Paralegal salary
What a paralegal actually earns, from 1,174 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-07.
Switch the market above to see paralegal pay in the 4 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A paralegal earns a blended US median near 70,417 dollars, with the typical middle running from 58,173 dollars to 87,512 dollars. The official OEWS median is 61,010 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 18 percent since 2019. By seniority, posted pay runs from roughly 53,313 dollars to 72,500 dollars. Demand is rated high, and 2% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is lawyer, at 26 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open paralegal roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
Senior Contracts Manager at ShieldaiMelbourneTodayApply
1099 Professional Liability Paralegal at ZirtualUnited States · Remote1d agoApply
V105- Legal Secretary at Job DuckUnited States · Remote2d agoApply
No-Fault Paralegal at Orion PlacementUnited States · Remote$45k–$65k3d agoApply- PARALEGAL SPECIALIST at Air Force Legal Operations AgencyAndrews AFB, Maryland$102k–$133k3d agoApply
- Legal Research and Litigation Support Paralegal at Bureau of the Fiscal ServiceMultiple Locations$62k–$133k3d agoApply
By seniority
Posted-median pay by seniority signal in the title, from our corpus. Noisy at the edges where sample sizes are small.
By country
- United States$58,173$70,417$87,512
- Canada$49,628$57,842$69,049
- Australia$58,372$67,559$75,216
- United Kingdom$37,176$40,556$47,315
Switzerland · official wage bands
median CHF 7'078/month
Swiss postings do not state pay, so these are not posted salaries: they are the federal wage survey (Lohnstrukturerhebung 2024) for the ISCO group 34 Juristische, soziale, kulturelle und verwandte Fachkräfte: standardized gross monthly, full-time, 13th salary included pro rata. The band covers the whole occupation group, which is coarser than this occupation alone.
Annual ≈ CHF 84'936 at the median. Source: Bundesamt für Statistik, LSE 2024.
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- District of Columbia$99,300
- Washington$78,010
- Massachusetts$74,990
- Colorado$73,380
- California$72,960
- New York$66,390
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a paralegal profile already covers.
- 600 open lawyer roles$179,958 median · +$109,541 · 26% readiness
- 14 open patent agent roles$146,650 median · +$76,233 · 18% readiness
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Lawyer salary$179,958 median
- Patent Agent salary$146,650 median
Quick answers
How much does a paralegal make?
The blended US median is about 70,417 dollars, with a typical range from 58,173 dollars to 87,512 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 61,010 dollars.
Is paralegal a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 2% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a paralegal move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is lawyer, at 26 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 23-2011. Unemployment is the 2025 BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) CPS (Current Population Survey) annual-average rate for “Paralegals and legal assistants.” Live corpus 1,174 observations, 2026-09-07. Definitions in the glossary.