Paralegals and Legal Assistants · SOC 23-2011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Paralegals and Legal Assistantss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (2 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 376 metro areas

Paralegals and Legal Assistants: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$99,250	2,030	1.8
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$92,900	6,310	3.0
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$84,030	7,630	3.2
4	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$81,590	12,990	4.1
5	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$80,930	360	1.8
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$80,500	3,740	2.3
7	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$79,850	6,300	2.3
8	Vallejo, CA	$79,280	160	1.1
9	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$78,550	2,590	2.4
10	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$78,160	290	1.4
11	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$77,520	22,240	3.5
12	Napa, CA	$77,020	80	1.1
13	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$76,400	200	5.5
14	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$76,300	4,440	2.9
15	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$76,220	5,990	3.1
16	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$75,430	3,510	2.9
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$75,330	33,850	3.6
18	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$75,230	70	1.4
19	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$75,200	280	2.3
20	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$74,780	520	1.6
21	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$73,250	790	3.3
22	Fairbanks-College, AK	$71,390	60	1.5
23	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$71,310	190	2.0
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$71,160	300	2.5
25	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$71,140	570	4.4

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Paralegals and Legal Assistants overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.