What to wear for jury duty
Jury duty calls for business casual, and often a long wait in a cool room. Choose your city or enter the weather, and we'll turn the forecast into a jury duty outfit.
Follow any dress instructions in your jury summons or your court's local rules — they take priority over this guide.
This is general dress etiquette, not legal advice.
Jury duty dress etiquette
In any weather
- Wear
- Business casual: a collared shirt, a modest top or a neat sweater.
- Trousers, khakis or a knee-length skirt.
- Closed-toe shoes.
- Skip
- Shorts, tank tops and flip-flops.
- Clothes with slogans, logos or graphics.
- Ripped, frayed or distressed clothes.
- Jeans, unless your jury summons says they're fine.
- Athletic wear.
- Hats or sunglasses indoors — take them off when you go in (religious head coverings are fine).
- Nice to have
- Comfortable shoes — expect to sit, stand and wait in line.
- Few metal accessories, so security goes faster.
If it's cold
- Nice to have
- A sweater under your coat helps in a cool waiting room.
If it's cool or mild
- Nice to have
- An extra layer — you may wait for hours in a cool room.
If it's hot
- Wear
- Breathable fabrics like cotton or linen blends — still trousers, khakis or a knee-length skirt, not shorts.
- Nice to have
- Pack a light sweater: jury rooms are often air-conditioned.
If it rains
- Nice to have
- Leave the umbrella at the door or coat check.
Dressing for something else?
How we worked this out
We start with the same weather outfit as the home page: the National Weather Service forecast for your city, or the weather you enter, adjusted for whether you run cold or warm. On this page we assume you walk part of the day, whatever activity you picked on the home page.
Then the occasion's rules take over: anything too casual for it is swapped for a piece that fits. In cold and cool weather the result is at least as warm as the weather outfit; in the heat, we pick lighter, breathable fabrics where the occasion allows. The checklist and the guide above come from the same rules.