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 dui / dwi in Arizona, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Arizona costs on average $8,250, typically $5,500-$11,000 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $205 to $385 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and dmv hearing fee ($100-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,900 | $3,300 | $4,700 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,500 | $8,250 | $11,000 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $11,000 | $18,700 | $27,500 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$205 – $385/ hour
Median: $280/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>DUI/DWI legal cost has two layers that are easy to underestimate: the attorney fee itself, and the non-attorney costs that follow a conviction or plea. The attorney fee is driven mainly by whether the case goes to trial (far more hours billed) or resolves through a plea agreement, plus complicating factors like BAC level, prior offenses, or an accident with injuries. Many DUI attorneys charge a flat fee for a straightforward first offense and switch to hourly billing once the case becomes contested.
Beyond the attorney, a DUI case typically layers on court fines, a state-mandated alcohol education or treatment program, license reinstatement fees, and — for many drivers — an ignition interlock device with ongoing monthly costs. Insurance premium increases are not a one-time legal cost but often the largest total expense over a 3-5 year period following conviction, which is why the figures on this page reflect legal defense costs specifically, not the lifetime cost of a conviction.
Take a moderate-complexity dui / dwi matter in Arizona. The recorded median total is $8,250, with reported quotes clustering between $5,500 and $11,000. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $4,750–$7,050 of the Arizona median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $8,250, the median dui / dwi cost in Arizona runs 11% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Arizona carries 3 rows — simple, $1,900–$4,700 at $155–$305/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,500–$11,000 at $205–$385/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $11,000–$27,500 at $255–$460/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$8,250 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,750 above the $5,500 floor, $2,750 under the $11,000 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 14th of 51, Arizona sits above the midpoint of the dui / dwi table: $800 more than the $7,450 median state, or 11%, with 13 states recording a higher median.
Minnesota ($8,300) and Maryland ($8,250) bracket Arizona inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 14th is close to arbitrary.
4 tracked states — Minnesota, Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts among them — record a median within three percent of Arizona's $8,250. The figure sits in the densest part of the dui / dwi distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Hourly rate does not explain this state's position. At $280 an hour Arizona is only 23rd of 51 on rate, yet 14th on total dui / dwi cost — the totals reflect billed hours accumulating, not an unusually high rate.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Arizona |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Alaska | $8,800 | +$550 |
| 9 | New York | $8,800 | +$550 |
| 10 | District of Columbia | $8,650 | +$400 |
| 11 | New Hampshire | $8,600 | +$350 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $8,500 | +$250 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $8,300 | +$50 |
| 14 | Arizona | $8,250 | — |
| 15 | Maryland | $8,250 | −$0 |
| 16 | Vermont | $8,150 | −$100 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | $8,050 | −$200 |
| 18 | California | $8,000 | −$250 |
| 19 | Michigan | $7,950 | −$300 |
| 20 | Oregon | $7,950 | −$300 |
The 14th position is not a stable fact about Arizona: $50 up or $0 down moves Arizona a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 21 rows, 9 above and 12 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing New York, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Minnesota and adding $550 to the $8,250 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts, California, Michigan: $300.
$1,550 short of Washington ($9,800), $2,700 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $8,250 median divided by the $280 median rate implies roughly 29 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours, so 2 more hours of work sit behind the Arizona figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 5.7x a simple one in Arizona, but the implied workload only rises 3.8x — 14 hours at $230 becomes 53 hours at $355 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.54x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $5,500 to $11,000 the moderate band is $5,500 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 20 hours at $280.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $8,250 median works out to roughly $1,833 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $2,078 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
A third ordering: by implied hours Arizona is 5th of 51 at 29 hours, 9 places above its cost rank of 14th on cost — more work behind the same dui / dwi money.
35% up the $5,500–$11,000 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 27 hours at $280 against the 29 the local dui / dwi median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Arizona | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $8,250 | 14th |
| Hourly median | $280 | 23rd |
| Implied hours | 29 | 5th |
| Simple median | $3,300 | 27th |
| Complex median | $18,700 | 14th |
$280 an hour puts Arizona between Utah ($285) and Wisconsin ($280) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
Wisconsin records the same $280: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$8,250 buys 36 hours at $230, 29 at $280, 23 at $355.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Pennsylvania | $285 |
| 22 | Utah | $285 |
| 23 | Arizona | $280 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $280 |
| 25 | Nevada | $275 |
Rank is not stable across the tiers, and the direction matters. Arizona runs 27th at the simple tier, 14th at moderate, 14th at complex of 51 — it climbs 13 places as the matter gets harder. Straightforward dui / dwi work is recorded at ordinary prices here; contested work is not.
$3,300 is 27th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Texas ($3,400) and over Ohio ($3,300), $100 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$18,700 is 14th of 51 once contested, between Vermont ($18,850) and Utah ($18,600), $2,350 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
$800 separates the simple ceiling of $4,700 from the moderate floor of $5,500, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $11,000 upward. The expensive end of a routine dui / dwi and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Arizona.
| Tier | Arizona | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,300 | 27th | $3,400 | 14 |
| moderate | $8,250 | 14th | $7,450 | 29 |
| complex | $18,700 | 14th | $16,350 | 53 |
$3,300 drops Arizona to 27th of 51 on straightforward matters, 13 below its moderate position and $100 (3%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $230: 48% of the moderate tier's 29, over 1-3 months.
Texas ($3,400) and Ohio ($3,300) bracket it — a $100 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $3,300 here, against 4 at the moderate row.
$18,700 keeps Arizona at 14th on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $2,350 (14%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
53 implied hours at $355: 183% of the moderate tier's 29, over 6-12 months.
Vermont ($18,850) and Utah ($18,600) bracket it — a $250 window.
6 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $18,700, denser than the 4 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Wisconsin | $3,450 |
| 26 | Texas | $3,400 |
| 27 | Arizona | $3,300 |
| 28 | Ohio | $3,300 |
| 29 | Utah | $3,300 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Washington | $19,100 |
| 13 | Vermont | $18,850 |
| 14 | Arizona | $18,700 |
| 15 | Utah | $18,600 |
| 16 | Maryland | $18,500 |
$8,250 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Arizona, under Divorce, over Personal Injury. At 75% of Criminal Defense ($11,050).
Across practice areas Arizona ranges from 14th of 51 for DUI / DWI to 28th for Real Estate Closing — a 14-place spread, with its 14th on dui / dwi inside it.
Arizona is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, DUI / DWI runs 11% above its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 8% below its own midpoint — a 19-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Arizona is 5.4x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
3 of 7 matter types rank Arizona in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 4 between; dui / dwi is 14th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 74th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,400 | $11,050 | $33,100 | 36 | 15th | +8% | Delaware |
| Divorce | $3,100 | $8,550 | $21,800 | 28 | 26th | level | Oregon |
| DUI / DWI | $3,300 | $8,250 | $18,700 | 29 | 14th | +11% | Minnesota |
| Personal Injury | $1,650 | $5,350 | $15,400 | — | — | +3% | — |
| Immigration | $2,050 | $4,750 | $11,350 | 17 | 24th | level | Wisconsin |
| Bankruptcy | $1,650 | $3,600 | $5,200 | 14 | 23rd | level | Delaware |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,150 | $6,600 | 8 | 14th | +4% | Washington |
| Real Estate Closing | $950 | $2,050 | $4,900 | 8 | 28th | −8% | Tennessee |
Simple tier. $3,300 ÷ $230 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,650 a month. The $4,950 step to the moderate tier is 15 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $8,250 to $18,700 is a $10,450 step, mostly work: 24 more hours at $280 is $6,720, while moving to $355 across 53 hours adds $3,975. Work carries 63%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Maryland ($8,250) is $0 light, Minnesota ($8,300) is $50 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $800, 16x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,500 is 20 hours at $280; $11,000 is 39. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 9 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Arizona's own recorded figures, $18,700 buys 5.7 matters at the $3,300 simple median — or, counted in time, 53 implied hours against 14, a factor of 3.8 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Arizonacourt'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.