17,550 lawyer searches a month in Chicago.
A click on “truck accident lawyer” here can cost $381. DIDM flags every inquiry still waiting on a reply, so the inquiries you pay for don't go cold.
By the numbers
Monthly lawyer searches
Google Keyword Planner, September 2026
Search value per month
Google Keyword Planner, September 2026
of 55 US cities we measured
55 US cities measured
Employed lawyers in the Chicago metro
BLS OEWS 2025
Mean lawyer wage
BLS OEWS 2025
Search value per employed lawyer per month
Keyword Planner and BLS OEWS
Where the money is in Chicago
- Criminal defense$289K · 3,490 searches
- Accident & injury$763K · 2,680 searches
- Family law$189K · 5,120 searches
- Immigration, estate & other$122K · 6,260 searches
In Chicago, accident & injury carries the most search money.
| Search term | Monthly searches | Top-of-page bid |
|---|---|---|
| criminal defense lawyer | 1,600 | $11–$91 |
| dui lawyer | 1,300 | $14–$70 |
| personal injury lawyer | 1,900 | $71–$258 |
| car accident attorney | 390 | $84–$321 |
| truck accident lawyer | 390 | $115–$381 |
| divorce lawyer | 2,400 | $8–$40 |
| child custody lawyer | 320 | $7–$30 |
| immigration lawyer | 1,600 | $5–$26 |
| estate planning attorney | 4,400 | $3–$13 |
How Chicago compares
Worked out from the same figures, against the 20 cities we publish.
Accident & injury is a smaller share of search here
15% of lawyer searches in Chicago are accident & injury, against a typical 20% across the 20 cities we publish.
More lawyers chasing each search
Search value per employed lawyer is 33% of the median city's. More firms share the same demand here.
“truck accident lawyer” costs less here
The top-of-page bid here is 38% of the median for the same term across 19 cities.
The cheapest volume is “estate planning attorney”
4,400 searches a month with a top-of-page bid that tops out at $13, the most searches per bid dollar of any term we track in Chicago.
| City | Rank | Monthly searches | Search value | Per employed lawyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta, GA | #8 | 12,660 | $1.6M | $85 |
| San Antonio, TX | #9 | 9,440 | $1.6M | $388 |
| Chicago, IL | #10 | 17,550 | $1.4M | $48 |
| Cleveland, OH | #11 | 9,080 | $1.4M | $245 |
| Austin, TX | #12 | 8,160 | $1.2M | $160 |
What that means for a Chicago firm
Wasted clicks add up
At $381 a click, ten clicks that never call cost $3,810.
Inquiries don't wait
3,490 criminal defense and DUI searches a month, many after hours.
The competition is local
28,320 lawyers work in the Chicago metro. The firm that answers first usually gets the consultation.
See who’s outbidding you in your city.
A free one-page report: the firms bidding on your terms, what each click costs and how many people search. Put together by a person. No card, no sales call.
Search data: Google Keyword Planner (September 2026), city-level, English, Google Search. Search value = monthly searches × high top-of-page bid, an index of competition — not any firm's actual spend. Lawyer counts and wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025, Chicago metro.