Legal Assistant Salary From The BLS
Legal Assistant Salary
Where Legal Assistant Salary Sits
Annual pay for paralegals and legal assistants in May 2025. Half earned between $50,340 and $80,080.
The bar runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the solid band is the middle half. BLS
Legal Assistant Salary At A Glance
- BLS counts legal assistants and paralegals as one occupation, and its median was $62,890 a year, $30.24 an hour, in May 2025.
- Where an employer means a secretarial job by the title, BLS counts it as legal secretaries and administrative assistants, whose median was $55,570, $7,320 less than paralegals and legal assistants.
- District of Columbia pays paralegals and legal assistants the highest median, $89,750.
- The duties, not the title, decide which of the two figures a job belongs to.
The federal answer to what a legal assistant earns is the paralegal figure. BLS publishes one set of wages for the occupation it calls Paralegals and Legal Assistants, SOC 23-2011, and defines it this way:
Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action. Excludes "Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants" (43-6012).
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, SOC 23-2011, May 2025
The last sentence matters for a salary. Job titles reported in the occupation, in O*NET's sample, include Legal Assistant, Paralegal and Litigation Paralegal. Titles reported by legal secretaries and administrative assistants include Legal Secretary, Legal Administrative Assistant and Legal Practice Assistant. An offer for a "legal assistant" can be either job, and the two pay differently.
Legal Assistant Salary Nationally
Paralegals and legal assistants earned a median $62,890 in May 2025, and a mean of $69,700, which the best-paid pull up. A quarter earned less than $50,340 and a quarter more than $80,080. BLS counted 392,880 people in the occupation. The figures are what employers reported paying, so they include every legal assistant, new or senior, and no federal source breaks them down by experience or credential.
| 10th percentile | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $44,740 | $50,340 | $62,890 | $80,080 | $101,500 |
Legal Assistant Or Legal Secretary: Two Federal Figures
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants (SOC 43-6012) earned a median $55,570, $7,320 less than paralegals and legal assistants (SOC 23-2011), and $26.72 an hour against $30.24. There are fewer of them: BLS counted 156,280, against 392,880 paralegals and legal assistants. The two jobs are set side by side, task by task, in paralegal vs. legal assistant.
| Measure | Paralegals and legal assistants | Legal secretaries | Paralegals against secretaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median, a year | $62,890 | $55,570 | +$7,320 |
| Hourly median | $30.24 | $26.72 | +$3.52 |
| 10th percentile | $44,740 | $36,500 | +$8,240 |
| 90th percentile | $101,500 | $91,730 | +$9,770 |
| Employed | 392,880 | 156,280 | +236,600 |
Legal Assistant Salary By State
The five states that pay paralegals and legal assistants the highest medians, from the same release: District of Columbia ($89,750), Washington ($79,400), Colorado ($78,190), Massachusetts ($77,640) and California ($77,390). Every state's median and range is on the paralegal salary page. These are wages, not adjusted for living costs.