Paralegals and Legal Assistants salary

SOC 23-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$62,890

per year, nationally

Middle half

$50,340–$80,080

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

392,880

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+0.2%

39,300 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$44,740$101,500

10th: $44,740
25th: $50,340
Median: $62,890
75th: $80,080
90th: $101,500

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Associate's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where paralegals and legal assistants earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$89,750	109.9	6,400	3.61×
2	Washington	$79,400	107.0	9,460	1.05×
3	Colorado	$78,190	103.1	5,620	0.77×
4	Massachusetts	$77,640	105.8	7,800	0.85×
5	California	$77,390	110.7	47,130	1.02×
6	Minnesota	$75,570	98.6	7,400	0.99×
7	New Jersey	$71,500	108.8	12,010	1.11×
8	Alaska	$68,700	102.4	570	0.69×
9	New York	$68,410	107.9	34,220	1.40×
10	Vermont	$67,160	98.0	660	0.86×
11	Maryland	$65,640	105.0	6,460	0.93×
12	Nevada	$64,680	100.0	3,620	0.92×
13	Virginia	$63,990	101.1	10,250	0.99×
14	Connecticut	$63,820	103.6	5,210	1.21×
15	Illinois	$63,670	100.0	14,130	0.92×
16	Pennsylvania	$63,370	97.6	14,670	0.96×
17	Nebraska	$63,250	90.1	1,630	0.63×
18	Utah	$63,220	98.9	3,250	0.74×
19	Delaware	$63,110	99.8	2,480	2.03×
20	Hawaii	$62,840	110.0	1,170	0.74×
21	Maine	$62,420	97.0	1,210	0.75×
22	Georgia	$62,400	96.3	14,160	1.15×
23	Texas	$62,310	97.1	29,540	0.83×
24	Michigan	$62,170	96.2	7,730	0.69×
25	New Hampshire	$62,040	104.2	1,430	0.83×
26	Arizona	$61,630	100.7	7,890	0.96×
27	Oregon	$61,490	103.4	4,870	0.98×
28	Missouri	$61,410	90.8	7,130	0.96×
29	Florida	$61,000	103.4	40,950	1.63×
30	Ohio	$60,420	92.8	9,270	0.66×
31	Louisiana	$60,250	88.2	4,890	1.00×
32	New Mexico	$59,840	92.2	1,740	0.79×
33	Kentucky	$59,830	90.2	3,540	0.70×
34	North Dakota	$59,430	89.0	730	0.67×
35	West Virginia	$59,000	89.5	1,660	0.93×
36	Tennessee	$58,820	91.9	6,080	0.73×
37	Wisconsin	$58,500	94.1	4,780	0.64×
38	South Dakota	$58,320	88.6	600	0.52×
39	North Carolina	$57,500	94.3	13,650	1.09×
40	Montana	$57,290	94.6	1,010	0.78×
41	Indiana	$57,030	93.3	5,910	0.73×
42	Rhode Island	$56,250	102.3	2,070	1.63×
43	Kansas	$55,000	90.1	2,210	0.61×
44	Iowa	$54,550	87.8	2,980	0.76×
45	South Carolina	$53,880	93.7	7,420	1.27×
46	Oklahoma	$53,170	87.8	3,110	0.72×
47	Idaho	$49,690	95.5	2,030	0.94×
48	Wyoming	$49,490	92.7	600	0.84×
49	Arkansas	$47,420	86.9	1,610	0.49×
50	Alabama	$47,260	88.8	5,700	1.07×
51	Mississippi	$46,180	87.0	2,270	0.77×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where paralegals and legal assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for paralegals and legal assistants

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$99,250	110.4	2,030	0.71×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$92,900	111.1	6,310	1.20×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$84,030	115.6	7,630	1.27×
4	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$81,590	108.9	12,990	1.64×
5	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$80,930	108.8	360	0.70×
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$80,500	105.8	3,740	0.92×
7	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$79,850	108.3	6,300	0.92×
8	Vallejo, CA	$79,280	108.5	160	0.43×
9	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$78,550	106.7	2,590	0.95×
10	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$78,160	107.8	290	0.56×
11	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$77,520	113.6	22,240	1.40×
12	Napa, CA	$77,020	112.6	80	0.43×
13	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$76,400	87.1	200	2.17×
14	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$76,300	111.9	4,440	1.14×
15	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$76,220	104.8	5,990	1.22×
16	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$75,430	105.4	3,510	1.15×
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$75,330	112.6	33,850	1.41×
18	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$75,230	103.9	70	0.54×
19	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$75,200	108.6	280	0.91×
20	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$74,780	110.5	520	0.64×
21	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$73,250	103.2	790	1.30×
22	Fairbanks-College, AK	$71,390	103.2	60	0.60×
23	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$71,310	105.6	190	0.79×
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$71,160	100.9	300	1.00×
25	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$71,140	103.7	570	1.73×
26	Worcester, MA	$70,990	102.5	480	0.54×
27	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$70,550	103.6	11,590	1.02×
28	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$70,520	105.1	290	0.39×
29	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$70,430	102.6	11,150	1.52×
30	Carson City, NV	$70,010	98.1	80	1.00×
31	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$69,600	101.6	50	0.41×
32	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$69,440	101.1	350	0.81×
33	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$67,500	102.7	1,930	1.27×
34	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$67,480	109.4	100	0.55×
35	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$66,720	100.2	2,660	0.93×
36	Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ	$66,540	98.9	330	0.77×
37	Iowa City, IA	$66,400	91.5	330	1.40×
38	Anchorage, AK	$66,210	105.4	390	0.88×
39	Boulder, CO	$66,090	105.2	400	0.82×
40	Springfield, MA	$65,820	96.1	430	0.84×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where paralegals and legal assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers$58,650
Legal Support Workers, All Other$72,110