Hardest Bar Exam in the US: States Ranked by 2025 Pass Rates

Last updated: 10 November 2026. Rankings use the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ 2025 statistics (February and July 2025 exams combined), published in The Bar Examiner in spring 2026. July 2026 figures come from the State Bar of California’s results release of 30 October 2026. Minimum scores and NextGen dates are from NCBE’s jurisdiction tables, last updated 6 November 2026.

Short answer: On NCBE’s 2025 figures for first-time takers, the hardest bar exams were Puerto Rico (54% passed), Vermont (58%), Connecticut (63%), New Hampshire (65%), Nevada (67%) and California (69%). California is still the hardest large exam: only 48.3% of everyone who sat its July 2026 exam passed, the lowest July rate in five years.

Key takeaways

• Nationally, 63% of 2025 bar examinees passed and 76% of first-time takers passed, across 67,442 people, according to NCBE.
• First-time pass rates are the fairest guide to difficulty. Overall rates are dragged down by repeaters, who passed at only 34% nationally in 2025.
• California’s 2025 numbers look better than usual because the troubled February 2025 exam was scored with a lowered raw passing score. In July 2026 its first-time pass rate fell to 64.7%.
• The easiest exams by first-time pass rate in 2025 were Minnesota (87%), Utah (86%) and Kansas (84%).

How should you measure the hardest bar exam?

There is no official difficulty ranking. Pass rates are the best available proxy, but each measure tells you something different.

• First-time pass rate shows how candidates fresh from law school perform. This is the measure used for the ranking below.
• Overall pass rate includes repeaters. A state with many repeat takers will look harder than it is for a first-time candidate. Alabama is the clearest example: its 2025 overall rate was the lowest in the country at 44%, but 70% of its first-time takers passed.
• The minimum passing score shows how high the bar is set, but it does not account for who sits the exam.

One caution from NCBE: a “first-time” taker in its jurisdiction tables is first-time in that jurisdiction only. Someone who failed in New York and then sits in New Jersey counts as a first-timer in New Jersey. Small jurisdictions also swing sharply from year to year. Vermont had only 88 examinees in 2025.

Which states have the hardest bar exams?

This table ranks jurisdictions by their 2025 first-time pass rate, using NCBE’s first-time and repeater statistics and its overall pass rates for February and July 2025 combined. Territories with fewer than 50 examinees are left out.

Percentages are NCBE’s rounded figures. Minimum UBE scores are from NCBE’s minimum passing score table as it stands in November 2026, not necessarily the score in force for every 2025 sitting.

New York, the largest exam in the country with 14,021 examinees in 2025, sits just outside the list at 75% for first-timers and 61% overall. At the other end, Minnesota (87% first-time), Utah (86%) and Kansas (84%) were the easiest.

Why is the California bar exam considered so hard?

California’s pass rates have long been low. NCBE’s ten-year table shows its overall pass rate between 36% and 50% every year from 2016 to 2024, and its first-time rate between 52% and 67%. Several things explain that.

• A high cut score. Until 2020 California required 1440 on its 2,000-point scale. The California Supreme Court permanently lowered it to 1390 in August 2020, for future takers only.
• Who sits the exam. California allows graduates of state-accredited and unaccredited law schools to take its exam, and their results are far lower. In July 2025, first-time takers from California ABA-accredited schools passed at 84.4%, while first-timers from California-accredited schools passed at 35.2%.
• Many repeaters. In July 2026, 32.3% of California’s takers were repeating, and only 14.1% of them passed.
• Its own exam. California writes its own essays and performance test rather than using the Uniform Bar Exam, so a California score cannot be transferred to UBE states. Our guide to the UBE bar exam explains how score portability works elsewhere.

Because California reports scores on a 2,000-point scale and UBE states on a 400-point scale, the cut scores cannot be compared directly. What can be compared is MBE performance: California’s mean scaled MBE score in July 2026 was 1377 on its scale, against a national mean of 1407 (140.7 on NCBE’s usual scale).

What happened with California’s 2025 bar exam?

In February 2025 California gave a new exam developed with Kaplan, with multiple-choice questions of its own replacing the MBE, delivered in a mix of remote and in-person formats. According to the ABA Journal, takers faced “widespread technical glitches and failures”, and about 1,300 of roughly 5,600 registrants withdrew before the exam. It later emerged that some questions had been drafted by non-lawyers with help from artificial intelligence, which the California Supreme Court said had not previously been disclosed to it.

On 2 May 2025 the court approved a raw passing score of 534 for February takers, below the 560 recommended by the testing expert, and ordered the State Bar to go back to the MBE from the next exam. The State Bar reported a February pass rate of 55.9%, the highest for a spring exam since 1965. NCBE’s annual table records California’s February 2025 rate as 64%. Either way, the adjustment lifted California’s 2025 totals, which is why its 2025 ranking looks kinder than its usual record.

California returned to the MBE in July 2025, when 54.8% of takers passed and first-timers passed at 69.7%.

Are July 2026 bar exam results out yet?

Partly. Many jurisdictions have released their July 2026 results, but NCBE published its 2025 tables only in spring 2026, so full national figures for 2026 are unlikely before 2027. The early picture is a decline.

• California: the State Bar announced on 30 October 2026 that 48.3% of 7,942 takers passed, down from 54.8% in July 2025 and the lowest July rate in five years. First-time takers passed at 64.7%, down five points.
• National MBE: the national mean scaled MBE score fell to 140.7 in July 2026, from 142.4 in July 2025, as reported in the State Bar of California’s release.
• Other large states: the State Bar of California reported that pass rates in Florida, New York and Texas also fell between July 2025 and July 2026.

How does the NextGen bar exam change the picture?

NCBE’s NextGen UBE replaces the separate MBE, MEE and MPT components with a new exam and a new score scale. According to NCBE’s adoption table, the first administration was in July 2026 in Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Washington, plus Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and the US Virgin Islands. Passing scores set so far range from 610 (for example Missouri and Washington) to 620, and Oregon used 615 for its first sitting before moving to 620.

Most jurisdictions will switch between July 2026 and July 2028. NCBE lists New York and California for July 2028, with California’s passing score still to be announced. Until several years of NextGen results exist, comparisons across the two formats will be rough. Our explainer on the NextGen bar exam covers what changed in the content.

Does a harder bar exam mean you should avoid that state?

Usually not. Pass rates reflect who takes the exam as much as how hard it is. Graduates of ABA-approved schools in California passed at rates well above the state average, and strong takers pass everywhere. What matters more is where you want to practise, whether your score will transfer, and how much time you can give to preparation. If you are still planning law school, our guides on the JD timeline and bar admission and the T14 law schools set out the earlier steps.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hardest bar exam in the US?

On NCBE’s 2025 first-time pass rates, Puerto Rico (54%) and Vermont (58%) were hardest, followed by Connecticut, New Hampshire, Nevada and California. Among large states, California remains the hardest: only 48.3% of all takers passed its July 2026 exam.

What was the national bar pass rate in 2025?

NCBE reports that 63% of the 67,442 people who sat a bar exam in 2025 passed. First-time takers passed at 76% and repeaters at 34%. The July 2025 exam had a 69% overall pass rate, against 47% in February.

What score do you need to pass the California bar exam?

California requires a scaled score of 1390 on its 2,000-point scale. The California Supreme Court lowered it from 1440 in August 2020. February 2025 takers were scored with a lowered raw passing score of 534 because of problems with that exam.

What is a passing UBE score?

It depends on the jurisdiction. NCBE’s table lists minimums from 260 (for example Alabama, Minnesota and New Mexico) to 270 (for example Texas, Massachusetts and Vermont). New York, Illinois and the District of Columbia require 266, and Michigan requires 268.

Which state has the easiest bar exam?

On 2025 first-time pass rates, Minnesota (87%), Utah (86%) and Kansas (84%) had the highest rates. Utah also had the highest overall pass rate of any state at 82%.

Why are February bar exam pass rates lower?

Because most February takers are repeaters. NCBE says 61% of February 2025 examinees were repeating, against 19% in July. In 2025 the February overall pass rate was 47% and the July rate was 69%.

This article is general information about US bar examination statistics as of 10 November 2026. It is not legal or admissions advice. Pass rates and minimum scores change, so check the bar admission authority in your jurisdiction before you register.