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Last updated: 21 October 2026. Figures as of: BLS OEWS May 2025 (national, state and industry); BLS Employment Projections 2025–35; NALA testing fees (accessed 21 October 2026); College Board Trends in College Pricing 2025; LSAC LawHub tuition data for 2025 (accessed 21 October 2026).
Written by WageNorth Editorial. Fact-check: pending human review.
Part 1 of 2: Paralegal salary by state, certificate vs law school cost and payback
In this guide:
- Paralegal salary by state, certificate vs law school cost and payback (this page)
- Pay by employer and experience, and how to get there: certificates, certification and law school
The numbers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that paralegals and legal assistants earned a median of $62,890 a year ($30.24 an hour) in May 2025.
| Percentile (May 2025) | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| 10th | $44,740 |
| 25th | $50,340 |
| Median (50th) | $62,890 |
| 75th | $80,080 |
| 90th | $101,500 |
BLS counts paralegals and legal assistants as a single occupation, with 392,880 jobs in the May 2025 OEWS survey. For comparison, the median for all occupations was $50,980.
Salary by state, at a glance
| State | Median annual pay, May 2025 |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $89,750 |
| Washington | $79,400 |
| California | $77,390 |
| New York | $68,410 |
| Texas | $62,310 |
| Florida | $61,000 |
| Alabama | $47,260 |
| Mississippi | $46,180 |
The full table, with jobs and hourly rates, is below.
Certificate vs law school: cost and payback
| Paralegal route | Law school route | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical entry education (BLS) | Associate degree or certificate in paralegal studies | Bachelor’s degree, then a law degree (JD) and a state bar exam |
| Time from a standing start | About 2 years for an associate degree; less for a certificate if you already have a degree | About 7 years of full-time study after high school (BLS) |
| Tuition benchmark | $4,150 a year: average published in-district tuition and fees at public two-year colleges, 2025–26 (College Board) | Average law school tuition in 2025: $32,051 a year at public schools for residents, $59,759 at private schools (LSAC) |
| Optional credential | NALA Certified Paralegal: $325 for members, $375 for non-members | Bar admission fees vary by state |
| Median pay, May 2025 | $62,890 | $159,670 (lawyers) |
A simple payback comparison. Two years at the public two-year average comes to about $8,300 in tuition and fees, plus up to $375 for the NALA exam. Three years of law school at the 2025 averages comes to about $96,000 in tuition at a public school as a resident, or about $179,000 at a private school, before living costs and on top of a bachelor’s degree (WageNorth calculations). The lawyer median is $96,780 higher than the paralegal median, but it takes about five more years of study to reach. These are illustrations from averages and medians, not a prediction for any individual.
Outlook
BLS projects employment of paralegals and legal assistants to change by −0.3% from 2025 to 2035, which BLS describes as little or no change. Even so, it expects about 40,800 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or move to other jobs.
Paralegal vs legal assistant
In BLS statistics, “paralegals and legal assistants” are the same occupation (SOC 23-2011), so there’s no official pay figure for each title separately. Employers use the titles in different ways. Legal secretaries and administrative assistants are a separate BLS occupation, with a May 2025 median of $55,570 and a projected decline of 5.2%.
What moves pay most
- Employer type. Federal government and corporate legal departments pay more at the median than law firms (Part 2).
- Location. State medians range from $46,180 to $89,750 (full state table below).
- Experience and specialty. BLS doesn’t publish pay by specialty, but the percentile range is wide.
- Education and certification. BLS says paralegals typically need an associate degree or a certificate in paralegal studies. Some employers prefer a bachelor’s degree, and certification can help (Part 2).
So, is it worth it?
It can be a relatively quick entry into legal work, with a median above the all-occupation figure. But flat projected growth means competition for roles, especially at well-paying employers. The most reliable path to the upper percentiles is usually experience, specialisation and the right employer, rather than the credential alone.
In short: the median is $62,890, state medians run from $46,180 to $89,750, and a paralegal certificate costs a fraction of law school. Law school leads to a much higher median, but takes about seven years from a standing start.
State medians, May 2025
| State | Median annual pay | Median hourly | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $89,750 | $43.15 | 6,400 |
| Washington | $79,400 | $38.17 | 9,460 |
| Colorado | $78,190 | $37.59 | 5,620 |
| Massachusetts | $77,640 | $37.33 | 7,800 |
| California | $77,390 | $37.21 | 47,130 |
| Minnesota | $75,570 | $36.33 | 7,400 |
| New Jersey | $71,500 | $34.38 | 12,010 |
| Alaska | $68,700 | $33.03 | 570 |
| New York | $68,410 | $32.89 | 34,220 |
| Pennsylvania | $63,370 | $30.47 | 14,670 |
| Texas | $62,310 | $29.96 | 29,540 |
| Florida | $61,000 | $29.33 | 40,950 |
| Idaho | $49,690 | $23.89 | 2,030 |
| Wyoming | $49,490 | $23.80 | 600 |
| Arkansas | $47,420 | $22.80 | 1,610 |
| Alabama | $47,260 | $22.72 | 5,700 |
| Mississippi | $46,180 | $22.20 | 2,270 |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates (SOC 23-2011). The table shows the eight highest-paying areas, the five largest states by employment, and the five lowest-paying states.
What stands out
- Washington, DC is in a league of its own, with a median of $89,750. This likely reflects its concentration of federal agencies and large law firms. BLS doesn’t measure the causes.
- California and Florida are the biggest markets, with 47,130 and 40,950 jobs. California pays about $16,000 more at the median.
- New York is the third-largest market but sits below the top eight states on median pay. Metro data for New York City may be quite different, so check local figures.
Metro and local data
Paralegal pay often clusters in major cities with large firms, courts and corporate headquarters. On the BLS OEWS site, metropolitan-area estimates give local percentiles. Those are the figures to use when you compare offers.
A note on job ads
Job ads may show higher figures than these medians, especially for experienced roles at large firms. An ad shows one employer’s offer for one role. It doesn’t show typical earnings. We use BLS survey data because it covers the whole occupation.
How states compare with the national median
Against the national median of $62,890, DC is about 43% higher and Mississippi about 27% lower (WageNorth calculations from BLS figures). The two biggest Sunbelt markets sit just below the national figure: Florida’s median is $1,890 lower and Texas’s $580 lower. Eight areas have medians above $68,500, and all of them are on the coasts, in the West or in the Upper Midwest.
Hourly figures give the same picture: from $22.20 an hour in Mississippi to $43.15 in DC.
Check your metro area too
State medians combine big-city and rural pay. BLS also publishes OEWS wage estimates for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, so you can look up paralegals (occupation code 23-2011) in your own metro area. That gives a closer comparison than the state figure, especially in large states such as California, New York and Texas, where pay varies widely between regions.
In short: state medians run from about $46,000 to nearly $90,000. DC, the West Coast and the Northeast pay the most.
