The ABA Journal and others have the details:

Overall passage rates for the July 2026 bar exam fell in 37 states compared with a year earlier, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

As of Tuesday, the NCBE’s tally shows only four of the 31 jurisdictions that used the legacy Uniform Bar Exam and have released their results reported a better pass rate than July 2025, while one state had the same rate. There are nine states classified as non-UBE that use independent designs for their exam, and seven of those states saw drops in pass rates this year; one state held steady, and another has not reported results. Of the six states offering the new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam, four saw increased bar pass rates.

In California, less than half the candidates—48.3%—passed the bar in July, a drop from 54.8% last year. That’s the lowest pass rate to date of any U.S. jurisdiction that has reported results.

Julianne Hill, Bar Pass Rates Drop in 37 States, ABA Journal, November 3, 2026; see also Karen Sloan, Lawyer Bar Exam Pass Rates Plummet in California, Other Large States, Reuters, November 2, 2026; Ma Fatima, Bar Exam Pass Rates Plunge in California and Major States, JD Journal, November 3, 2026; Kathryn Rubino, Bar Exam Pass Rates Tanked This Summer, And Not Just In California, Above The Law, November 2, 2026.