Spring 2007

New York’s Judicial Compensation Crisis:
The Facts

The value of judicial compensation in New York State has been seriously eroded. The cost of living has increased by over 26 percent since 1999, when New York judges last received a salary adjustment.

Because of New York’s uniquely long and severe pay freeze:

• New York is last among the ten most populous states in a cost-of-living-adjusted ranking (behind California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas).
  
  
• New York ranks 38th nationwide when salaries are adjusted for statewide cost of living. In reality, many New York judges rank even lower than that because most judgeships are based in metropolitan areas where the cost of living is higher.
  
  
• Since New York’s judges last received a pay increase, trial judges in the other 49 states have received pay increases averaging 3.2 percent a year, for a cumulative increase of more than 24 percent.
  
  
• A growing number of states have adopted mechanisms, including automatic cost-of-living adjustments, review commissions and linkage to adjustments accorded other groups, to ensure that judicial compensation is reviewed regularly.

Spring 2007 (PDF)

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Contents Judicial Compensation Plan Compensation Fact Sheet New DWI Statute Center for Court Innovation New Faces on Court of Appeals Commission on Probation Children’s Summit Black History Month Court Officers’ Academy Family Court Statute Historic Courthouse Did You Know? Judicial Institute Calendar