Paralegals and Legal Assistants

United States. Estimated employment 392,880, with pages for 43 metro areas below.

Data released May 2025 BLS OEWS · SOC 23-2011

Fig. 1 — The wage rule

Where you sit in the distribution

Drag the marker, or type a figure

$62,890 · 50th

$44,74010th

$50,34025th

$62,89050th

$80,08075th

$101,50090th

That is the median — half of people in this occupation in the US earn more.

Table 1 — By metro area

Where it pays

Every published Paralegals and Legal Assistants page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.

Metro area	Median	Employment
San Jose, CA	$99,250	2,030
San Francisco, CA	$84,030	7,630
Washington, DC	$81,590	12,990
Santa Maria, CA	$80,930	360
Vallejo, CA	$79,280	160
Sacramento, CA	$78,550	2,590
Santa Rosa, CA	$78,160	290
Los Angeles, CA	$77,520	22,240
New York, NY	$75,330	33,850
Chicago, IL	$70,550	11,590
Philadelphia, PA	$70,430	11,150
Naples, FL	$64,660	520
Atlanta, GA	$64,080	10,290
Pittsburgh, PA	$63,620	2,620
Jacksonville, FL	$62,480	2,170
Kingston, NY	$62,210	140
Miami, FL	$62,090	17,820
Lancaster, PA	$61,780	330
Kiryas Joel, NY	$61,350	600
Peoria, IL	$61,220	370
Syracuse, NY	$61,150	970
Allentown, PA	$61,000	430
Cape Coral, FL	$60,700	910
Albany, NY	$60,680	1,340
Binghamton, NY	$60,420	240
Port St. Lucie, FL	$60,370	490
Savannah, GA	$60,370	610
Harrisburg, PA	$60,360	1,000
Bloomington, IL	$60,160	260
Tampa, FL	$60,150	6,630
North Port, FL	$60,070	990
Springfield, IL	$59,990	230
Rockford, IL	$59,700	200
Orlando, FL	$59,470	5,480
York, PA	$59,400	240
Glens Falls, NY	$59,170	100
Champaign, IL	$58,580	100
Reading, PA	$58,570	200
Gainesville, GA	$56,200	200
Columbus, GA	$52,280	220
Augusta, GA	$51,560	420
Brunswick, GA	$50,690	170
Warner Robins, GA	$50,340	110

Sources

How this page was made

Wage data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
Employment: 392,880 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
Occupation: SOC 23-2011, Paralegals and Legal Assistants. Mapped to our taxonomy as paralegals-and-legal-assistants.

Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.

Full methodology All occupations