement age. At the state level, roughly 31 states and the District of Columbia impose one, most commonly around age 70, though a few set it as high as 90. State pension structures differ widely, with most requiring judges to contribute between 8 and 11 percent of salary toward retirement.