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 Texas, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Texas costs on average $10,950, typically $5,450-$16,400 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $210 to $420 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 | $2,100 | $3,700 | $5,300 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,450 | $10,950 | $16,400 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $16,150 | $32,250 | $53,800 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$210 – $420/ hour
Median: $315/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 Texas. The recorded median total is $10,950, with reported quotes clustering between $5,450 and $16,400. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $3,650–$9,350 of the Texas 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 $10,950, the median criminal defense cost in Texas runs 11% above the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Texas carries 3 rows — simple, $2,100–$5,300 at $155–$315/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,450–$16,400 at $210–$420/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $16,150–$53,800 at $315–$525/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$10,950 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,500 above the $5,450 floor, $5,450 under the $16,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 16th of 51, Texas sits above the midpoint of the criminal defense table: $750 more than the $10,200 median state, or 7%, with 15 states recording a higher median.
Arizona ($11,050) and Maine ($10,850) bracket Texas inside a $200 window — narrow enough that 16th is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — New Jersey, Delaware, Arizona, Maine among them — record a median within three percent of Texas's $10,950. 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.
On hourly rate alone Texas is 20th of 51 at $315 an hour, 4 places behind its 16th position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Texas |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Washington | $11,450 | +$500 |
| 11 | Utah | $11,400 | +$450 |
| 12 | Oregon | $11,350 | +$400 |
| 13 | New Jersey | $11,200 | +$250 |
| 14 | Delaware | $11,150 | +$200 |
| 15 | Arizona | $11,050 | +$100 |
| 16 | Texas | $10,950 | — |
| 17 | Maine | $10,850 | −$100 |
| 18 | Massachusetts | $10,800 | −$150 |
| 19 | Colorado | $10,750 | −$200 |
| 20 | Minnesota | $10,750 | −$200 |
| 21 | Maryland | $10,500 | −$450 |
| 22 | Illinois | $10,450 | −$500 |
The 16th position is not a stable fact about Texas: $100 up or $100 down moves Texas a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 21 rows, 9 above and 12 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Utah, Oregon, New Jersey, Delaware, Arizona and adding $450 to the $10,950 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland: $450.
$2,400 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $4,350 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $10,950 median divided by the $315 median rate implies roughly 35 billable hours. The peer median is 34 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the Texas figure than behind the typical state's.
The 8.7x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.8x the hours against 1.79x the rate — 16 hours at $235 becomes 77 hours at $420. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
From $5,450 to $16,400 the moderate band is $10,950 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 35 hours at $315.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $10,950 median is roughly $2,433 a month of elapsed time.
By implied hours Texas falls to 16th of 51 at 35 hours, 0 places below its 16th on cost — the criminal defense total arriving on less recorded work.
43% up the $5,450–$16,400 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 32 hours at $315 against the 35 the local criminal defense median implies — 3 hours apart.
| Measure | Texas | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $10,950 | 16th |
| Hourly median | $315 | 20th |
| Implied hours | 35 | 16th |
| Simple median | $3,700 | 19th |
| Complex median | $32,250 | 16th |
$315 an hour puts Texas between Oregon ($320) and Utah ($315) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
Utah records the same $315: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$10,950 buys 47 hours at $235, 35 at $315, 26 at $420.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Minnesota | $320 |
| 19 | Oregon | $320 |
| 20 | Texas | $315 |
| 21 | Utah | $315 |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | $310 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 19th at the simple tier, 16th at moderate, 16th at complex of 51 — so Texas keeps roughly the same relative position whether the criminal defense is straightforward or contested.
$3,700 is 19th of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Michigan ($3,750) and over Vermont ($3,700), $300 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$32,250 is 16th of 51 once contested, between New Hampshire ($32,250) and Virginia ($32,100), $2,350 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
$150 separates the simple ceiling of $5,300 from the moderate floor of $5,450, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $16,150 upward. The expensive end of a routine criminal defense and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Texas.
| Tier | Texas | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,700 | 19th | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $10,950 | 16th | $10,200 | 35 |
| complex | $32,250 | 16th | $29,900 | 77 |
$3,700 drops Texas to 19th of 51 on straightforward matters, 3 below its moderate position and $300 (9%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $235: 46% of the moderate tier's 35, over 1-3 months.
Michigan ($3,750) and Vermont ($3,700) bracket it — a $50 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $3,700 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
$32,250 keeps Texas at 16th on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $2,350 (8%) over the $29,900 tier midpoint.
77 implied hours at $420: 220% of the moderate tier's 35, over 6-12+ months.
New Hampshire ($32,250) and Virginia ($32,100) bracket it — a $150 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $32,250 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | District of Columbia | $3,750 |
| 18 | Michigan | $3,750 |
| 19 | Texas | $3,700 |
| 20 | Vermont | $3,700 |
| 21 | Maryland | $3,650 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Arizona | $33,100 |
| 15 | New Hampshire | $32,250 |
| 16 | Texas | $32,250 |
| 17 | Virginia | $32,100 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | $32,100 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Texas, a criminal defense carries the largest median of the 8 at $10,950 — ahead of Divorce, the next line down.
Across practice areas Texas ranges from 12th of 51 for Estate Planning / Probate to 24th for Real Estate Closing — a 12-place spread, with its 16th on criminal defense inside it.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 17% above its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 9% below its own midpoint — 26 percentage points apart. A single "Texas is expensive" or "Texas is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Texas is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
4 of 8 matter types rank Texas in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 4 between; criminal defense is 16th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 70th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,700 | $10,950 | $32,250 | 35 | 16th | +7% | Arizona |
| Divorce | $3,000 | $8,900 | $25,250 | 28 | 24th | +4% | Nevada |
| DUI / DWI | $3,400 | $7,800 | $16,600 | 27 | 22nd | +5% | Illinois |
| Immigration | $1,900 | $5,550 | $10,850 | 19 | 15th | +17% | Utah |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $4,750 | $14,950 | — | 21st | −9% | Iowa |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,950 | $4,800 | 15 | 13th | +10% | New Hampshire |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,050 | $2,200 | $4,700 | 8 | 24th | −1% | Illinois |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,200 | $6,500 | 8 | 12th | +6% | Illinois |
Simple tier. $3,700 ÷ $235 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,850 a month. The $7,250 step to the moderate tier is 19 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $10,950 to $32,250 is a $21,300 step, mostly work: 42 more hours at $315 is $13,230, while moving to $420 across 77 hours adds $8,085. Work carries 62%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Maine ($10,850) is $100 light, Arizona ($11,050) is $100 heavy — but the $10,200 table midpoint is out by $750, 8x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,450 is 17 hours at $315; $16,400 is 52. 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 Texas's own recorded figures, $32,250 buys 8.7 matters at the $3,700 simple median — or, counted in time, 77 implied hours against 16, a factor of 4.8 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Texascourt'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.