Industry · NAICS 5411

Legal services

The United States has 181,092 employer establishments in legal services (5.4 per 10,000 residents), employing 1,190,297 people at an average annual pay of $120,985, plus 275,815 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
181,092
275,815 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
5.4
Paid employees
1,190,297
Average annual pay
$120,985

Places ranked by residents per establishment

Places ranked by residents per establishment: more residents for each business, fewer competitors per resident. A count, not a measure of demand: retirement areas, low incomes or tourism change what a business needs.

Places
State
Size
Legal services by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Hanford-Corcoran, CA153,197217,2951.40.25×118$65,99235
2Merced, CA294,319436,8451.50.27×163$52,18469
3Holland, MI121,935186,7741.50.27×55$55,40052
4El Centro, CA180,683286,4531.50.29×112$53,67046
5Killeen-Temple, TX502,497836,0541.70.31×580$66,617154
6Monroe, MI155,563265,9831.70.31×109$57,65164
7Visalia, CA480,816835,7931.70.32×254$59,476143
8Greeley, CO360,971645,6401.80.33×214$65,262149
9Wildwood-The Villages, FL151,889275,6261.80.33×111$70,063107
10Fond du Lac, WI104,349195,4921.80.34×101$52,54516
11Shelby-Kings Mountain, NC101,606195,3481.90.35×84$69,08314
12Gettysburg, PA106,945205,3471.90.35×69$70,56536
13Massena-Ogdensburg, NY106,607205,3301.90.35×86$58,91940
14Yuba City, CA184,402355,2691.90.35×131$55,50473
15Stockton-Lodi, CA806,0551535,2681.90.35×657$80,352311
16Vallejo, CA451,377865,2491.90.35×315$74,508240
17Clarksville, TN-KY340,083655,2321.90.36×307$48,948103
18Jackson, MI159,607315,1491.90.36×111$85,48646
19Lebanon, PA144,706294,99020.37×134$69,11239
20Janesville-Beloit, WI164,619334,98820.37×174$55,81021
21Wooster, OH116,551244,8562.10.38×144$49,56333
22Burlington, NC179,369374,8482.10.38×161$49,39147
23Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ124,716264,7972.10.39×180$74,67244
24Battle Creek, MI133,331284,7622.10.39×113$77,25735
25Anderson Creek, NC141,772304,7262.10.39×138$66,62346

1–25 of 398 places

Sources: County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024).

  • Residents per establishment is the place's population estimate for 2023 divided by its establishments; more residents per business means fewer competitors per resident. Places with fewer than the minimum establishments are left out because a handful of businesses makes the ratio jump around.
  • Metro areas are made of whole counties and their figures are the exact sums of those counties'. A metro area is listed under its principal state.
  • This compares counts of businesses with counts of residents. It does not measure demand, spending power, visitors, the size or quality of the businesses, or whether a market is open. Employment and payroll carry the Census Bureau's noise infusion.
  • County Business Patterns 2023 uses NAICS 2017 codes; the nonemployer figures use NAICS 2022. Industries are matched by name between editions.
  • Growth needs a second reference year of County Business Patterns in the same industry classification; only 2023 is loaded, so there is no growth column yet.

Federal contracts in this industry

Federal agencies obligated $1.3B on contracts under NAICS 5411 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (4,100 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$959.3M76%
    1,116 awards
  2. Colorado Springs, CO$163.8M13%
    6 awards
  3. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$17.4M1.4%
    265 awards
  4. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$14.5M1.2%
    156 awards
  5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL$12.9M1.0%
    62 awards
  6. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$12.3M1.0%
    150 awards
  7. Richmond, VA$12.2M1.0%
    19 awards
  8. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$4M0.3%
    88 awards
  9. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA$3.7M0.3%
    38 awards
  10. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO$3M0.2%
    45 awards

Counties

  1. Fairfax County, VA$491.8M39%
    297 awards
  2. District of Columbia, DC$384.2M31%
    627 awards
  3. El Paso County, CO$163.8M13%
    6 awards
  4. Arlington County, VA$46.2M3.7%
    45 awards
  5. Fredericksburg city, VA$15.2M1.2%
    6 awards
  6. New York County, NY$13.6M1.1%
    136 awards
  7. Richmond city, VA$12.1M1.0%
    14 awards
  8. Suffolk County, MA$11.8M0.9%
    82 awards
  9. Prince George's County, MD$9M0.7%
    22 awards
  10. Miami-Dade County, FL$6M0.5%
    16 awards

Cities and towns

  1. Washington city, DC$384.2M31%
    627 awards
  2. Reston CDP, VA$204.6M16%
    49 awards
  3. Chantilly CDP, VA$91.8M7.3%
    81 awards
  4. Colorado Springs city, CO$85M6.8%
    6 awards
  5. Franklin Farm CDP, VA$47.1M3.7%
    82 awards
  6. Arlington CDP, VA$46.2M3.7%
    45 awards
  7. Floris CDP, VA$31.6M2.5%
    82 awards
  8. Difficult Run CDP, VA$25.6M2.0%
    96 awards
  9. McNair CDP, VA$23M1.8%
    82 awards
  10. Wolf Trap CDP, VA$18.9M1.5%
    9 awards

Where the work was performed, as agencies report it (often the contractor's office). Metro areas are the exact sums of their counties. Cities are estimated: each action's county money split by the share of its ZIP code's land inside the city, so a city's figure is part of its county's.

USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS)