Applications to U.S. law schools have plummeted to a 30-year low. With tuition rising and jobs increasingly scarce, more and more students are apparently concluding that the time and money it takes to get a law degree just won't pay off. "We are going through a revolution in law with a time bomb on our admissions books," Indiana University law professor William D. Henderson tells The New York Times. "Thirty years ago if you were looking to get on the escalator to upward mobility, you went to business or law school. Today, the law school escalator is broken." Here, a look at the dimming allure of the nation's law schools, by the numbers:

30,000

Applications to enter law school this fall, as of January

20

Percent decline compared to the same time in 2012

38

Percent decline in January 2012 compared to the same time in 2011

54,000

Total law school applications anticipated for fall 2013

100,000

Applications submitted for fall 2004

40,000

Students expected to actually enroll next fall

202

Law schools in the U.S.

192

Law schools projected to remain in 2023

19

Law schools added in the U.S. since the year 2000

$23,000

Average annual private law school tuition in 2001

$40,500

Average annual private law school tuition in 2010

$125,000

Debt piled up by the average student who graduates from a private law school

$75,700

Debt of the average graduate from a public law school

85

Percentage of 2011 law-school graduates who had a job nine months after graduation, according to the National Association of Legal Placement

92

Percentage of graduates who were able to promptly find work in 2007

55

Percentage of law school graduates, according to a Spring 2012 American Bar Association study, who managed to find a job requiring a law degree

$1.1 billion

Revenues expected next year for firms in India that offer legal services, according to Indian research company ValueNotes. The number of companies offering these services, which let U.S. law firms hire low-wage temps abroad rather than full-time lawyers back home, has almost tripled between 2006 and 20011.

140

Firms in India now offering legal services to U.S. firms via internet or cheap telecommunications

18

Decline in median pay for new law-school graduates in private practice since 2010, to $85,000

1,225,452

Licensed lawyers in the United States in 2010

Sources: ABA, Forbes, National Association of Legal Placement, New York Times, The Atlantic