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 Idaho, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Idaho costs on average $6,850, typically $4,600-$9,200 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $180 to $335 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 | $1,800 | $3,150 | $4,500 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,600 | $6,850 | $9,200 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $8,500 | $14,400 | $21,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$180 – $335/ hour
Median: $245/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 Idaho. The recorded median total is $6,850, with reported quotes clustering between $4,600 and $9,200. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $3,350–$5,650 of the Idaho 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 $6,850, the median dui / dwi cost in Idaho runs 7% below the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Idaho carries 3 rows — simple, $1,800–$4,500 at $135–$265/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,600–$9,200 at $180–$335/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $8,500–$21,200 at $220–$400/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$6,850 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,250 above the $4,600 floor, $2,350 under the $9,200 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Idaho occupies the 32nd row of 51 for a dui / dwi. Its $6,850 median trails the $7,450 table midpoint by $600, which is 8% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Pennsylvania ($6,950) and Ohio ($6,850) bracket Idaho inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 32nd is close to arbitrary.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana record medians within three percent of Idaho's $6,850. A dui / dwi quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
Ranked by hourly rate instead of by total, Idaho does not move: 32nd on both measures, at $245 an hour. Rate and total are telling the same story here.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Idaho |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Wisconsin | $7,450 | +$600 |
| 27 | Wyoming | $7,450 | +$600 |
| 28 | Maine | $7,200 | +$350 |
| 29 | Florida | $7,150 | +$300 |
| 30 | Montana | $7,150 | +$300 |
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $6,950 | +$100 |
| 32 | Idaho | $6,850 | — |
| 33 | Ohio | $6,850 | −$0 |
| 34 | Indiana | $6,800 | −$50 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $6,550 | −$300 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $6,400 | −$450 |
| 37 | Missouri | $6,350 | −$500 |
| 38 | New Mexico | $6,350 | −$500 |
The 32nd position is not a stable fact about Idaho: $100 up or $0 down moves Idaho a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 16 rows, 7 above and 9 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Wyoming, Maine, Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania and adding $600 to the $6,850 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri: $500.
$2,950 short of Washington ($9,800), $1,300 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $6,850 median divided by the $245 median rate implies roughly 28 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the Idaho figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.6x a simple one in Idaho, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 16 hours at $200 becomes 46 hours at $310 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.55x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $4,600 to $9,200 the moderate band is $4,600 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 19 hours at $245.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $1,522 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,600 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a complex one.
A third ordering: by implied hours Idaho is 18th of 51 at 28 hours, 14 places above its cost rank of 32nd on cost — more work behind the same dui / dwi money.
62% up the $4,600–$9,200 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 30 hours at $245 against the 28 the local dui / dwi median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Idaho | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $6,850 | 32nd |
| Hourly median | $245 | 32nd |
| Implied hours | 28 | 18th |
| Simple median | $3,150 | 32nd |
| Complex median | $14,400 | 39th |
$245 an hour puts Idaho between Wyoming ($250) and Indiana ($245) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
5 other states record exactly $245 — Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this dui / dwi table.
$6,850 buys 34 hours at $200, 28 at $245, 22 at $310.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Ohio | $255 |
| 31 | Wyoming | $250 |
| 32 | Idaho | $245 |
| 33 | Indiana | $245 |
| 34 | Iowa | $245 |
Ranked tier by tier, Idaho slides 7 places downward: 32nd at the simple tier, 32nd at moderate, 39th at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$3,150 is 32nd of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Indiana ($3,250) and over Wyoming ($3,150), $250 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$14,400 is 39th of 51 once contested, between Iowa ($14,500) and Montana ($13,700), $1,950 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
$100 separates the simple ceiling of $4,500 from the moderate floor of $4,600, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $8,500 upward. The expensive end of a routine dui / dwi and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Idaho.
| Tier | Idaho | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,150 | 32nd | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $6,850 | 32nd | $7,450 | 28 |
| complex | $14,400 | 39th | $16,350 | 46 |
$3,150 keeps Idaho at 32nd on straightforward matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $250 (7%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $200: 57% of the moderate tier's 28, over 1-3 months.
Indiana ($3,250) and Wyoming ($3,150) bracket it — a $100 window.
3 states sit within three percent of the $3,150 here, against 3 at the moderate row.
$14,400 drops Idaho to 39th of 51 on contested matters, 7 below its moderate position and $1,950 (12%) under the $16,350 tier midpoint.
46 implied hours at $310: 164% of the moderate tier's 28, over 6-12 months.
Iowa ($14,500) and Montana ($13,700) bracket it — a $800 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $14,400 here, against 3 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Georgia | $3,250 |
| 31 | Indiana | $3,250 |
| 32 | Idaho | $3,150 |
| 33 | Wyoming | $3,150 |
| 34 | Nebraska | $3,100 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | Wyoming | $14,800 |
| 38 | Iowa | $14,500 |
| 39 | Idaho | $14,400 |
| 40 | Montana | $13,700 |
| 41 | Missouri | $13,600 |
$6,850 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Idaho, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 84% of Criminal Defense ($8,200).
The state does not rank uniformly. Idaho is 22nd of 51 for Personal Injury but 43rd for Criminal Defense, a 21-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 32nd on dui / dwi says little about what the other lines cost.
Idaho is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 6% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 23% below its own midpoint — a 17-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Idaho is 5.1x 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 Idaho in the upper third, 3 in the lower, 4 between; dui / dwi is 32nd.
In percentile terms it sits at the 38th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,300 | $8,200 | $24,550 | 31 | 43rd | −20% | Nebraska |
| Divorce | $2,650 | $7,550 | $20,900 | 28 | 38th | −12% | West Virginia |
| DUI / DWI | $3,150 | $6,850 | $14,400 | 28 | 32nd | −8% | Pennsylvania |
| Immigration | $1,600 | $4,450 | $9,850 | 18 | 28th | −6% | Montana |
| Personal Injury | $1,300 | $4,400 | $12,750 | — | 22nd | −15% | Texas |
| Bankruptcy | $1,450 | $3,200 | $4,050 | 15 | 30th | −11% | Missouri |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $1,900 | $4,200 | 9 | — | −15% | — |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,600 | $5,500 | 7 | 37th | −23% | Nebraska |
Simple tier. $3,150 ÷ $200 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,575 a month. The $3,700 step to the moderate tier is 12 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $6,850 to $14,400 is a $7,550 step, mostly work: 18 more hours at $245 is $4,410, while moving to $310 across 46 hours adds $2,990. Work carries 60%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Ohio ($6,850) is $0 light, Pennsylvania ($6,950) is $100 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $600, 6x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,600 is 19 hours at $245; $9,200 is 38. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 8 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Idaho's own recorded figures, $14,400 buys 4.6 matters at the $3,150 simple median — or, counted in time, 46 implied hours against 16, a factor of 2.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Idahocourt'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.