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 Massachusetts, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Massachusetts costs on average $8,050, typically $5,350-$10,700 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $230 to $430 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 | $2,350 | $4,150 | $5,900 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,350 | $8,050 | $10,700 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $10,850 | $18,450 | $27,100 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$230 – $430/ hour
Median: $315/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 Massachusetts. The recorded median total is $8,050, with reported quotes clustering between $5,350 and $10,700. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $4,550–$6,850 of the Massachusetts 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 $8,050, the median dui / dwi cost in Massachusetts runs 9% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Massachusetts carries 3 rows — simple, $2,350–$5,900 at $175–$345/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,350–$10,700 at $230–$430/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $10,850–$27,100 at $290–$520/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$8,050 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,700 above the $5,350 floor, $2,650 under the $10,700 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 17th of 51, Massachusetts sits above the midpoint of the dui / dwi table: $600 more than the $7,450 median state, or 8%, with 16 states recording a higher median.
Vermont ($8,150) and California ($8,000) bracket Massachusetts inside a $150 window — narrow enough that 17th is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — Arizona, Maryland, Vermont, California among them — record a median within three percent of Massachusetts's $8,050. 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.
The two rankings disagree sharply. Massachusetts attorneys sit 11th of 51 on hourly rate at $315 an hour, but the state is only 17th on total dui / dwi cost — the recorded matters resolve in fewer billed hours than the rate alone would produce.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | New Hampshire | $8,600 | +$550 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $8,500 | +$450 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $8,300 | +$250 |
| 14 | Arizona | $8,250 | +$200 |
| 15 | Maryland | $8,250 | +$200 |
| 16 | Vermont | $8,150 | +$100 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | $8,050 | — |
| 18 | California | $8,000 | −$50 |
| 19 | Michigan | $7,950 | −$100 |
| 20 | Oregon | $7,950 | −$100 |
| 21 | Illinois | $7,850 | −$200 |
| 22 | Texas | $7,800 | −$250 |
| 23 | Utah | $7,750 | −$300 |
The 17th position is not a stable fact about Massachusetts: $100 up or $50 down moves Massachusetts a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 20 rows, 10 above and 10 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Connecticut, Minnesota, Arizona, Maryland, Vermont and adding $450 to the $8,050 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under California, Michigan, Oregon, Illinois, Texas: $250.
$1,750 short of Washington ($9,800), $2,500 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $8,050 median divided by the $315 median rate implies roughly 26 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours: Massachusetts reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.4x a simple one in Massachusetts, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 16 hours at $260 becomes 46 hours at $405 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.56x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $5,350 to $10,700 the moderate band is $5,350 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 17 hours at $315.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $8,050 median works out to roughly $1,789 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $2,050 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
By implied hours Massachusetts falls to 46th of 51 at 26 hours, 29 places below its 17th on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
39% up the $5,350–$10,700 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 24 hours at $315 against the 26 the local dui / dwi median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Massachusetts | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $8,050 | 17th |
| Hourly median | $315 | 11th |
| Implied hours | 26 | 46th |
| Simple median | $4,150 | 9th |
| Complex median | $18,450 | 17th |
$315 an hour puts Massachusetts between Maryland ($315) and Vermont ($315) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
4 other states record exactly $315 — District of Columbia, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this dui / dwi table.
$8,050 buys 31 hours at $260, 26 at $315, 20 at $405.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | District of Columbia | $315 |
| 10 | Maryland | $315 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | $315 |
| 12 | Vermont | $315 |
| 13 | Virginia | $315 |
Ranked tier by tier, Massachusetts slides 8 places downward: 9th at the simple tier, 17th at moderate, 17th at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$4,150 is 9th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Colorado ($4,150) and over Alaska ($4,100), $750 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$18,450 is 17th of 51 once contested, between Maryland ($18,500) and Connecticut ($18,300), $2,100 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $5,900 against a moderate floor of $5,350 — but there is a clear gap of $150 between the moderate ceiling of $10,700 and the complex floor of $10,850. In Massachusetts the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Massachusetts | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $4,150 | 9th | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $8,050 | 17th | $7,450 | 26 |
| complex | $18,450 | 17th | $16,350 | 46 |
$4,150 puts Massachusetts 9th of 51 on straightforward matters, 8 up on its moderate position, and $750 (22%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $260: 62% of the moderate tier's 26, over 1-3 months.
Colorado ($4,150) and Alaska ($4,100) bracket it — a $50 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $4,150 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
$18,450 keeps Massachusetts at 17th on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $2,100 (13%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
46 implied hours at $405: 177% of the moderate tier's 26, over 6-12 months.
Maryland ($18,500) and Connecticut ($18,300) bracket it — a $200 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $18,450 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | New Hampshire | $4,200 |
| 8 | Colorado | $4,150 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | $4,150 |
| 10 | Alaska | $4,100 |
| 11 | California | $4,050 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Utah | $18,600 |
| 16 | Maryland | $18,500 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | $18,450 |
| 18 | Connecticut | $18,300 |
| 19 | Rhode Island | $18,100 |
$8,050 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Massachusetts, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 75% of Criminal Defense ($10,800).
The state does not rank uniformly. Massachusetts is 2nd of 51 for Bankruptcy but 18th for Criminal Defense, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 17th on dui / dwi says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 25% above its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 2% above its own midpoint — 23 percentage points apart. A single "Massachusetts is expensive" or "Massachusetts is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The practice areas sit unusually close together in Massachusetts — the largest tracked median is 4.6x the smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state — so one figure travels further across matter types here than it would elsewhere.
7 of 8 matter types rank Massachusetts in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 1 between; dui / dwi is 17th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 68th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $4,050 | $10,800 | $34,850 | 31 | 18th | +6% | Maine |
| Divorce | $3,700 | $10,700 | $24,050 | 31 | 5th | +25% | Virginia |
| DUI / DWI | $4,150 | $8,050 | $18,450 | 26 | 17th | +8% | Vermont |
| Immigration | $2,200 | $5,700 | $12,000 | 18 | 13th | +20% | Illinois |
| Personal Injury | $1,850 | $5,300 | $16,400 | — | 13th | +2% | Colorado |
| Bankruptcy | $1,650 | $4,400 | $6,200 | 15 | 2nd | +22% | Hawaii |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,200 | $2,650 | $4,750 | 9 | 7th | +19% | California |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $750 | $2,350 | $7,200 | 7 | 6th | +13% | Vermont |
Simple tier. $4,150 ÷ $260 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $2,075 a month. The $3,900 step to the moderate tier is 10 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $8,050 to $18,450 is a $10,400 step, mostly work: 20 more hours at $315 is $6,300, while moving to $405 across 46 hours adds $4,140. Work carries 60%.
Borrowing the wrong row. California ($8,000) is $50 light, Vermont ($8,150) is $100 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $600, 6x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,350 is 17 hours at $315; $10,700 is 34. 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 Massachusetts's own recorded figures, $18,450 buys 4.4 matters at the $4,150 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 Massachusettscourt'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.