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 Florida, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Florida costs on average $9,200, typically $4,600-$13,800 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $190 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 bail bond fee (10% of bail).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,900 | $3,350 | $4,800 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,600 | $9,200 | $13,800 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $14,650 | $29,300 | $48,800 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$190 – $385/ hour
Median: $290/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</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 Florida. The recorded median total is $9,200, with reported quotes clustering between $4,600 and $13,800. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $1,900–$7,600 of the Florida 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 $9,200, the median criminal defense cost in Florida runs 7% below the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Florida carries 3 rows — simple, $1,900–$4,800 at $145–$290/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,600–$13,800 at $190–$385/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $14,650–$48,800 at $290–$480/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$9,200 is a median, not the middle of the band — $4,600 above the $4,600 floor, $4,600 under the $13,800 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Florida occupies the 31st row of 51 for a criminal defense. Its $9,200 median trails the $10,200 table midpoint by $1,000, which is 10% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Indiana ($9,250) and Ohio ($9,050) bracket Florida inside a $200 window — narrow enough that 31st is close to arbitrary.
5 tracked states — Wyoming, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia among them — record a median within three percent of Florida's $9,200. 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.
Florida ranks 28th of 51 on hourly rate at $290 an hour and 31st on total cost — 3 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Florida |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Wisconsin | $10,400 | +$1,200 |
| 26 | Alaska | $10,200 | +$1,000 |
| 27 | Georgia | $10,150 | +$950 |
| 28 | Nevada | $10,000 | +$800 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $9,450 | +$250 |
| 30 | Indiana | $9,250 | +$50 |
| 31 | Florida | $9,200 | — |
| 32 | Ohio | $9,050 | −$150 |
| 33 | West Virginia | $9,000 | −$200 |
| 34 | Missouri | $8,950 | −$250 |
| 35 | South Carolina | $8,700 | −$500 |
| 36 | Iowa | $8,650 | −$550 |
| 37 | North Carolina | $8,600 | −$600 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 9 below Florida against 3 above. $50 up or $150 down moves Florida a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 31st position is propped up by a thin criminal defense field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, Wyoming, Indiana and adding $1,000 to the $9,200 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Ohio, West Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, Iowa: $550.
$4,150 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $2,600 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $9,200 median divided by the $290 median rate implies roughly 32 billable hours. The peer median is 34 hours: Florida reaches its total in 2 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The 8.7x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.8x the hours against 1.79x the rate — 16 hours at $215 becomes 76 hours at $385. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
From $4,600 to $13,800 the moderate band is $9,200 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 32 hours at $290.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $9,200 median is roughly $2,044 a month of elapsed time.
By implied hours Florida falls to 43rd of 51 at 32 hours, 12 places below its 31st on cost — the criminal defense total arriving on less recorded work.
61% up the $4,600–$13,800 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 35 hours at $290 against the 32 the local criminal defense median implies — 3 hours apart.
| Measure | Florida | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $9,200 | 31st |
| Hourly median | $290 | 28th |
| Implied hours | 32 | 43rd |
| Simple median | $3,350 | 27th |
| Complex median | $29,300 | 28th |
$290 an hour puts Florida between Michigan ($295) and Georgia ($285) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $290 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Florida on its own within this dataset.
$9,200 buys 43 hours at $215, 32 at $290, 24 at $385.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Maine | $295 |
| 27 | Michigan | $295 |
| 28 | Florida | $290 |
| 29 | Georgia | $285 |
| 30 | Ohio | $280 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 27th at the simple tier, 31st at moderate, 28th at complex of 51 — so Florida keeps roughly the same relative position whether the criminal defense is straightforward or contested.
$3,350 is 27th of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Arizona ($3,400) and over Maine ($3,350), $50 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$29,300 is 28th of 51 once contested, between Pennsylvania ($29,650) and Wyoming ($29,100), $600 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $4,800 against a moderate floor of $4,600 — but there is a clear gap of $850 between the moderate ceiling of $13,800 and the complex floor of $14,650. In Florida the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Florida | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,350 | 27th | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $9,200 | 31st | $10,200 | 32 |
| complex | $29,300 | 28th | $29,900 | 76 |
$3,350 puts Florida 27th of 51 on straightforward matters, 4 up on its moderate position, and $50 (1%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $215: 50% of the moderate tier's 32, over 1-3 months.
Arizona ($3,400) and Maine ($3,350) bracket it — a $50 window.
9 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,350, denser than the 5 around the moderate row.
$29,300 puts Florida 28th of 51 on contested matters, 3 up on its moderate position, and $600 (2%) under the $29,900 tier midpoint.
76 implied hours at $385: 238% of the moderate tier's 32, over 6-12+ months.
Pennsylvania ($29,650) and Wyoming ($29,100) bracket it — a $550 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $29,300 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Wyoming | $3,450 |
| 26 | Arizona | $3,400 |
| 27 | Florida | $3,350 |
| 28 | Maine | $3,350 |
| 29 | Idaho | $3,300 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Maine | $29,900 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $29,650 |
| 28 | Florida | $29,300 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $29,100 |
| 30 | Michigan | $28,550 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Florida, a criminal defense carries the largest median of the 8 at $9,200 — ahead of Divorce, the next line down.
Florida is consistent across practice areas: over the matter types tracked here its rank only moves between 29th (DUI / DWI) and 33rd (Immigration), so its 31st on criminal defense reflects a general price level rather than something specific to this matter.
The premium Florida carries is close to uniform across practice areas: DUI / DWI runs 4% below its own midpoint and Real Estate Closing runs 12% below its own midpoint, only 8 percentage points apart. Whatever drives the state's price level applies to every matter type here at roughly the same strength.
The largest tracked median in Florida is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 7 matter types rank Florida in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 7 between; criminal defense is 31st.
In percentile terms it sits at the 40th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,350 | $9,200 | $29,300 | 32 | 31st | −10% | Indiana |
| Divorce | $2,900 | $8,000 | $22,800 | 28 | 31st | −6% | Missouri |
| DUI / DWI | $3,650 | $7,150 | $14,950 | 27 | 29th | −4% | Maine |
| Personal Injury | $1,500 | $4,550 | $13,800 | — | — | −12% | — |
| Immigration | $1,850 | $4,350 | $11,350 | 16 | 33rd | −8% | Wyoming |
| Bankruptcy | $1,400 | $3,150 | $5,100 | 13 | 31st | −12% | Idaho |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,000 | $1,950 | $4,050 | 8 | 29th | −12% | Arizona |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $1,850 | $5,950 | 7 | 31st | −11% | Wyoming |
Simple tier. $3,350 ÷ $215 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,675 a month. The $5,850 step to the moderate tier is 16 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $9,200 to $29,300 is a $20,100 step, mostly work: 44 more hours at $290 is $12,760, while moving to $385 across 76 hours adds $7,220. Work carries 64%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Ohio ($9,050) is $150 light, Indiana ($9,250) is $50 heavy — but the $10,200 table midpoint is out by $1,000, 7x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,600 is 16 hours at $290; $13,800 is 48. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate criminal defense, that is 4 to 11 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Florida's own recorded figures, $29,300 buys 8.7 matters at the $3,350 simple median — or, counted in time, 76 implied hours against 16, a factor of 4.8 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Floridacourt'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.