General Counsel salary: $280K median
The median advertised General Counsel salary is $280K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $250K to $306K: counted from 61 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $135 an hour or $23,333 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $351K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll general counsel jobs
$280Kmedian advertised salary
$250K – $306Kmiddle half of roles
$282Kaverage advertised salary
61roles counted
General Counsel salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $300K | 22 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $298K | 16 |
| 🇺🇸California | $284K | 28 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $280K | 57 |
Skills that pay more for General Counsel roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bar admission | $304K | +$24K | 12 |
| Litigation | $289K | +$9K | 12 |
| Law degree | $289K | +$9K | 22 |
| Regulatory compliance | $286K | +$6K | 8 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation Global | $378K | 3 |
| Nscale | $275K | 4 |
| OKX | $250K | 3 |
Highest-paying open General Counsel roles
All general counsel jobs- Deputy General Counsel and Vice President, Intellectual PropertyAltos Labs · 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area, CA$486K - $571KLead and aboveAgileLaw degreeBar admission
- Senior Director, Legal - Global Privacy & Data CounselPlayStation Global · 🇺🇸United States, San Mateo, CA$302K - $454KLead and above
- Senior Director, Legal - Product CounselPlayStation Global · 🇺🇸United States, San Mateo, CA$302K - $454KLead and aboveLLM
- Deputy General Counsel, HealthcareRed Cell Partners · 🇺🇸Remote; Washington, D.C. or Boston, MA preferred$360K - $440KRemote
- Deputy General Counsel, National SecurityRed Cell Partners · 🇺🇸Washington, D.C.$360K - $440K
- Senior Director, Legal - Policy and Regulatory CounselNscale · 🇺🇸San Francisco; US$240K - $420KLead and above
- Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Product, Regulatory & LitigationAffirm · 🇺🇸Remote US$370K - $415KRemoteLead and aboveRegulatory complianceLaw degreeLitigation
- Head of Legal / Deputy General CounselOpenclaw Foundation Inc · 🇺🇸Remote (US)$300K - $400KRemoteLead and aboveLinux
- General CounselFirecrawl · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$310K - $392KHybridGoLLMSOC 2
- Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Global Commercial and PrivacyHackerOne · 🇺🇸Washington DC$300K - $385KRemoteLead and abovePenetration testingDeelLaw degree
- Head of LegalInterface Ai · 🇺🇸San Francisco$307K - $383KLead and abovePrompt engineeringLaw degreeGDPR
- Head of LegalTaktile · 🇺🇸New York Office$275K - $375KHybridLead and above
- Deputy General CounselBracebridge Capital · 🇺🇸Boston, MA$325K - $375K
- Deputy General Counsel, Head of Americas LegalOKX · 🇺🇸New York, United States; San Jose, California, United Sta…$250K - $361KLead and aboveBar admissionLicensing
- Legal Director, PrivacyPeloton · 🇺🇸New York, New York$277K - $353KLead and aboveCIPPData governanceLaw degree
- General CounselAtomcomputing · 🇺🇸Boulder, CO$250K - $350K
- Head of LegalTypesafe Ai · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office$250K - $350KLead and aboveLLM
- General CounselHubble Network · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California, United States$250K - $350K
- Head of Legal - USAugustus · 🇺🇸New York City$250K - $350KLead and above
- Deputy General CounselNeros Technologies · 🇺🇸Torrance, California, United States$249K - $349K
Questions about General Counsel pay
- What is the average General Counsel salary?
- $282K a year on average and $280K at the median, across 61 open General Counsel postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $250K to $306K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest General Counsel pay?
- PlayStation Global ($378K), Nscale ($275K), OKX ($250K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a general counsel a high-paying job?
- The median General Counsel posting advertises $280K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 61% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a general counsel?
- A tenth of the postings offer $351K a year or more; the highest open General Counsel role advertises up to $571K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the General Counsel salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $280K a year is about $135 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $23,333 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $120 to $147 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for General Counsel roles?
- Postings that ask for Bar admission (+$24K, 12 postings), Litigation (+$9K, 12 postings), Law degree (+$9K, 22 postings) advertise more than the $280K median of all General Counsel postings with pay.
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for General Counsel roles at companies is $280K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $250K to $306K. Counted from 61 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/general-counsel/
Free to use with the link.