What does it cost to hire an administrative law judge in Boston?

Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $113,750 median wage in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $22,750 to $34,125 on the first year salary alone.

What should an offer for an administrative law judge in Boston look like?

Employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area pay administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers a median of $113,750, with the middle half of the market between $96,910 and $150,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $96,910 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.

Is the talent for this role already in Boston?

This is a job zone 5 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 54.1% of Boston adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role.

Hiring an administrative law judge in Boston, MA

Employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area pay administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers a median of $113,750 a year, with the middle half of the market between $96,910 and $150,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 23-1021). Filling it through recruitlocalpros runs Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role rather than by salary or location, and our vetted recruiting partner handles sourcing, screening and placement end to end.

Do Boston residents in legal work earn more than employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area pay?

Boston residents working in legal occupations earn a median of $116,528 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $113,750 as the median of the 7 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 2%, with the residents figure the higher of the two.

Both sides of that figure describe the whole legal group, not this one role. In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area the group covers 7 occupations BLS publishes a wage for, from title examiners, abstractors, and searchers at $68,400 to judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates at $221,710 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers at $113,750 inside it.

That comparison is between two different measures, not a pay gap. The two weight the same occupation group differently: the Census figure is the midpoint across the people who actually hold those jobs, so a group carrying a few very well paid occupations is pulled toward them, while the BLS figure is the midpoint across the 7 published occupation wages, which counts each of those occupations once whatever its headcount. Census also counts where people live and BLS counts where the jobs are, and the two cover different populations, Census the civilian employed population 16 and over, BLS wage-and-salary jobs only. Read the number against other cities, where the same definitional difference applies on both sides, rather than as a shortfall.

The two sit within 10% of each other, so residents of Boston and employers across the metro are priced about the same in this field, and pay alone is unlikely to be what wins or loses this hire.

What does an administrative law judge earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid to administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers by employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area. BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 23-1021.
25th percentile	$96,910
Median	$113,750
75th percentile	$150,430

Half of administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers in this area earn between $96,910 and $150,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $96,910 competes for the bottom quarter of the market. Occupation detail for SOC 23-1021 at O*NET OnLine.

Place of residence

What Boston residents earn

$116,528

Median annual earnings of Boston residents working in legal occupations, 9,096 people (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011). An occupation group rather than this one role, and where people live rather than where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Determine existence and amount of liability according to current laws, administrative and judicial precedents, and available evidence.
Monitor and direct the activities of trials and hearings to ensure that they are conducted fairly and that courts administer justice while safeguarding the legal rights of all involved parties.
Prepare written opinions and decisions.
Authorize payment of valid claims and determine method of payment.
Conduct hearings to review and decide claims regarding issues, such as social program eligibility, environmental protection, or enforcement of health and safety regulations.

Task statements for SOC 23-1021, O*NET OnLine 29.1.

Tools and technologies in demand

Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word.

Flagged in demand or hot for SOC 23-1021 by O*NET OnLine 29.1. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Boston?

This is a job zone five: extensive preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree). O*NET OnLine, SOC 23-1021.

That matters here, because 54.1% of Boston adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501, residents of Boston aged 25 and over.

The average Boston commute runs 30.2 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 18.8% of Boston workers already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that. Census ACS 5-year 2023, place-level commuting characteristics for Boston.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Suffolk County, legal services employs 15,308 and turns over 5.8% a quarter, with 957 hires against 904 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $17,542 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5411.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a low-churn market, where people do not move often and passive candidates are the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's $113,750 median in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would bill roughly $22,750 to $34,125 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Questions employers ask about hiring an administrative law judge in Boston

What does it cost to hire an administrative law judge in Boston?: Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $113,750 median wage in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $22,750 to $34,125 on the first year salary alone.
What should an offer for an administrative law judge in Boston look like?: Employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area pay administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers a median of $113,750, with the middle half of the market between $96,910 and $150,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $96,910 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.
Do Boston residents in legal work earn more than employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area pay?: Boston residents working in legal occupations earn a median of $116,528 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $113,750 as the median of the 7 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 2%. Both figures cover the whole occupation group rather than this one role, and one counts where people live while the other counts where the jobs are, so the percentage is not a pay gap.
Is the talent for this role already in Boston?: This is a job zone 5 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 54.1% of Boston adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring an administrative law judge somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other legal roles in Boston

Boston is the largest of 2 Massachusetts cities in this dataset.