An administrative law judge (ALJ) holds an adjudication seat in government — the BLS counts ALJs in a single occupational category with adjudicators and hearing officers.
The requirements and selection steps for a given seat are whatever that opening's announcement states.
This guide covers what ALJs do, how federal and state tracks differ, what experience to build, how selection works, and what the job pays.
What does an administrative law judge do?
An administrative law judge sits on the deciding side of a case rather than arguing it — for an attorney, the seat is a move from advocacy to adjudication.
Our research did not document ALJ duties or dockets in detail, so the hiring agency's own announcement is the place to read what a given seat hears and how its hearings run.
One reading note applies to every statistic about this title: the Bureau of Labor Statistics groups administrative law judges together with adjudicators and hearing officers in a single occupational category, which held about 17,400 jobs in 2025.
Pay and outlook figures "for ALJs" cover that broader group, not ALJs alone.
The seat sits on the adjudication side of the government attorney career path — the same public-sector world as agency counsel and attorneys general offices, but deciding cases rather than advising the agency.
Federal and state ALJs: two different hiring tracks
There are two systems to understand, and they hire separately.
Federal ALJs serve federal agencies; state ALJs serve state agencies and hearing offices.
The requirements, application steps and selection criteria come from whichever system you apply to, so the first practical decision is the level of government you're targeting.
On the federal side, our research found one lead on how hiring changed: Executive Order 13843, from July 2018, which we could trace only to its Federal Register listing (more on what it may have changed, and what we could not confirm, in the selection section below).
State systems are their own worlds.
Our research did not verify state-by-state ALJ requirements, so treat each state as its own question to answer: the state agency running the hearings and the state's personnel system are the places to confirm what a given state asks.
One role is easy to confuse with this track: immigration judges.
They are federal adjudicators too — appointed by the U.S. Attorney General and hearing cases at roughly 70 locations, some in detention facilities or by video.
EOIR's published core requirements for immigration judges are an LL.B., J.D. or LL.M., active bar membership and seven years of post-bar legal experience.
Those requirements come from EOIR's immigration judge hiring page and belong to that role, so don't read them as the ALJ rule.
What experience do you need to become an ALJ?
For lawyers, the BLS describes the baseline as typically a law degree and a state license, which usually requires passing a bar examination.
Our research did not confirm that every ALJ seat requires a law license, nor a uniform, published experience requirement for administrative law judges — the requirements that govern a given opening are whatever that agency's announcement states, which makes the announcement the document to read.
The closest verified benchmark our research found comes from the neighboring role, not this one: EOIR asks immigration judges for seven years of post-bar legal experience on top of the degree and active bar membership.
That requirement belongs to immigration judges and should not be read as the ALJ rule — but it gives a sense of the practice history federal adjudication seats at this level ask about.
Practically, the way to calibrate is to read announcements from the agencies you'd want to hear cases at.
The experience they list — the years, the practice settings, the subject-matter background — is the requirement you'd actually have to meet, and reading several gives you a picture of what your target agencies look for.
Requirements come from each hiring agency
How does the selection process work?
The federal selection story has a dated chapter.
Our research surfaced a Federal Register listing for Executive Order 13843, issued in July 2018, titled "Excepting Administrative Law Judges from the Competitive Service".
We noted, but could not confirm, that the order moved federal administrative law judges out of the competitive service, so that agencies hire ALJs directly: we could not retrieve the order's full text during research, so treat that as background rather than a settled account, and confirm the current federal process with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the hiring agency.
What our research could not confirm is the step-by-step federal selection process as it operates today — how applications are taken in, what the evaluation involves and what the timeline looks like.
Those are exactly the details that change, so the hiring agency's announcement and OPM are the authoritative sources.
One verified example of the vetting, again from the neighboring role: EOIR says immigration judge finalists undergo a background check covering bar complaints, taxes, credit and criminal history, along with fingerprinting and a drug test.
That is the immigration judge process, not the ALJ process — but it illustrates the depth of vetting one federal adjudication role applies to finalists.
State selection runs through the state's own process.
Our research did not verify the selection steps state systems use, so the state's announcement and personnel system are again the places to confirm how a specific state evaluates ALJ candidates.
Administrative law judge pay
By the BLS's May 2025 figures, the median annual wage was $117,860 for administrative law judges, adjudicators and hearing officers — the combined category the agency publishes.
The adjacent category of judges, magistrate judges and magistrates shows a $153,990 median in the same release.
BLS projects employment of judges and hearing officers overall to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the average for all occupations.
The salary that matters for you is the one in a specific opening: pay is stated in each agency's announcement, and that is the figure to plan around.
Where to find government attorney jobs
Our research did not verify where ALJ openings are posted.
Start with the agencies whose hearings you'd want to sit on — plus the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for federal roles, or the state's personnel system for state seats.
On LawFirmHires you can browse government attorney jobs in one place, with openings as employers post them.
This page is career information, not legal advice. ALJ requirements and selection steps are set by each hiring authority and can change — confirm current details with the hiring agency, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for federal roles, or your state's personnel system, and pay figures with the BLS release named above.