This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for criminal defense in Alaska, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Alaska costs on average $10,200, typically $5,100-$15,300 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $225 to $450 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and bail bond fee (10% of bail).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $2,400 | $4,250 | $6,000 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,100 | $10,200 | $15,300 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $15,300 | $30,550 | $50,900 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$225 – $450/ hour
Median: $340/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
New to how attorney fees work? Read the legal fees guide — hourly, flat, and contingency billing explained.
Researching costs in another area? These free tools from our network may help.
Add this calculator to your own site with a copy-paste snippet — includes an attribution link back to this page.
<iframe
id="legalcostcalc-embed"
src="https://legalcostcalc.co/embed/alaska/criminal-defense-cost"
title="Alaska Criminal Defense Cost Calculator"
width="100%"
height="720"
style="border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;max-width:768px;"
loading="lazy"
></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;text-align:center;">
<a href="https://legalcostcalc.co/alaska/criminal-defense-cost?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=embed_snippet" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">
Powered by LegalCostCalc
</a>
</p>
<script>
window.addEventListener("message", function (event) {
if (!event.data || event.data.type !== "legalcostcalc:embed-resize") return;
var frame = document.getElementById("legalcostcalc-embed");
if (frame && typeof event.data.height === "number") {
frame.style.height = event.data.height + "px";
}
});
</script>Criminal defense costs form primarily around charge severity and how the case resolves. A misdemeanor that ends in a straightforward plea negotiation is the least expensive scenario and is often billed as a flat fee, since the attorney can reasonably predict the hours involved. A felony charge, multiple counts, or a case that proceeds to trial multiplies the work substantially — pretrial motions, evidence review, witness preparation, and the trial itself — which is why most complex criminal defense engagements move to hourly billing or a large retainer with hourly drawdown.
Court-appointed public defenders are available at no direct cost to defendants who qualify financially, which is why the figures on this page reflect private attorney costs specifically. Private representation typically offers more attorney time per case and can be worth it for serious charges, but the actual price a defendant pays scales directly with case complexity and whether the matter is resolved pretrial or goes to trial.
Take a moderate-complexity criminal defense matter in Alaska. The recorded median total is $10,200, with reported quotes clustering between $5,100 and $15,300. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $2,900–$8,600 of the Alaska median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. One further recorded fee is not itemised above and is not in that total.
At $10,200, the median criminal defense cost in Alaska runs 3% above the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Alaska carries 3 rows — simple, $2,400–$6,000 at $170–$340/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,100–$15,300 at $225–$450/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $15,300–$50,900 at $340–$565/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$10,200 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,100 above the $5,100 floor, $5,100 under the $15,300 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Alaska is the 26th of 51 tracked states by median criminal defense cost, and its $10,200 figure lands within a percent of the $10,200 midpoint of that table — the rank is meaningful, the distance is not.
Wisconsin ($10,400) and Georgia ($10,150) bracket Alaska inside a $250 window — narrow enough that 26th is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan among them — record a median within three percent of Alaska's $10,200. The figure sits in the densest part of the criminal defense distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Rate and total point in different directions. Alaska attorneys rank 12th of 51 at $340 an hour, 14 places above where the state lands on total criminal defense cost (26th) — on these rows, high rates are not accompanied by high totals.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Alaska |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Minnesota | $10,750 | +$550 |
| 21 | Maryland | $10,500 | +$300 |
| 22 | Illinois | $10,450 | +$250 |
| 23 | Pennsylvania | $10,450 | +$250 |
| 24 | Michigan | $10,400 | +$200 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | $10,400 | +$200 |
| 26 | Alaska | $10,200 | — |
| 27 | Georgia | $10,150 | −$50 |
| 28 | Nevada | $10,000 | −$200 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $9,450 | −$750 |
| 30 | Indiana | $9,250 | −$950 |
| 31 | Florida | $9,200 | −$1,000 |
| 32 | Ohio | $9,050 | −$1,150 |
Within ten percent of the Alaska figure there are 13 states above and only 5 below. $200 up or $50 down moves Alaska a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the criminal defense field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and adding $300 to the $10,200 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Georgia, Nevada, Wyoming, Indiana, Florida: $1,000.
$3,150 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $3,600 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $10,200 median divided by the $340 median rate implies roughly 30 billable hours. The peer median is 34 hours: Alaska reaches its total in 4 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
Alaska records a 7.2x gap between its simple and complex criminal defense medians. Decomposed, that is 4x more billed time and 1.76x a higher rate: 17 hours at $255 becomes 68 hours at $450.
From $5,100 to $15,300 the moderate band is $10,200 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 30 hours at $340.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $10,200 median is roughly $2,267 a month of elapsed time.
By implied hours Alaska falls to 51st of 51 at 30 hours, 25 places below its 26th on cost — the criminal defense total arriving on less recorded work.
50% up the $5,100–$15,300 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 30 hours at $340 against the 30 the local criminal defense median implies — 0 hours apart.
| Measure | Alaska | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $10,200 | 26th |
| Hourly median | $340 | 12th |
| Implied hours | 30 | 51st |
| Simple median | $4,250 | 3rd |
| Complex median | $30,550 | 24th |
$340 an hour puts Alaska between Massachusetts ($345) and Delaware ($340) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
Delaware, Vermont, Virginia record the same $340: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$10,200 buys 40 hours at $255, 30 at $340, 23 at $450.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Maryland | $345 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | $345 |
| 12 | Alaska | $340 |
| 13 | Delaware | $340 |
| 14 | Vermont | $340 |
The tiers rank Alaska very differently. It is 3rd at the simple tier, 26th at moderate, 24th at complex of 51 — a fall of 21 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a criminal defense in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.
$4,250 is 3rd of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Rhode Island ($4,450) and over New Jersey ($4,250), $850 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$30,550 is 24th of 51 once contested, between Minnesota ($30,600) and Georgia ($29,900), $650 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Alaska: the simple tier reaches $6,000 where the moderate tier starts at $5,100, and the moderate tier reaches $15,300 where the complex tier starts at $15,300. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Alaska | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $4,250 | 3rd | $3,400 | 17 |
| moderate | $10,200 | 26th | $10,200 | 30 |
| complex | $30,550 | 24th | $29,900 | 68 |
$4,250 puts Alaska 3rd of 51 on straightforward matters, 23 up on its moderate position, and $850 (25%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $255: 57% of the moderate tier's 30, over 1-3 months.
Rhode Island ($4,450) and New Jersey ($4,250) bracket it — a $200 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $4,250 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
$30,550 puts Alaska 24th of 51 on contested matters, 2 up on its moderate position, and $650 (2%) over the $29,900 tier midpoint.
68 implied hours at $450: 227% of the moderate tier's 30, over 6-12+ months.
Minnesota ($30,600) and Georgia ($29,900) bracket it — a $700 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $30,550 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $5,050 |
| 2 | Rhode Island | $4,450 |
| 3 | Alaska | $4,250 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $4,250 |
| 5 | New York | $4,250 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Utah | $30,800 |
| 23 | Minnesota | $30,600 |
| 24 | Alaska | $30,550 |
| 25 | Georgia | $29,900 |
| 26 | Maine | $29,900 |
$10,200 ranks a criminal defense 2nd of 8 in Alaska, under Divorce, over DUI / DWI. At 96% of Divorce ($10,650).
The state does not rank uniformly. Alaska is 3rd of 51 for Estate Planning / Probate but 26th for Criminal Defense, a 23-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 26th on criminal defense says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 27% above its own midpoint, while Criminal Defense sits on its own midpoint — 27 percentage points apart. A single "Alaska is expensive" or "Alaska is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The practice areas sit unusually close together in Alaska — the largest tracked median is 4.3x the smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state — so one figure travels further across matter types here than it would elsewhere.
5 of 7 matter types rank Alaska in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 2 between; criminal defense is 26th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 50th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divorce | $3,400 | $10,650 | $24,000 | 31 | 6th | +25% | Massachusetts |
| Criminal Defense | $4,250 | $10,200 | $30,550 | 30 | 26th | level | Wisconsin |
| DUI / DWI | $4,100 | $8,800 | $17,600 | 28 | 8th | +18% | Delaware |
| Immigration | $2,350 | $6,050 | $11,300 | 20 | — | +27% | — |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $5,800 | $17,600 | — | 5th | +12% | New Hampshire |
| Bankruptcy | $1,550 | $3,700 | $5,650 | 13 | 20th | +3% | Pennsylvania |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,050 | $2,750 | $5,350 | 10 | 4th | +24% | Washington |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $600 | $2,450 | $6,550 | 8 | 3rd | +18% | New Hampshire |
Simple tier. $4,250 ÷ $255 = about 17 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $2,125 a month. The $5,950 step to the moderate tier is 13 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $10,200 to $30,550 is a $20,350 step, mostly work: 38 more hours at $340 is $12,920, while moving to $450 across 68 hours adds $7,480. Work carries 63%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Georgia ($10,150) lands $50 under Alaska; from Wisconsin ($10,400), $200 over; from the $10,200 table midpoint, $0 out.
Both ends, in time. $5,100 is 15 hours at $340; $15,300 is 45. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate criminal defense, that is 3 to 10 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Alaska's own recorded figures, $30,550 buys 7.2 matters at the $4,250 simple median — or, counted in time, 68 implied hours against 17, a factor of 4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Alaskacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.