Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of legal secretary salary by state for the United States:
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California has the highest legal secretary salary of $53,552
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Montana has the lowest legal secretary salary of $30,632
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The national average salary for legal secretaries is $41,725
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The national hourly pay for legal secretaries is $20.06
You can read more on the specific methodology.
Background
Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do legal secretaries get paid where I live?
And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for legal secretary by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.
The state with the best salary for legal secretaries after this adjustment? That would be California.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for legal secretary salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Legal Secretaries By State
| Rank | State | Average Legal Secretary Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $53,552 | $34,000 | $82,000 |
| 2 | West Virginia | $53,189 | $35,000 | $79,000 |
| 3 | Colorado | $50,347 | $35,000 | $72,000 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $48,850 | $33,000 | $71,000 |
| 5 | New Jersey | $48,210 | $31,000 | $72,000 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | $47,967 | $35,000 | $64,000 |
| 7 | New York | $45,795 | $30,000 | $68,000 |
| 8 | Vermont | $45,352 | $36,000 | $56,000 |
| 9 | Delaware | $44,136 | $28,000 | $67,000 |
| 10 | Wyoming | $43,713 | $31,000 | $61,000 |
| 11 | Illinois | $43,685 | $30,000 | $62,000 |
| 12 | Utah | $43,531 | $30,000 | $62,000 |
| 13 | Mississippi | $43,422 | $28,000 | $65,000 |
| 14 | Nebraska | $43,408 | $30,000 | $61,000 |
| 15 | New Hampshire | $43,363 | $33,000 | $56,000 |
| 16 | Nevada | $43,037 | $28,000 | $64,000 |
| 17 | Minnesota | $42,925 | $31,000 | $58,000 |
| 18 | Pennsylvania | $42,759 | $28,000 | $64,000 |
| 19 | Kansas | $42,759 | $29,000 | $62,000 |
| 20 | Maryland | $42,746 | $27,000 | $65,000 |
| 21 | Alaska | $42,315 | $37,000 | $47,000 |
| 22 | Washington | $41,595 | $30,000 | $57,000 |
| 23 | Texas | $41,574 | $27,000 | $62,000 |
| 24 | New Mexico | $41,385 | $27,000 | $61,000 |
| 25 | Michigan | $41,219 | $28,000 | $59,000 |
| 26 | Oregon | $40,816 | $28,000 | $58,000 |
| 27 | Virginia | $40,508 | $26,000 | $61,000 |
| 28 | Florida | $39,662 | $26,000 | $59,000 |
| 29 | Alabama | $38,790 | $25,000 | $58,000 |
| 30 | North Dakota | $38,757 | $29,000 | $51,000 |
| 31 | Wisconsin | $38,376 | $27,000 | $54,000 |
| 32 | Arizona | $37,680 | $25,000 | $56,000 |
| 33 | Rhode Island | $37,109 | $26,000 | $52,000 |
| 34 | Missouri | $37,106 | $25,000 | $54,000 |
| 35 | North Carolina | $36,715 | $24,000 | $55,000 |
| 36 | Louisiana | $36,615 | $24,000 | $55,000 |
| 37 | Indiana | $34,784 | $23,000 | $50,000 |
| 38 | Georgia | $34,739 | $22,000 | $52,000 |
| 39 | Kentucky | $34,734 | $23,000 | $51,000 |
| 40 | Tennessee | $34,170 | $22,000 | $51,000 |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $34,166 | $23,000 | $50,000 |
| 42 | Iowa | $33,978 | $23,000 | $48,000 |
| 43 | Hawaii | $33,799 | $25,000 | $44,000 |
| 44 | Ohio | $32,857 | $22,000 | $48,000 |
| 45 | Arkansas | $31,570 | $21,000 | $47,000 |
| 46 | Maine | $31,397 | $25,000 | $38,000 |
| 47 | Idaho | $31,216 | $22,000 | $44,000 |
| 48 | South Carolina | $31,212 | $20,000 | $47,000 |
| 49 | South Dakota | $31,166 | $22,000 | $42,000 |
| 50 | Montana | $30,632 | $22,000 | $41,000 |
Methodology: Legal Secretary Salary By State
To better understand legal secretary pay by state, Zippia has aggregated data across a multitude of channels including the BLS, FLC, and OPM. We then supplement that data with actual listed salaries from job posts. Finally, the data science team calculates a weighted average of these inputs to create an average pay for legal secretaries by state.
We took the average annual salary data for legal secretaries from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for legal secretaries.
Legal Secretary Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for legal secretaries?
The highest-paid state for legal secretaries is California with an average salary of $53,552 per year.
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What city pays legal secretaries the most?
Washington, DC pays legal secretaries the most with an average salary of $61,547 per year.
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What is the worst state for legal secretaries?
The worst state for legal secretaries is Montana with an average salary of $30,632 per year.
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
