The national bar exam pass rate for first-time takers was 84.2% for the class of 2025 — 29,300 of 34,806 takers across 195 ABA-approved law schools, per the ABA's 2026 bar passage report.
The two-year ultimate rate for the class of 2023 was about 92.3%.
Below: what each figure measures, pass rates by state for the latest verified administrations, and why rates swing.
What is the national bar pass rate?
Bar exams are administered jurisdiction by jurisdiction, so pass rates get published one state — and one exam administration — at a time.
The closest thing to a single national figure is the American Bar Association's compilation of outcomes for graduates of its approved law schools.
In the ABA's 2026 bar passage report, graduates of 2025 who took a bar exam for the first time passed at an aggregate 84.2% — 29,300 of 34,806 first-time takers across 195 ABA schools.
The same report tracks a second measure: the two-year "ultimate" passage rate, which follows a graduating class for two years after graduation.
For the class of 2023, that rate was about 92.3% — 31,030 of 33,638 takers had passed within the two-year window.
Read the two figures as different measurements, not a before-and-after.
The 84.2% covers the class of 2025 on first attempts; the 92.3% covers the class of 2023 across two years.
Both also cover graduates of ABA-approved schools only — state bar exam rosters include graduates of non-ABA schools and foreign-educated candidates too.
For the exam formats behind these numbers — the components, passing scores and the switch to the NextGen UBE — start with the bar exam overview.
Bar exam pass rates by state
Each jurisdiction publishes its own results, one administration at a time.
The table lists the latest administration whose figures our compilation verified for each state — the overall rate counts every taker, the first-time rate counts first attempts only.
| State | Administration | Overall pass rate | First-time pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | July 2026 | 51.64% | 77.51% |
| California | February 2026 | 30.8% | 44.0% |
| Connecticut | February 2026 | 32% | 44% |
| Delaware | July 2026 | 65.67% | 71.42% |
| Idaho | February 2026 | 46% | 62% |
| Indiana | July 2026 | 65% | 77% |
| Louisiana | July 2026 | 70% | 78% |
| Michigan | February 2026 | 47% | 61% |
| Mississippi | February 2026 | 73% | 82% |
| New Jersey | February 2026 | 30% | 40% |
| New York | July 2025 | 70% | 78% (89% for first-time ABA JD graduates) |
| Oklahoma | July 2026 | 73% | 82% |
| Tennessee | February 2026 | 44% | 61% |
| Virginia | February 2026 | 62.64% | 77.44% |
| West Virginia | July 2025 | 77% | 82% |
Do not rank these rows against each other.
Each figure is one state's result for one administration — July 2025 in New York, February 2026 in Connecticut, July 2026 in Alabama — and the administrations differ in taker mix and, during the NextGen transition, in exam format.
A February figure and a July figure are not like-for-like, even within the same state.
Some jurisdictions had not posted July 2026 results when this page's sources were read on October 2, 2026, and for others our compilation did not capture one, which is why several rows show February 2026.
West Virginia's July 2026 figure was posted as unofficial, so its row shows the last official pair, from July 2025.
States missing from the table are absent because our compilation did not capture a verified latest figure for them — not because they publish nothing.
Every jurisdiction's results come from its own bar admission authority, and the bar admission requirements by state guide maps who runs each state's process.
Single-administration snapshots — confirm with the authority
First-time vs repeat takers
Start with the national first-time rate: 84.2% for the class of 2025.
The ABA's compilation adds the two-year ultimate rate, and the difference is where later attempts live: the ultimate figure follows graduates for two years, so it counts those who passed within the window whether on the first attempt or a later one.
For the class of 2023 it reached about 92.3%.
State figures make the repeat-taker split visible.
On California's July 2025 general bar exam, 69.7% of first-time takers passed but only 12.4% of repeaters did; in February 2026 the split was 44.0% for first-timers against 23.1% for repeaters.
The overall rate — 54.8% in July 2025 — lands between the two groups because the roster mixes them.
February's lower rate reflects a larger share of repeat takers sitting for it: in February 2026, 2,475 of 3,931 General Bar Exam takers were repeaters, against 1,456 first-time takers.
That mix is specific to California's exam cycle, but it shows how much the repeat-taker share alone can move an overall rate.
Pass rates by law school
The ABA reports bar passage school by school: its 2026 compilation aggregates the outcomes of graduates of 195 schools.
Those national figures are sums of school-level rows in the ABA's Standard 509 disclosures, which 196 schools filed for 2025 — so per-school first-time and two-year ultimate numbers are there to read.
The ABA approves about 196–197 law schools.
School type moves the rate.
On New York's July 2025 exam, 89% of first-time graduates of ABA-accredited JD programs passed, against 78% of all first-time takers.
On California's July 2025 exam, first-time graduates of California ABA-approved schools passed at 84.4%.
The non-ABA routes our compilation captured run visibly lower.
Alabama permits graduates of two in-state non-ABA schools — Birmingham School of Law and Miles Law School — to sit for its exam; on the July 2026 exam their first-time pass rate was 16% (4 of 25 takers), against 77.51% for first-time takers statewide.
The State Bar of California likewise notes that bar exam passage rates are generally lower for law office study (LOS) students than for students at traditional law schools.
Our research could not verify the ABA accreditation standard on bar passage.
Confirm any bar-passage requirement for approved schools with the ABA's Section of Legal Education.
Why do pass rates vary?
Which measure you are reading explains much of the variation: first-time, overall and two-year ultimate rates are three different numbers about the same exam, so check which one any figure you read refers to.
Who sits for a given administration matters as much.
New York's July 2025 exam shows the mix: 36% of examinees were foreign-educated, first-time ABA JD graduates passed at 89%, all first-time takers at 78%, and everyone at 70%.
On California's February 2026 exam, foreign attorneys passed at 22.2% and foreign-educated applicants (JD-equivalent plus one U.S. year) at 17.8%.
Cohort size and exam transitions round it out.
Idaho's February 2026 exam drew 48 examinees — at that scale, a handful of individual outcomes moves the percentage.
Connecticut's February 2026 exam was the state's last under the legacy UBE, so administrations from the transition period carry a format change on top of everything else; the NextGen transition timeline tracks which jurisdictions have switched.
Career information, not legal advice. Pass rates on this page are single-administration figures from each jurisdiction's published results and the ABA's compilation, as read on October 2, 2026 — confirm current rates with the bar admission authority in your state.