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 Georgia, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Georgia costs on average $10,150, typically $5,100-$15,200 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $190 to $380 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 | $1,850 | $3,250 | $4,600 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,100 | $10,150 | $15,200 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $14,950 | $29,900 | $49,800 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$190 – $380/ hour
Median: $285/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 Georgia. The recorded median total is $10,150, with reported quotes clustering between $5,100 and $15,200. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $2,850–$8,550 of the Georgia 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 $10,150, the median criminal defense cost in Georgia is in line with the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Georgia carries 3 rows — simple, $1,850–$4,600 at $145–$285/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,100–$15,200 at $190–$380/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $14,950–$49,800 at $285–$475/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$10,150 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,050 above the $5,100 floor, $5,050 under the $15,200 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Georgia is the 27th of 51 tracked states by median criminal defense cost, and its $10,150 figure lands within a percent of the $10,200 midpoint of that table — the rank is meaningful, the distance is not.
Alaska ($10,200) and Nevada ($10,000) bracket Georgia inside a $200 window — narrow enough that 27th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin among them — record a median within three percent of Georgia's $10,150. 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 sit 2 places apart — 29th of 51 at $285 an hour against 27th on the criminal defense total — which is close enough to read as the same signal.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Maryland | $10,500 | +$350 |
| 22 | Illinois | $10,450 | +$300 |
| 23 | Pennsylvania | $10,450 | +$300 |
| 24 | Michigan | $10,400 | +$250 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | $10,400 | +$250 |
| 26 | Alaska | $10,200 | +$50 |
| 27 | Georgia | $10,150 | — |
| 28 | Nevada | $10,000 | −$150 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $9,450 | −$700 |
| 30 | Indiana | $9,250 | −$900 |
| 31 | Florida | $9,200 | −$950 |
| 32 | Ohio | $9,050 | −$1,100 |
| 33 | West Virginia | $9,000 | −$1,150 |
Within ten percent of the Georgia figure there are 13 states above and only 4 below. $50 up or $150 down moves Georgia 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 Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Alaska and adding $300 to the $10,150 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Nevada, Wyoming, Indiana, Florida, Ohio: $1,100.
$3,200 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $3,550 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $10,150 median divided by the $285 median rate implies roughly 36 billable hours. The peer median is 34 hours, so 2 more hours of work sit behind the Georgia figure than behind the typical state's.
Moving from a simple to a complex criminal defense multiplies the Georgia total by 9.2, and almost all of that is hours rather than price: 15 hours at $215 becomes 79 hours at $380, so the workload grows 5.3x while the rate grows only 1.77x. Complexity here buys attorney time, not a premium hourly rate.
From $5,100 to $15,200 the moderate band is $10,100 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 35 hours at $285.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $10,150 median is roughly $2,256 a month of elapsed time.
A third ordering: by implied hours Georgia is 7th of 51 at 36 hours, 20 places above its cost rank of 27th on cost — more work behind the same criminal defense money.
50% up the $5,100–$15,200 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 36 hours at $285 against the 36 the local criminal defense median implies — 0 hours apart.
| Measure | Georgia | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $10,150 | 27th |
| Hourly median | $285 | 29th |
| Implied hours | 36 | 7th |
| Simple median | $3,250 | 31st |
| Complex median | $29,900 | 25th |
$285 an hour puts Georgia between Florida ($290) and Ohio ($280) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $285 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Georgia on its own within this dataset.
$10,150 buys 47 hours at $215, 36 at $285, 27 at $380.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Michigan | $295 |
| 28 | Florida | $290 |
| 29 | Georgia | $285 |
| 30 | Ohio | $280 |
| 31 | Wyoming | $275 |
Georgia moves up the table as complexity rises: 31st at the simple tier, 27th at moderate, 25th at complex, a 6-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$3,250 is 31st of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Pennsylvania ($3,300) and over Iowa ($3,250), $150 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$29,900 is 25th of 51 once contested, between Alaska ($30,550) and Maine ($29,900), $0 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
$500 separates the simple ceiling of $4,600 from the moderate floor of $5,100, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $14,950 upward. The expensive end of a routine criminal defense and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Georgia.
| Tier | Georgia | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,250 | 31st | $3,400 | 15 |
| moderate | $10,150 | 27th | $10,200 | 36 |
| complex | $29,900 | 25th | $29,900 | 79 |
$3,250 drops Georgia to 31st of 51 on straightforward matters, 4 below its moderate position and $150 (4%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $215: 42% of the moderate tier's 36, over 1-3 months.
Pennsylvania ($3,300) and Iowa ($3,250) bracket it — a $50 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $3,250 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
$29,900 puts Georgia 25th of 51 on contested matters, 2 up on its moderate position, and $0 (0%) over the $29,900 tier midpoint.
79 implied hours at $380: 219% of the moderate tier's 36, over 6-12+ months.
Alaska ($30,550) and Maine ($29,900) bracket it — a $650 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $29,900 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Idaho | $3,300 |
| 30 | Pennsylvania | $3,300 |
| 31 | Georgia | $3,250 |
| 32 | Iowa | $3,250 |
| 33 | Missouri | $3,250 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Minnesota | $30,600 |
| 24 | Alaska | $30,550 |
| 25 | Georgia | $29,900 |
| 26 | Maine | $29,900 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $29,650 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Georgia, a criminal defense carries the largest median of the 8 at $10,150 — ahead of Divorce, the next line down.
The state does not rank uniformly. Georgia is 15th of 51 for Personal Injury but 33rd for Real Estate Closing, a 18-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 27th on criminal defense says little about what the other lines cost.
Georgia is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Divorce runs 5% above its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 15% below its own midpoint — a 20-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Georgia is 5.3x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
1 of 8 matter types rank Georgia in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 7 between; criminal defense is 27th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 48th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,250 | $10,150 | $29,900 | 36 | 27th | level | Alaska |
| Divorce | $2,800 | $8,950 | $19,150 | 31 | 22nd | +5% | Minnesota |
| DUI / DWI | $3,250 | $7,700 | $17,000 | 30 | 24th | +3% | Utah |
| Personal Injury | $1,500 | $5,150 | $14,000 | — | 15th | −1% | District of Columbia |
| Immigration | $2,000 | $4,400 | $11,350 | 17 | 29th | −7% | Idaho |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $3,100 | $5,200 | 13 | 33rd | −14% | North Carolina |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $600 | $2,050 | $5,750 | 8 | 24th | −1% | Wisconsin |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,000 | $1,900 | $4,050 | 8 | 33rd | −15% | West Virginia |
Simple tier. $3,250 ÷ $215 = about 15 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,625 a month. The $6,900 step to the moderate tier is 21 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $10,150 to $29,900 is a $19,750 step, mostly work: 43 more hours at $285 is $12,255, while moving to $380 across 79 hours adds $7,505. Work carries 62%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Nevada ($10,000) lands $150 under Georgia; from Alaska ($10,200), $50 over; from the $10,200 table midpoint, $50 out.
Both ends, in time. $5,100 is 18 hours at $285; $15,200 is 53. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate criminal defense, that is 4 to 12 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Georgia's own recorded figures, $29,900 buys 9.2 matters at the $3,250 simple median — or, counted in time, 79 implied hours against 15, a factor of 5.3 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Georgiacourt'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.