Paralegals and Legal Assistants Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $55K, rent takes 29.6% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,064/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new paralegals and legal assistants typically earn — is $38K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,274/month. At HUD’s $1,064/month FMR, rent would take 47% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 13% below the national median — $55K here vs. $63K nationally. Cost of living is 11% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Iowa pays $55K median vs. the U.S. average of $63K — that’s -13%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $61K — below the national median.

The median is $54,550 a year, that works out to about $26 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $37,900, and experienced paralegals and legal assistants can clear $83,520. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,599/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 29.6% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Iowa has a Regional Price Parity of 88.86 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median paralegals and legal assistants salary is worth about $61,389 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.