ABA releases 2025 law school enrollment and admissions data

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The American Bar Association has released extensive data on law schools for 2025.

The information about fall 2025 enrollment, scholarships and other matters reported by law schools approved by the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is now publicly available.

Several comprehensive spreadsheets, explanatory information and a multiyear archive of Standard 509 reports, as they are known, are available to the public here.

The information is required to be made public under Standard 509 of the Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

The 196 law schools approved by the Council to confer the juris doctor degree, including two provisionally accredited law schools, reported a total JD enrollment of 120,039 for the fall 2025 term, an increase of 4,629 students (4%) from 2024.

An additional 25,077 law students were enrolled in non-JD programs (master’s and certificate programs). This is a 6.3% increase over last year when law schools enrolled 23,583 non-JD degree students in the fall of 2024.

Together, total law school enrollment for fall 2025 increased by 6,123 students (4.4% percent) to 145,116.

Law schools reported that 42,817 students began JD studies in the fall of 2025 first-year entering class — an increase of 3,128 students (7.9%) from the 2024 reporting cycle.

First-year enrollees includes students who applied and enrolled in law school for the first time this year, deferred attendance after being admitted in a prior year, or enrolled in first-year studies with no prior credit after discontinuing a prior enrollment.

Law schools also provided information regarding which test they accepted for each student admitted. There were 41,847 students accepted with LSATs, 531 with GREs, 127 with the JD-Next prep course and entrance test and 312 without a standardized test.

A law school may admit up to 10% of an entering class without requiring a standardized test if the students meet certain criteria, or under other circumstances, if they have obtained permission to do so under a variance.

Women comprise 55.1% of the incoming first-year class, along with 42.5% men, 1% another gender identity, and 1.4% preferred not to respond.

The data also includes additional information regarding the demographics of this year’s FY enrollees.

“One of the Council’s core principles of accreditation is to ensure that applicants and the public receive comprehensive and accurate information about law schools,” said Managing Director Jennifer Rosato Perea.

“This vital work ensures transparency and consumer protection of prospective students, empowering them to make informed choices and assisting law schools and others in shaping the future of legal education,” she said.

The material covers admissions, tuition and living costs, financial aid, class and faculty demographics and other areas.

The Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) as the national accrediting agency for programs leading to the J.D.

As the national accreditor, the Council is separate and independent from the ABA and works on a non-profit basis for the betterment of legal education at a national level.

The Council’s work ensures a national standard of quality for legal education across every U.S. jurisdiction so that graduates’ law degrees are portable among states.

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