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 Missouri, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Missouri costs on average $6,350, typically $4,250-$8,500 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $175 to $330 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 | $1,750 | $3,050 | $4,400 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,250 | $6,350 | $8,500 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $8,000 | $13,600 | $20,000 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$175 – $330/ 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 Missouri. The recorded median total is $6,350, with reported quotes clustering between $4,250 and $8,500. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $2,850–$5,150 of the Missouri 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 $6,350, the median dui / dwi cost in Missouri runs 14% below the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Missouri carries 3 rows — simple, $1,750–$4,400 at $135–$265/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,250–$8,500 at $175–$330/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $8,000–$20,000 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.
$6,350 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,100 above the $4,250 floor, $2,150 under the $8,500 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Missouri occupies the 37th row of 51 for a dui / dwi. Its $6,350 median trails the $7,450 table midpoint by $1,100, which is 15% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
North Carolina ($6,400) and New Mexico ($6,350) bracket Missouri inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 37th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — North Carolina, New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska among them — record a median within three percent of Missouri's $6,350. 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 measures nearly agree: 35th of 51 on hourly rate at $245 an hour, 37th on total cost, 2 places apart.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Missouri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $6,950 | +$600 |
| 32 | Idaho | $6,850 | +$500 |
| 33 | Ohio | $6,850 | +$500 |
| 34 | Indiana | $6,800 | +$450 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $6,550 | +$200 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $6,400 | +$50 |
| 37 | Missouri | $6,350 | — |
| 38 | New Mexico | $6,350 | −$0 |
| 39 | Iowa | $6,300 | −$50 |
| 40 | Nebraska | $6,250 | −$100 |
| 41 | Mississippi | $6,200 | −$150 |
| 42 | West Virginia | $6,200 | −$150 |
| 43 | South Dakota | $6,000 | −$350 |
The 37th position is not a stable fact about Missouri: $50 up or $0 down moves Missouri a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 14 rows, 6 above and 8 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Idaho, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and adding $500 to the $6,350 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, West Virginia: $150.
$3,450 short of Washington ($9,800), $800 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $6,350 median divided by the $245 median rate implies roughly 26 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours: Missouri 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 4.5x a simple one in Missouri, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 15 hours at $200 becomes 44 hours at $310 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.55x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $4,250 to $8,500 the moderate band is $4,250 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 17 hours at $245.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $1,411 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,511 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours Missouri falls to 43rd of 51 at 26 hours, 6 places below its 37th on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
75% up the $4,250–$8,500 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 30 hours at $245 against the 26 the local dui / dwi median implies — 4 hours apart.
| Measure | Missouri | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $6,350 | 37th |
| Hourly median | $245 | 35th |
| Implied hours | 26 | 43rd |
| Simple median | $3,050 | 37th |
| Complex median | $13,600 | 41st |
$245 an hour puts Missouri between Iowa ($245) and Montana ($245) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
5 other states record exactly $245 — Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this dui / dwi table.
$6,350 buys 32 hours at $200, 26 at $245, 20 at $310.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Indiana | $245 |
| 34 | Iowa | $245 |
| 35 | Missouri | $245 |
| 36 | Montana | $245 |
| 37 | Tennessee | $245 |
Ranked tier by tier, Missouri slides 4 places downward: 37th at the simple tier, 37th at moderate, 41st at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$3,050 is 37th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Iowa ($3,050) and over Tennessee ($3,000), $350 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$13,600 is 41st of 51 once contested, between Montana ($13,700) and West Virginia ($13,500), $2,750 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Missouri: the simple tier reaches $4,400 where the moderate tier starts at $4,250, and the moderate tier reaches $8,500 where the complex tier starts at $8,000. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Missouri | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,050 | 37th | $3,400 | 15 |
| moderate | $6,350 | 37th | $7,450 | 26 |
| complex | $13,600 | 41st | $16,350 | 44 |
$3,050 keeps Missouri at 37th on straightforward matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $350 (10%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $200: 58% of the moderate tier's 26, over 1-3 months.
Iowa ($3,050) and Tennessee ($3,000) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $3,050 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
$13,600 drops Missouri to 41st of 51 on contested matters, 4 below its moderate position and $2,750 (17%) under the $16,350 tier midpoint.
44 implied hours at $310: 169% of the moderate tier's 26, over 6-12 months.
Montana ($13,700) and West Virginia ($13,500) bracket it — a $200 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $13,600 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | New Mexico | $3,100 |
| 36 | Iowa | $3,050 |
| 37 | Missouri | $3,050 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $3,000 |
| 39 | South Dakota | $2,950 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | Idaho | $14,400 |
| 40 | Montana | $13,700 |
| 41 | Missouri | $13,600 |
| 42 | West Virginia | $13,500 |
| 43 | Kentucky | $13,300 |
$6,350 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Missouri, under Divorce, over Personal Injury. At 71% of Criminal Defense ($8,950).
Across practice areas Missouri ranges from 29th of 51 for Bankruptcy to 37th for DUI / DWI — a 8-place spread, with its 37th on dui / dwi inside it.
Missouri is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Divorce runs 5% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 18% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Missouri 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.
0 of 5 matter types rank Missouri in the upper third, 1 in the lower, 4 between; dui / dwi is 37th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 28th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,250 | $8,950 | $26,350 | 34 | 34th | −12% | West Virginia |
| Divorce | $2,550 | $8,100 | $20,750 | 31 | 30th | −5% | Wyoming |
| DUI / DWI | $3,050 | $6,350 | $13,600 | 26 | 37th | −15% | North Carolina |
| Personal Injury | $1,300 | $4,700 | $14,050 | — | — | −10% | — |
| Immigration | $1,800 | $4,400 | $9,350 | 18 | 30th | −7% | Georgia |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $3,300 | $4,500 | 15 | 29th | −8% | Utah |
| Real Estate Closing | $800 | $1,900 | $4,050 | 9 | — | −15% | — |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,700 | $5,250 | 7 | — | −18% | — |
Simple tier. $3,050 ÷ $200 = about 15 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,525 a month. The $3,300 step to the moderate tier is 11 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $6,350 to $13,600 is a $7,250 step, mostly work: 18 more hours at $245 is $4,410, while moving to $310 across 44 hours adds $2,860. Work carries 61%.
Borrowing the wrong row. New Mexico ($6,350) is $0 light, North Carolina ($6,400) is $50 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $1,100, 22x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,250 is 17 hours at $245; $8,500 is 35. 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 Missouri's own recorded figures, $13,600 buys 4.5 matters at the $3,050 simple median — or, counted in time, 44 implied hours against 15, a factor of 2.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Missouricourt'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.