Published November 4, 2026 | Version 1.1.1

Legal need by county: who may need a lawyer, from the American Community Survey

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Probative Growth

Description

The people in every U.S. county who may need a lawyer, counted from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates: residents aged 65 and over (and 75 and over and 85 and over), people aged 65 or over living alone and those below the poverty level, residents who are not U.S. citizens, foreign-born residents who arrived since 2010, residents who speak English less than very well (and Spanish speakers among them), divorced residents (and, for states, people divorced in the last year), veterans and veterans with a VA disability rating, residents with a disability, households on SSI, renter households and renters paying 30 or 50 percent of income on rent, residents without health insurance, workers who drive to work and median household income. One record per county (3,144, in the 50 states and DC), per state and for the US, each measure with its 90% margin of error and its share of the population it is counted in.

3196 records (status: P 3196). Canonical page: https://probativegrowth.com/data/legal-need/. API: https://probativegrowth.com/data/v1/legal-need/index.json. Published by Probative Growth (probativegrowth.com), a marketing agency for US law firms; not a law firm. Not legal advice. These are survey estimates of people with a characteristic, not counts of legal problems or cases: a renter, a veteran or a noncitizen does not necessarily need a lawyer. Each estimate has a margin of error, and small counties' estimates are rough.

Notes

Version 1.1.1 (2026-11-04). Cite as: Probative Growth, Legal need by county: who may need a lawyer, from the American Community Survey, 2026, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23957291. Not legal advice. Funding: none.

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Additional details

Subjects

Asylum
Car accidents
Child custody
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/R9v922zEDjLTzShv6ZTmRGm
Personal bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and 13)
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/R8D2A8vpEW3oEpxLRVkaVDk
Disability access (ADA)
Divorce
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/RDh0fUeo8oXmuCf3hN337nf
Elder law and long-term care planning
Estate planning
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/R8rmINPJcI5dRjZrlQZA8v6
Family-based immigration
Family law
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/RBFgL4Dth9VONjmIdH0bEOs
Foreclosure defense
Guardianship and conservatorship
Immigration
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/RVYBDQv9HD2DkAuvbf5Cha
Landlord and tenant
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/RBjYepK2dGo0eMf20eWQmI3
Citizenship and naturalization
Nursing home abuse and neglect
Personal injury
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/R7MK1XmyjtYxZKg8Iw4ZN4K
Probate and estate administration
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/RrwhSTWvgKB461Y72fWdZV
Deportation and removal defense
Social Security disability (SSDI and SSI)
Truck accidents
VA disability and veterans' benefits
https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/R87uC5Y8OzRu9KIi2FUr408