Welcome to the Judicial Salary Tracker. The Survey of Judicial Salaries, published for over 40 years by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) with the support of state court administrative offices across the United States, serves as the primary record of compensation for state judicial officers. NCSC biannually gathers salary information for the following positions: associate justices of the courts of last resort, associate judges of intermediate appellate courts, and judges of general jurisdiction trial courts. In jurisdictions where some judges receive supplements, the figures reported are the most representative available-either the base salary, the midpoint of a range between the lowest and highest supplemented salaries, or the median.
Salaries are ranked from highest to lowest, with the highest salary for each position having a rank of “1.” Intermediate appellate courts exist in only 42 states. General jurisdiction judge salaries receive a cost-of-living-adjustment using the C2ER cost-of-living index. The Council for Community and Economic Research-C2ER-is the most widely accepted U.S. source for cost-of-living indices. C2ER uses a robust, multivariable model, which incorporates the costs of goods and services within a reporting jurisdiction along with seven additional variables to greatly improve predicted, statewide average C2ER factors. The seven variables are: community, population, population density, income, growth rate, utility rates, efficiency of government sector, and location of the region. More detailed information can be found at www.c2er.org.
If there are any questions or comments about the Judicial Salary Tracker, data gathering or judicial compensation in general, please contact Dimarie Alicea-Lozada.