First professional · Los Angeles, California
Is Law at Southwestern Law School worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back slowly: graduates typically recover the cost in about 7.9 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $86,895
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $116,381
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $182,531
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published)
- $194k (likely $194k – $194k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $47k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 7.9 years (likely 7.0–9.0)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- −$182k (likely −$269k – −$105k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $406k (likely $225k – $614k)
- Today's dollars
Change income, residency or loans Compare Law at other schools
Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.
Law at other schools in California
- Stanford University$259,944
- University of California-Berkeley$226,996
- University of Southern California$203,028
- University of California-Los Angeles$177,968
- University of California-Irvine$153,307
- Santa Clara University$148,599
- Loyola Marymount University$143,361
- University of California-Davis$136,814
- University of California College of the Law-San Francisco$136,001
- University of San Diego$134,065