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 Utah, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Utah costs on average $11,400, typically $5,700-$17,100 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $210 to $415 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 | $2,250 | $3,950 | $5,700 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,700 | $11,400 | $17,100 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $15,400 | $30,800 | $51,300 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$210 – $415/ 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 Utah. The recorded median total is $11,400, with reported quotes clustering between $5,700 and $17,100. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $4,100–$9,800 of the Utah 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 $11,400, the median criminal defense cost in Utah runs 15% above the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Utah carries 3 rows — simple, $2,250–$5,700 at $155–$315/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,700–$17,100 at $210–$415/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $15,400–$51,300 at $315–$520/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. Those figures put it in the top quarter of the table.
$11,400 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,700 above the $5,700 floor, $5,700 under the $17,100 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Utah ranks 11th of 51 tracked states for a criminal defense, inside the highest-cost quarter of the table. The gap to the $10,200 midpoint is $1,200 — 12% — and only 10 states record a higher median.
Washington ($11,450) and Oregon ($11,350) bracket Utah inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 11th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, Oregon among them — record a median within three percent of Utah's $11,400. 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.
The total is doing something the rate does not explain. Utah sits 21st of 51 on rate at $315 an hour but 11th on total criminal defense cost, 10 places higher — a signal that recorded matters here run long rather than dear.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Utah |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | District of Columbia | $12,250 | +$850 |
| 6 | California | $12,050 | +$650 |
| 7 | Virginia | $11,850 | +$450 |
| 8 | Connecticut | $11,700 | +$300 |
| 9 | Vermont | $11,550 | +$150 |
| 10 | Washington | $11,450 | +$50 |
| 11 | Utah | $11,400 | — |
| 12 | Oregon | $11,350 | −$50 |
| 13 | New Jersey | $11,200 | −$200 |
| 14 | Delaware | $11,150 | −$250 |
| 15 | Arizona | $11,050 | −$350 |
| 16 | Texas | $10,950 | −$450 |
| 17 | Maine | $10,850 | −$550 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 14 below Utah against 8 above. $50 up or $50 down moves Utah a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 11th position is propped up by a thin criminal defense field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing California, Virginia, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington and adding $650 to the $11,400 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Oregon, New Jersey, Delaware, Arizona, Texas: $450.
$1,950 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $4,800 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $11,400 median divided by the $315 median rate implies roughly 36 billable hours. The peer median is 34 hours, so 2 more hours of work sit behind the Utah figure than behind the typical state's.
The 7.8x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.4x the hours against 1.77x the rate — 17 hours at $235 becomes 74 hours at $415. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
From $5,700 to $17,100 the moderate band is $11,400 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 36 hours at $315.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $11,400 median is roughly $2,533 a month of elapsed time.
A third ordering: by implied hours Utah is 5th of 51 at 36 hours, 6 places above its cost rank of 11th on cost — more work behind the same criminal defense money.
39% up the $5,700–$17,100 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 32 hours at $315 against the 36 the local criminal defense median implies — 4 hours apart.
| Measure | Utah | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $11,400 | 11th |
| Hourly median | $315 | 21st |
| Implied hours | 36 | 5th |
| Simple median | $3,950 | 12th |
| Complex median | $30,800 | 22nd |
$315 an hour puts Utah between Texas ($315) and Pennsylvania ($310) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
Texas records the same $315: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$11,400 buys 49 hours at $235, 36 at $315, 27 at $415.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Oregon | $320 |
| 20 | Texas | $315 |
| 21 | Utah | $315 |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | $310 |
| 23 | Arizona | $305 |
The tiers rank Utah very differently. It is 12th at the simple tier, 11th at moderate, 22nd at complex of 51 — a fall of 10 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a criminal defense in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.
$3,950 is 12th of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Delaware ($4,000) and over Wisconsin ($3,950), $550 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$30,800 is 22nd of 51 once contested, between Delaware ($31,150) and Minnesota ($30,600), $900 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Utah: the simple tier reaches $5,700 where the moderate tier starts at $5,700, and the moderate tier reaches $17,100 where the complex tier starts at $15,400. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Utah | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,950 | 12th | $3,400 | 17 |
| moderate | $11,400 | 11th | $10,200 | 36 |
| complex | $30,800 | 22nd | $29,900 | 74 |
$3,950 drops Utah to 12th of 51 on straightforward matters, 1 below its moderate position and $550 (16%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $235: 47% of the moderate tier's 36, over 1-3 months.
Delaware ($4,000) and Wisconsin ($3,950) bracket it — a $50 window.
7 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,950, denser than the 6 around the moderate row.
$30,800 drops Utah to 22nd of 51 on contested matters, 11 below its moderate position and $900 (3%) over the $29,900 tier midpoint.
74 implied hours at $415: 206% of the moderate tier's 36, over 6-12+ months.
Delaware ($31,150) and Minnesota ($30,600) bracket it — a $550 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $30,800 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Massachusetts | $4,050 |
| 11 | Delaware | $4,000 |
| 12 | Utah | $3,950 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | $3,950 |
| 14 | New Hampshire | $3,900 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Nevada | $31,900 |
| 21 | Delaware | $31,150 |
| 22 | Utah | $30,800 |
| 23 | Minnesota | $30,600 |
| 24 | Alaska | $30,550 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Utah, a criminal defense carries the largest median of the 8 at $11,400 — ahead of Divorce, the next line down.
The state does not rank uniformly. Utah is 11th of 51 for Criminal Defense but 28th for Bankruptcy, a 17-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 11th on criminal defense says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 18% above its own midpoint, while Bankruptcy runs 7% below its own midpoint — 25 percentage points apart. A single "Utah is expensive" or "Utah is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Utah is 5.4x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
3 of 8 matter types rank Utah in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 5 between; criminal defense is 11th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 80th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,950 | $11,400 | $30,800 | 36 | 11th | +12% | Washington |
| Divorce | $3,200 | $9,500 | $22,900 | 30 | 19th | +11% | Michigan |
| DUI / DWI | $3,300 | $7,750 | $18,600 | 27 | 23rd | +4% | Texas |
| Immigration | $2,050 | $5,600 | $10,700 | 20 | 14th | +18% | Massachusetts |
| Personal Injury | $1,650 | $4,950 | $16,700 | — | 18th | −5% | Pennsylvania |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,350 | $5,450 | 13 | 28th | −7% | Maine |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,150 | $2,400 | $5,050 | 9 | 17th | +8% | Delaware |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,100 | $5,750 | 7 | 22nd | +1% | Nevada |
Simple tier. $3,950 ÷ $235 = about 17 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,975 a month. The $7,450 step to the moderate tier is 19 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $11,400 to $30,800 is a $19,400 step, mostly work: 38 more hours at $315 is $11,970, while moving to $415 across 74 hours adds $7,400. Work carries 62%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Oregon ($11,350) is $50 light, Washington ($11,450) is $50 heavy — but the $10,200 table midpoint is out by $1,200, 24x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,700 is 18 hours at $315; $17,100 is 54. 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 Utah's own recorded figures, $30,800 buys 7.8 matters at the $3,950 simple median — or, counted in time, 74 implied hours against 17, a factor of 4.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Utahcourt'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.