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DUI / DWI

DUI fines by state

A DUI is not a traffic ticket with a bigger number on it. In every state it is a criminal charge, prosecuted in a criminal court, and a conviction produces a criminal record rather than a line on a driving abstract. That difference decides nearly everything else about it: the deadlines, the hearings, the range of outcomes and the cost.

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The state that issued the ticket — not the one you live in, if they differ.

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Nothing more to enter for this kind of ticket. It is priced as a range for the violation itself rather than from a speed, so the estimate below is already complete.

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Select your state and violation type to see what the ticket is likely to cost over three years — the fine itself, the DMV points, and the modelled insurance impact.

DUI fines by state: the short version

Estimated fine

$1,000 – $15,000

across all 51 records

DMV points

4–12 points

a typical range, not a state figure

Traffic school

Never eligible

for this violation

Insurance model

2.5× the state tier

over three years

This violation scales the tier by 3, 2.5 and 2 across the three years, and by 2.5× on the three-year total. That is a model of ours, applied identically in every state, and no insurer publishes anything like it — the methodology page sets out what it is and is not.

It also produces two separate proceedings from a single traffic stop. The motor vehicle agency can act against the licence administratively, on its own timetable and its own standard of proof, while the criminal case proceeds in court. The administrative action is usually the faster of the two, and the window to request a hearing on it is often measured in days from the date of the stop.

The estimate on this page is the court fine plus our three-year insurance model, and it is deliberately the conservative end of what a DUI costs. It does not include the reinstatement fee, the ignition interlock, the alcohol education programme, the towing and storage, the bail, or representation — none of which sit in any dataset this site has verified.

Why the fine is the smallest part of the number

On every other page here the court fine is most of what a violation costs in the first year. On this one it is not. A DUI conviction sets off a chain of separate charges, each billed by a different body, and the fine the judge imposes is only the one the court collects.

The licence has to be reinstated, which carries its own fee set by the motor vehicle agency. Most states require an ignition interlock device for a period after a first conviction, and the driver pays for the installation, the monthly monitoring and the removal. Many require an alcohol education or treatment programme before the licence comes back, also at the driver’s own expense. There is frequently a vehicle to recover from an impound lot that charges by the day.

Then there is the insurance side, which behaves differently from every other violation in our model. Most states require a certificate of financial responsibility — the filing usually called an SR-22, and in a few states a stricter version — before the licence is restored. The filing itself is not expensive. What it does is mark the policy as high risk for its duration, and an insurer may decline to write the policy at all rather than rate it.

Two cases, two clocks, two deadlines

The administrative licence action and the criminal charge are separate matters that happen to arise from the same stop. Losing one does not decide the other, and the deadlines do not line up.

The administrative side is run by the state motor vehicle agency. In most states a refusal to take a chemical test, or a test result at or above the state’s per se limit, triggers a suspension by operation of law, and the driver has a short window to request a hearing. Missing that window generally ends the administrative matter without it ever being heard.

The criminal case runs on the court’s calendar and produces the fine, any jail exposure, probation, and the conditions attached to a conviction. It is the part most people picture, and it is usually the slower half. The practical consequence is that the licence can already be suspended while the criminal case is still months from resolution, which is why the date printed on the paperwork handed over at the stop matters as much as the court date on the citation.

What actually varies between states

Every state prohibits driving while impaired and every state treats a first offence as criminal, so the variation is not in whether it is an offence but in what follows one. The name is the most visible difference and the least important: DUI, DWI, OWI and OUI are the same category of charge under different labels.

The substantive differences are in the mandatory minimums, the length of the licence action, whether an interlock is required on a first conviction or only above a higher test result, whether a restricted or hardship licence is available during the suspension and on what conditions, and how long a prior conviction counts against a later one. That lookback period is one of the widest variations in US traffic law, and it decides whether an offence years later is charged as a first or as a repeat.

A number of states also escalate a first offence to a more serious charge on facts rather than on the test result alone — a child in the vehicle, a collision causing injury, or driving on an already suspended licence. Those are the cases where the range in the table below sits furthest from what the case actually costs.

Traffic school is not on the table

For most of the violations on this site the first question worth asking is whether a defensive driving course can keep the conviction off the record. For a DUI it is not a question: no state offers traffic school as a disposition for an impaired driving charge, and our calculator returns that answer for every state rather than consulting the state’s flag.

What some states do offer is a diversion or deferred programme, usually for a first offence and usually with conditions — treatment, supervision, an interlock, and a plea that is entered and then set aside on completion. That is a court-by-court matter rather than a statewide entitlement, and it is not the same thing as a course that undoes a ticket.

The alcohol education programme that follows many convictions is also not traffic school. It is a condition of the sentence or of reinstatement rather than an alternative to the conviction, and completing it does not remove the conviction from the record.

DUI fines by state in every state

All 50 states and the District of Columbia. Sort any column to see where a state sits, and read the note under the table before treating a row as a quote — the columns are not all the same kind of figure.

Alabama MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Alaska HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $2,625 $17,625
Arizona HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Arkansas LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
California HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Colorado MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Connecticut HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Delaware MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
District of Columbia HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Florida MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Georgia MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Hawaii HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $2,625 $17,625
Idaho LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Illinois HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $2,625 $17,625
Indiana MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Iowa LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Kansas LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Kentucky LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Louisiana MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Maine MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Maryland MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Massachusetts HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Michigan MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Minnesota MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Mississippi LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Missouri LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Montana LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Nebraska LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Nevada HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
New Hampshire MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
New Jersey HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
New Mexico LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
New York HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
North Carolina MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
North Dakota LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Ohio MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Oklahoma MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Oregon MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Pennsylvania MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Rhode Island HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $2,625 $17,625
South Carolina MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
South Dakota LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625
Tennessee MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Texas MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Utah MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Vermont MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Virginia HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
Washington HIGH $2,000 – $15,000 $3,000 $18,000
West Virginia MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Wisconsin MEDIUM $1,500 – $10,000 $1,875 $11,875
Wyoming LOW $1,000 – $7,500 $1,125 $8,625

How to read this table

The fine column is a model, and a coarse one. Unlike the speeding schedules on this site, which are checked against each state’s own published document, the range here comes from our three-tier risk model — states are graded high, medium or low by penalty severity, and each tier carries one range for this violation. That is why the column takes a small number of distinct values across fifty-one rows.

We publish it that way rather than inventing per-state precision we have not sourced. A DUI statute typically sets a minimum and a maximum with wide discretion between them, and the amount a particular court imposes turns on the test result, the record and the plea. Sourcing fifty-one statutory ranges is a research pass this site has not yet run, and until it has, a tier is the honest presentation.

The insurance column is genuinely per state, because it applies this violation’s multiplier to the state’s own insurance tier. It is still a model — no insurer publishes a surcharge schedule — and for this violation in particular it understates the real exposure, since it prices a premium increase rather than a non-renewal.

The three-year total is the higher end of the fine plus the insurance column, and nothing else — the same definition the calculator's headline uses. Every state name links through to that state's own page, where the speeding figures are broken down against the documents they came from.

Other violations

The same calculator prices every one of these, and each page covers what is specific to that violation rather than repeating this one.

Read the methodology · Guides and explainers

DUI / DWI

Common questions about a DUI.

How much does a first DUI cost?

More than the fine, in every state. The court fine is the figure the calculator on this page estimates, and it is usually the smaller half of the first year. Reinstatement fees, an ignition interlock and its monthly monitoring, an alcohol education programme, towing and storage, and the insurance consequence all sit outside it. Treat the total shown here as a floor rather than as an estimate of the whole.

Is a DUI a criminal offence or a traffic violation?

A criminal offence, in every state, on a first conviction. That is the single most important difference between this page and the others on this site: a speeding ticket produces a fine and points, while an impaired driving conviction produces a criminal record. A small number of states charge a first offence at a lower grade than later ones, but it remains criminal rather than civil.

Why was my licence suspended before I went to court?

Because two separate proceedings run from one stop. The state motor vehicle agency can suspend administratively, on its own standard and its own timetable, without waiting for the criminal case. In most states the driver has a short window from the date of the stop to request a hearing on that action, and missing it ends the administrative matter. The criminal case then proceeds separately on the court calendar.

Can traffic school remove a DUI?

No. No state offers a defensive driving course as a way to dismiss or mask an impaired driving conviction, and the calculator returns that answer for every state. Some courts operate diversion or deferred adjudication programmes for a first offence, with treatment and supervision conditions attached, but that is a disposition negotiated in a particular case rather than a course anyone can sign up for.

What is an SR-22 and will I need one?

It is a certificate your insurer files with the state confirming that you carry at least the minimum required coverage, and most states require one before a licence is reinstated after an impaired driving conviction. The filing fee itself is small. What costs money is what it signals: the policy is marked as high risk for the period the filing is required, and an insurer may decline to renew rather than rate it.