Paralegals and Legal Assistants Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $47K, rent takes 44.9% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,399/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $900/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new paralegals and legal assistants typically earn — is $38K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,257/month.

Local pay runs 26% below the national median — $47K here vs. $63K nationally.

Southwest Virginia nonmetropolitan area pays $47K median vs. the U.S. average of $63K — that’s -26%.

The median is $46,670 a year, that works out to about $22 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $37,610, and experienced paralegals and legal assistants can clear $62,440. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,114/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,399/month, which eats 44.9% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Southwest Virginia nonmetropolitan area has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median paralegals and legal assistants salary is worth about $46,670 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.