HARLINGEN — One of the indictments of the legal profession lately is few young people are applying to law school.
The number of would-be lawyers putting in applications to attend law school is about half what it was a decade ago.
Still, for those who graduate, there’s no better place to set up shop as a beginning attorney in Texas than the Brownsville-Harlingen area.
A survey released this week by the consumer website GoodCall plowed through a number of factors to rate 100 metropolitan areas for their attractiveness to recent law school graduates.
The study compared average salary for new lawyers compared to the average salary in each area, (40 percent of the score), average of job competition and job availability (35 percent), housing affordability (15 percent) and number of arts, entertainment and restaurant venues in the area (10 percent).
When they crunched the numbers, Brownsville-Harlingen was the best area in Texas for new lawyers and No. 6 nationally.
“The Cameron County Bar Association is proud that the Brownsville-Harlingen area is ranked as the top market for law school graduates in Texas, and sixth nationally, by GoodCall,” attorney Robert L. Guerra Jr. said yesterday via email.
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1. Hot Springs, AR 67.33
2. Orlando, FL 72.38
3. Myrtle Beach, FL 78.20
4. Great Falls, MT 80.05
5. Fort Collins, CO 86.08
6. Brownsville-Harlingen, TX 88.63
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 96.13
8. Nashville, TN 96.70
9. Pittsburgh, PA 97.23
10. South Bend, IN 103.15
11. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX 106.50
13. College Station, TX 112.73
18. Houston, TX 117.08
20. Stephenville, TX 124.80
33. Lubbock, TX 138.50
41. Dallas-Fort, Worth 145.38
57. Raymondville, TX 159.35
71. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 170.63
76. Austin-Round Rock, TX 175.08
81. Laredo, TX 177.95
87. Longview, TX 180.85
Based on: Average salary for lawyers compared to the average salary in each area (40 percent of the score); average of job competition and job availability (35 percent); housing affordability (15 percent); and number of arts, entertainment and restaurants in area (10 percent).
