2026 data 10 indexed fees Interactive lookup

Civil Filing Fee Percentile Lookup

Enter a civil filing fee in dollars. The lookup maps it onto PlainCivil's indexed distribution of state-by-process court schedules: a comparison within our published coverage, not a live court quote.

Try a fee → See state rankings
Fee tier ladder 10 indexed fees

40% of indexed fees fall below $200, the small-claims and eviction tier where most states keep access fees low.

Whole dollars. Indexed fees in this database typically run from about $50 (small-claims caps) to $500+ (complex civil matters).

10th percentile

$75

Lower decile

25th percentile

$150

Lower quartile

Median

$200

50th percentile

75th percentile

$300

Upper quartile

90th percentile

$350

Upper decile

Indexed fee distribution

60% in $200–$399

10 state-by-process records · banded by dollar amount

Under $750 fees$75–$1994 fees$200–$3996 fees$400–$5990 fees$600+0 fees
Distribution across 10 indexed civil filing fees

Most indexed fees cluster in the $200–$399 band (6 records). Bands mirror the fee tiers used in the interactive lookup result. Values reflect stored coverage and may include estimates.

Source: state court clerk fee schedules, compiled in PlainCivil's database · As of 2026-09-01

Reading filing-fee bands

  • Below $75 - Small-claims jurisdictions (most states cap small-claims fees aggressively to preserve access).
  • $75–$200 - Typical eviction, restraining-order, and name-change filings.
  • $200–$400 - Mid-range civil filings: divorce (uncontested), guardianship, basic civil lawsuits.
  • $400–$600 - Higher-tier civil cases, family law contested matters, complex probate, civil lawsuits exceeding small-claims jurisdiction.
  • $600+ - Outlier filings, appellate fees, jury demand fees, multiple-party cases. Some states impose tiered fees scaled to amount in controversy.

Filing fees do not equal total cost

A filing fee may not be the only cost in a matter. Whether service, motion, jury, transcript, mediation, or representation costs apply depends on the court and case. Fee-waiver rules also differ by jurisdiction; ask the relevant court or a qualified local legal-aid provider about current eligibility and covered costs.

Source and methodology

Filing fee data is drawn from published state court clerk fee schedules. Compiled by PlainCivil across 10 indexed states × 12 civil process types (120 records). See our methodology page for collection notes, vintage, and confidence ratings per state.

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Where this percentile fits into the rest of your filing decision.

This tool ranks a fee against our indexed dataset only; it is not a quote from any court and does not include service, motion, or representation costs.

Fee and timeline figures on PlainCivil are rendered from the portal's state-process database compiled from published court schedules, no fee is invented for a ranking. Percentiles are computed from the ranked filing-fee values already stored in the portal database. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-01. PlainCivil does not rate, rank-recommend, or advise on legal strategy, it reports what published schedules and court materials contain.