# Paralegals and Legal Assistants

SOC 23-2011. Page: https://educationguide.com/careers/paralegals-and-legal-assistants

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.

## Pay and outlook
- U.S. median wage $62,890 (middle half $50,340–$80,080; BLS May 2025)
- Ages 25-34: median $50,762; 63% hold a bachelor's or higher (Census ACS 2020-2024)
- Jobs 2025-35: -0.3%; ~40.8k openings a year; typical entry: Associate's degree

## Fields of degree of young workers (ages 25-34, bachelor's+)
- Political Science And Government: 13% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/political-science)
- Criminal Justice And Fire Protection: 10% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/criminal-justice, https://educationguide.com/degrees/security-homeland-security)
- Psychology: 6% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/psychology)
- English Language And Literature: 6% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/english)
- Business Management And Administration: 5% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/business-administration)
- Pre-Law And Legal Studies: 4% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/legal-studies-paralegal, https://educationguide.com/degrees/legal-support-services)
- History: 4% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/history)
- Sociology: 3% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/sociology)
- Communications: 2% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/communications, https://educationguide.com/degrees/communication-journalism-and-related-programs-other)
- Criminology: 2% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/criminology)

## Median wage by state
- AK: $68,700
- AL: $47,260
- AR: $47,420
- AZ: $61,630
- CA: $77,390
- CO: $78,190
- CT: $63,820
- DC: $89,750
- DE: $63,110
- FL: $61,000
- GA: $62,400
- GU: $37,920
- HI: $62,840
- IA: $54,550
- ID: $49,690
- IL: $63,670
- IN: $57,030
- KS: $55,000
- KY: $59,830
- LA: $60,250
- MA: $77,640
- MD: $65,640
- ME: $62,420
- MI: $62,170
- MN: $75,570
- MO: $61,410
- MS: $46,180
- MT: $57,290
- NC: $57,500
- ND: $59,430
- NE: $63,250
- NH: $62,040
- NJ: $71,500
- NM: $59,840
- NV: $64,680
- NY: $68,410
- OH: $60,420
- OK: $53,170
- OR: $61,490
- PA: $63,370
- PR: $38,770
- RI: $56,250
- SC: $53,880
- SD: $58,320
- TN: $58,820
- TX: $62,310
- UT: $63,220
- VA: $63,990
- VI: $52,140
- VT: $67,160
- WA: $79,400
- WI: $58,500
- WV: $59,000
- WY: $49,490

Method: https://educationguide.com/how-we-score#careers

Free to reuse with attribution: cite "EducationGuide.com" with a link to the page URL. Most figures are U.S. government data (public domain); loan default rates and athletics come from the Urban Institute Education Data Portal (ODC-By 1.0, attribution required) and founding years from Wikidata (CC0). O*NET data: CC BY 4.0, O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA).