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 New Jersey, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in New Jersey costs on average $9,200, typically $6,150-$12,300 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $240 to $445 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 | $2,200 | $3,900 | $5,600 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $6,150 | $9,200 | $12,300 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $11,650 | $19,850 | $29,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$240 – $445/ hour
Median: $325/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
New to how attorney fees work? Read the legal fees guide — hourly, flat, and contingency billing explained.
Researching costs in another area? These free tools from our network may help.
Add this calculator to your own site with a copy-paste snippet — includes an attribution link back to this page.
<iframe
id="legalcostcalc-embed"
src="https://legalcostcalc.co/embed/new-jersey/dui-cost"
title="New Jersey DUI / DWI Cost Calculator"
width="100%"
height="720"
style="border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;max-width:768px;"
loading="lazy"
></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;text-align:center;">
<a href="https://legalcostcalc.co/new-jersey/dui-cost?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=embed_snippet" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">
Powered by LegalCostCalc
</a>
</p>
<script>
window.addEventListener("message", function (event) {
if (!event.data || event.data.type !== "legalcostcalc:embed-resize") return;
var frame = document.getElementById("legalcostcalc-embed");
if (frame && typeof event.data.height === "number") {
frame.style.height = event.data.height + "px";
}
});
</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 New Jersey. The recorded median total is $9,200, with reported quotes clustering between $6,150 and $12,300. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $5,700–$8,000 of the New Jersey 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 $9,200, the median dui / dwi cost in New Jersey runs 24% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
New Jersey carries 3 rows — simple, $2,200–$5,600 at $180–$355/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $6,150–$12,300 at $240–$445/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $11,650–$29,200 at $300–$535/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures put it in the top quarter of the table.
$9,200 is a median, not the middle of the band — $3,050 above the $6,150 floor, $3,100 under the $12,300 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
New Jersey ranks 4th of 51 tracked states for a dui / dwi, inside the highest-cost quarter of the table. The gap to the $7,450 midpoint is $1,750 — 23% — and only 3 states record a higher median.
In the dui / dwi table New Jersey falls between Virginia at $8,950 and Rhode Island at $9,400, $250 above the first and $200 below the second.
Rhode Island, Virginia record medians within three percent of New Jersey's $9,200. A dui / dwi quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
The two measures nearly agree: 3rd of 51 on hourly rate at $325 an hour, 4th on total cost, 1 place apart.
| Rank | State | Median | Against New Jersey |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $9,800 | +$600 |
| 2 | Hawaii | $9,700 | +$500 |
| 3 | Rhode Island | $9,400 | +$200 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $9,200 | — |
| 5 | Virginia | $8,950 | −$250 |
| 6 | Colorado | $8,900 | −$300 |
| 7 | Delaware | $8,850 | −$350 |
| 8 | Alaska | $8,800 | −$400 |
| 9 | New York | $8,800 | −$400 |
| 10 | District of Columbia | $8,650 | −$550 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 9 below New Jersey against 3 above. $200 up or $250 down moves New Jersey a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 4th position is propped up by a thin dui / dwi field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Washington, Hawaii, Rhode Island and adding $600 to the $9,200 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Virginia, Colorado, Delaware, Alaska, New York: $400.
$600 short of Washington ($9,800), $3,650 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $9,200 median divided by the $325 median rate implies roughly 28 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the New Jersey figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 5.1x a simple one in New Jersey, but the implied workload only rises 3.4x — 14 hours at $270 becomes 48 hours at $415 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.54x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
In dollars the New Jersey moderate band is wide: $6,150 to $12,300, a $6,150 range, $1,150 wider than the peer-median band of $5,000. End to end that is 19 hours at $325.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $2,044 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $2,206 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours New Jersey falls to 14th of 51 at 28 hours, 10 places below its 4th on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
21% up the $6,150–$12,300 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 23 hours at $325 against the 28 the local dui / dwi median implies — 5 hours apart.
| Measure | New Jersey | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $9,200 | 4th |
| Hourly median | $325 | 3rd |
| Implied hours | 28 | 14th |
| Simple median | $3,900 | 15th |
| Complex median | $19,850 | 8th |
$325 an hour puts New Jersey between Washington ($330) and New York ($325) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
New York records the same $325: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$9,200 buys 34 hours at $270, 28 at $325, 22 at $415.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $370 |
| 2 | Washington | $330 |
| 3 | New Jersey | $325 |
| 4 | New York | $325 |
| 5 | California | $320 |
New Jersey moves up the table as complexity rises: 15th at the simple tier, 4th at moderate, 8th at complex, a 7-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$3,900 is 15th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Minnesota ($3,900) and over Delaware ($3,800), $500 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$19,850 is 8th of 51 once contested, between Minnesota ($20,000) and New Hampshire ($19,550), $3,500 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
$550 separates the simple ceiling of $5,600 from the moderate floor of $6,150, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $11,650 upward. The expensive end of a routine dui / dwi and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in New Jersey.
| Tier | New Jersey | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,900 | 15th | $3,400 | 14 |
| moderate | $9,200 | 4th | $7,450 | 28 |
| complex | $19,850 | 8th | $16,350 | 48 |
$3,900 drops New Jersey to 15th of 51 on straightforward matters, 11 below its moderate position and $500 (15%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $270: 50% of the moderate tier's 28, over 1-3 months.
Minnesota ($3,900) and Delaware ($3,800) bracket it — a $100 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,900, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
$19,850 drops New Jersey to 8th of 51 on contested matters, 4 below its moderate position and $3,500 (21%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
48 implied hours at $415: 171% of the moderate tier's 28, over 6-12 months.
Minnesota ($20,000) and New Hampshire ($19,550) bracket it — a $450 window.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $19,850, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Maryland | $4,000 |
| 14 | Minnesota | $3,900 |
| 15 | New Jersey | $3,900 |
| 16 | Delaware | $3,800 |
| 17 | Oregon | $3,800 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | New York | $20,600 |
| 7 | Minnesota | $20,000 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $19,850 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | $19,550 |
| 10 | Virginia | $19,500 |
$9,200 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in New Jersey, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 82% of Criminal Defense ($11,200).
Across practice areas New Jersey ranges from 4th of 51 for DUI / DWI to 18th for Bankruptcy — a 14-place spread, with its 4th on dui / dwi inside it.
New Jersey is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 25% above its own midpoint while Bankruptcy runs 6% above its own midpoint — a 19-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in New Jersey is 4.9x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
7 of 8 matter types rank New Jersey in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 1 between; dui / dwi is 4th.
That places the dui / dwi figure in the 94th percentile of the 51 states tracked here.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $4,250 | $11,200 | $35,550 | 32 | 13th | +10% | Oregon |
| Divorce | $3,500 | $10,050 | $27,350 | 28 | 14th | +18% | Vermont |
| DUI / DWI | $3,900 | $9,200 | $19,850 | 28 | 4th | +23% | Rhode Island |
| Immigration | $2,350 | $5,950 | $12,200 | 18 | 8th | +25% | Connecticut |
| Personal Injury | $1,700 | $5,550 | $16,600 | — | 10th | +7% | Delaware |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,800 | $6,200 | 13 | 18th | +6% | Nevada |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,300 | $2,700 | $4,950 | 9 | 5th | +21% | Alaska |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $700 | $2,300 | $7,150 | 7 | 8th | +11% | Connecticut |
Simple tier. $3,900 ÷ $270 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,950 a month. The $5,300 step to the moderate tier is 14 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $9,200 to $19,850 is a $10,650 step, mostly work: 20 more hours at $325 is $6,500, while moving to $415 across 48 hours adds $4,320. Work carries 60%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Virginia ($8,950) is $250 light, Rhode Island ($9,400) is $200 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $1,750, 7x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $6,150 is 19 hours at $325; $12,300 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 New Jersey's own recorded figures, $19,850 buys 5.1 matters at the $3,900 simple median — or, counted in time, 48 implied hours against 14, a factor of 3.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the New Jerseycourt'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.