Jury duty by state: pay, employer rules, excuses and age limits

Your court decides the rules

A jury summons comes from one of two systems. State courts handle most trials, from traffic disputes to murder cases, and draw jurors from voter rolls, driver's license lists and similar records of the county. Federal district courts handle cases under federal law and draw from the voters of their district under the Jury Selection and Service Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861 to 1878. The two do not share lists, so a person can be summoned by both in the same year. Read the letterhead: it names the court, and that court's law sets everything below.

Within a state, the law is the same everywhere, but counties often run the day-to-day side: the phone line, the online portal, the reporting time, and in some states the fee itself. When a state's statute sets only a floor, the state's page here says so and gives the floor; the actual fee is then on your county court's juror page. The grid below opens the page of each court.

What a day in court pays

The juror fee is a token set by statute decades ago in most places and seldom revised. It is paid for each day you attend as a summoned juror, whether or not you sit on a trial. The most generous first day in our data is North Dakota's, at $100; 6 states pay nothing at all for day one and start paying from the second day. 18 jurisdictions pay more after a set number of days, which helps trial jurors on long cases. Mileage is often added on top, at a rate the statute fixes or ties to the rate for state employees.

The fee is income for federal tax purposes. If your employer keeps paying your salary and asks you to hand the fee over, you report the fee and deduct the amount you gave back, which the jury duty taxes page walks through line by line. For the full ranking of fees, the jury duty pay page puts every state on one table and lets you rank them for any length of service.

Your job and your wages

Two different promises are at stake. The first is that you cannot be fired, demoted or threatened for serving: 51 of the 51 jurisdictions write it into their law or their court's official guidance, and federal law gives it to federal jurors, with back pay and a civil penalty for employers who break it. The second is that you keep earning. Here the states split: 9 jurisdictions require at least some employers to keep paying for at least some days, often with a size threshold or a daily cap, while the rest leave pay to the employer's own policy. Many large employers pay regardless, so check your handbook before assuming the worst.

Hourly workers, gig workers and the self-employed carry most of the cost of a long trial. The law does not make the court replace lost income, but it does let you ask to be excused or postponed when service would cause real financial hardship. Ask early, with proof, rather than in the courtroom. The employer page lists the states that require pay and the conditions each sets.

Excuses the law accepts

An excuse is not a favor: it is a ground written in the statute or in the court's rules, and the clerk or judge applies it to the facts you give. The grounds named most often are a medical condition that prevents service, the care of a young child or a dependent adult with no one else to step in, a financial hardship that goes beyond the ordinary cost of a few days off, a long distance to the courthouse, and active military duty. Some states add full-time students, breastfeeding mothers, or people who served on a jury in the last year or two. The checker above shows which of your circumstances your state names.

An honest request with a short explanation and a document, such as a doctor's note or a letter from a school, is what clerks expect. A false statement on a juror questionnaire is a different matter: it is made under penalty of perjury in many states. This site helps only with lawful grounds; the page on getting out of jury duty explains what works and what backfires, and the excuse request page writes the letter in your browser.

Age limits

No state forces older residents to serve without a way out, but the rules differ more than people expect. 39 jurisdictions let you ask to be excused once you reach an age between 65 and 80, usually by ticking a box or signing a statement; 10 have no age rule at all, so an older juror asks on health or another ground like anyone else. Federal courts leave it to each district's jury plan; many excuse people over 70 on request. The exemption age page gives every state's age and checks it against your date of birth.

Postponing instead of skipping

A bad date is the most common problem and the easiest to solve. Courts generally grant a first postponement on request, often online and without a reason beyond the dates you cannot make, as long as you ask before the reporting date. Some states cap the delay or the number of postponements; a few require a new date within a set number of months. The postponement page collects these limits.

How long it lasts

11 jurisdictions state a one day or one trial system: if you are not picked for a trial on your reporting day, your service is over. Elsewhere, a summons may cover a week, a month or a term on call, though many courts release jurors after a day or two. Once you serve, most states protect you from another summons for a period, from one year to six. The jury duty length page gives each state's term and computes the date from which you can be summoned again.

If you missed the date

Missing a summons by mistake is common and usually repairable: call the jury office on the summons the same day, explain, and ask for a new date. Courts treat a juror who calls very differently from one who ignores repeated notices. A judge can order a juror who fails to appear to explain why, and the statutes we read set fines up to $25,000, sometimes with a short jail term for contempt. The missed jury duty page lists the penalties and the steps to put things right.

Jury duty scams

A caller says there is a warrant for your arrest because you missed jury duty, and that a payment by gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency will clear it. It is a scam every time. The United States Courts and the Federal Trade Commission both warn that courts do not call to demand money and do not take payment over the phone. Hang up, find the number of your court yourself, and report the call. The scam page has a short checker for calls, texts and emails.

Your first day

Expect a security check at the courthouse entrance, a check-in desk, an orientation, and a wait. Bring the summons, a photo ID, something to read and any medication you need. Many courts publish a call-in line or a portal message the evening before, and groups are often cancelled at the last minute. The what to expect page has a checklist for each stage, and the comparator sets two or three states side by side if you live in one and work in another.

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