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 Wisconsin, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a criminal defense in Wisconsin costs on average $10,400, typically $5,200-$15,600 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $205 to $410 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 | $5,600 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,200 | $10,400 | $15,600 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $16,050 | $32,100 | $53,500 | 6-12+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$205 – $410/ hour
Median: $305/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 Wisconsin. The recorded median total is $10,400, with reported quotes clustering between $5,200 and $15,600. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,600–$7,300, which leaves roughly $3,100–$8,800 of the Wisconsin 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 $10,400, the median criminal defense cost in Wisconsin runs 5% above the $9,905 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Wisconsin carries 3 rows — simple, $2,250–$5,600 at $155–$305/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,200–$15,600 at $205–$410/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $16,050–$53,500 at $305–$510/hr over 6-12+ months — on 3 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$10,400 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,200 above the $5,200 floor, $5,200 under the $15,600 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 25th of 51, Wisconsin sits above the midpoint of the criminal defense table: $200 more than the $10,200 median state, or 2%, with 24 states recording a higher median.
Michigan ($10,400) and Alaska ($10,200) bracket Wisconsin inside a $200 window — narrow enough that 25th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan among them — record a median within three percent of Wisconsin's $10,400. 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 two measures nearly agree: 24th of 51 on hourly rate at $305 an hour, 25th on total cost, 1 place apart.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Colorado | $10,750 | +$350 |
| 20 | Minnesota | $10,750 | +$350 |
| 21 | Maryland | $10,500 | +$100 |
| 22 | Illinois | $10,450 | +$50 |
| 23 | Pennsylvania | $10,450 | +$50 |
| 24 | Michigan | $10,400 | −$0 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | $10,400 | — |
| 26 | Alaska | $10,200 | −$200 |
| 27 | Georgia | $10,150 | −$250 |
| 28 | Nevada | $10,000 | −$400 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $9,450 | −$950 |
| 30 | Indiana | $9,250 | −$1,150 |
| 31 | Florida | $9,200 | −$1,200 |
Within ten percent of the Wisconsin figure there are 13 states above and only 4 below. $0 up or $200 down moves Wisconsin a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the criminal defense field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and adding $350 to the $10,400 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, Wyoming, Indiana: $1,150.
$2,950 short of Hawaii ($13,350), $3,800 clear of Alabama ($6,600).
The $10,400 median divided by the $305 median rate implies roughly 34 billable hours. That rounds to the same 34 hours as the peer median, so on workload Wisconsin is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
The 8.1x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.6x the hours against 1.78x the rate — 17 hours at $230 becomes 78 hours at $410. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
From $5,200 to $15,600 the moderate band is $10,400 wide, close to the $10,200 peer median. End to end that is 34 hours at $305.
Across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $10,400 median is roughly $2,311 a month of elapsed time.
A third ordering: by implied hours Wisconsin is 22nd of 51 at 34 hours, 3 places above its cost rank of 25th on cost — more work behind the same criminal defense money.
48% up the $5,200–$15,600 band sits the $10,200 table midpoint, buying 33 hours at $305 against the 34 the local criminal defense median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Wisconsin | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $10,400 | 25th |
| Hourly median | $305 | 24th |
| Implied hours | 34 | 22nd |
| Simple median | $3,950 | 13th |
| Complex median | $32,100 | 18th |
$305 an hour puts Wisconsin between Arizona ($305) and Nevada ($300) — not the criminal defense cost pairing.
Arizona records the same $305: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$10,400 buys 45 hours at $230, 34 at $305, 25 at $410.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Pennsylvania | $310 |
| 23 | Arizona | $305 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $305 |
| 25 | Nevada | $300 |
| 26 | Maine | $295 |
Ranked tier by tier, Wisconsin slides 5 places downward: 13th at the simple tier, 25th at moderate, 18th at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$3,950 is 13th of 51 on a straightforward criminal defense, under Utah ($3,950) and over New Hampshire ($3,900), $550 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$32,100 is 18th of 51 once contested, between Virginia ($32,100) and Colorado ($31,900), $2,200 off the $29,900 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $5,600 against a moderate floor of $5,200 — but there is a clear gap of $450 between the moderate ceiling of $15,600 and the complex floor of $16,050. In Wisconsin the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Wisconsin | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,950 | 13th | $3,400 | 17 |
| moderate | $10,400 | 25th | $10,200 | 34 |
| complex | $32,100 | 18th | $29,900 | 78 |
$3,950 puts Wisconsin 13th of 51 on straightforward matters, 12 up on its moderate position, and $550 (16%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $230: 50% of the moderate tier's 34, over 1-3 months.
Utah ($3,950) and New Hampshire ($3,900) 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.
$32,100 puts Wisconsin 18th of 51 on contested matters, 7 up on its moderate position, and $2,200 (7%) over the $29,900 tier midpoint.
78 implied hours at $410: 229% of the moderate tier's 34, over 6-12+ months.
Virginia ($32,100) and Colorado ($31,900) bracket it — a $200 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $32,100 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Delaware | $4,000 |
| 12 | Utah | $3,950 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | $3,950 |
| 14 | New Hampshire | $3,900 |
| 15 | Nevada | $3,850 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Texas | $32,250 |
| 17 | Virginia | $32,100 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | $32,100 |
| 19 | Colorado | $31,900 |
| 20 | Nevada | $31,900 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Wisconsin, a criminal defense carries the largest median of the 8 at $10,400 — ahead of Divorce, the next line down.
The state does not rank uniformly. Wisconsin is 11th of 51 for Personal Injury but 28th for Divorce, a 17-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 25th on criminal defense says little about what the other lines cost.
Wisconsin is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Real Estate Closing runs 10% above its own midpoint while Divorce runs 3% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Wisconsin is 5x 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 Wisconsin in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 5 between; criminal defense is 25th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 52th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,950 | $10,400 | $32,100 | 34 | 25th | +2% | Michigan |
| Divorce | $3,300 | $8,300 | $21,600 | 27 | 28th | −3% | Pennsylvania |
| DUI / DWI | $3,450 | $7,450 | $15,950 | 27 | 26th | level | Nevada |
| Personal Injury | $1,650 | $5,550 | $15,500 | — | 11th | +7% | New Jersey |
| Immigration | $2,100 | $4,850 | $10,550 | 17 | 23rd | +2% | Pennsylvania |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,900 | $5,350 | 15 | 15th | +8% | Illinois |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,100 | $2,450 | $4,550 | 10 | 14th | +10% | Rhode Island |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $2,100 | $5,750 | 8 | 23rd | +1% | Utah |
Simple tier. $3,950 ÷ $230 = about 17 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,975 a month. The $6,450 step to the moderate tier is 17 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $10,400 to $32,100 is a $21,700 step, mostly work: 44 more hours at $305 is $13,420, while moving to $410 across 78 hours adds $8,190. Work carries 62%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Alaska ($10,200) lands $200 under Wisconsin; from Michigan ($10,400), $0 over; from the $10,200 table midpoint, $200 out.
Both ends, in time. $5,200 is 17 hours at $305; $15,600 is 51. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate criminal defense, that is 4 to 11 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Wisconsin's own recorded figures, $32,100 buys 8.1 matters at the $3,950 simple median — or, counted in time, 78 implied hours against 17, a factor of 4.6 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Wisconsincourt'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.