Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $130K, rent takes 16.4% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,284/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers typically earn — is $79K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $4,733/month. At HUD’s $1,284/month FMR, rent would take 27% of that take-home — manageable on an entry-level income.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $130K locally vs. $118K nationally, a 10% difference.

North Carolina pays $130K median vs. the U.S. average of $118K — that’s +10%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 92.66), the purchasing-power equivalent is $140K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $129,960 a year, that works out to about $62 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $78,890, and experienced administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers can clear $207,480. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $7,811/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,284/month, which eats 16.4% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

North Carolina has a Regional Price Parity of 92.66 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers salary is worth about $140,255 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.