Compared with the local labor market
Attorney (Civil/Criminal) pay vs. the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area
Across all employers in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area, the median wage for Lawyers — about 18,470 people — is $212,500. Public Defender pays a median base salary of $196,511 for this role, 8% below that figure — about the 45th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Public Defender sits in the local pay range
$98,280
$137,380
$212,500
$320,510
$375,580
Public Defender median · $196,511
The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Defender’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Lawyers — about 754,500 people — is $159,670. Public Defender’s median base salary is 23% above that national figure, about the 65th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$78,360
$102,990
$159,670
$221,370
$351,600
Public Defender median · $196,511
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 119 of 122 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Public Defender is $258,055, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Attorney beyond City and County of San Francisco
This role is reported in 14 jurisdictions. In City and County of San Francisco, the median of $273,500 ranks #1 of 14. See Attorney across all of City and County of San Francisco →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Attorneyroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.