Paralegal salary in Washington

Official occupation: 23-2011 Paralegals and Legal Assistants · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100

In Washington, the median paralegal earns $79,400 a year, 26% above the United States median of $62,890.

That is the 2nd-highest median among the 51 states with a published figure.

Pay is relatively compressed, with the 10th percentile at $50,470 and the 90th at $116,750 (a ratio of 2.3).

About 9,460 people work in this occupation here, roughly in line with its national share (location quotient 1.05).

For context, the median across all occupations in Washington is $62,990, so this role pays 1.3 times the local typical wage.

Published figures

Published and derived pay figures
MeasureWashingtonNational
Median annual pay Observed$79,400United States: $62,890
Mean annual pay Observed$83,740United States: $69,700
10th percentile Observed$50,470United States: $44,740
25th percentile Observed$62,670United States: $50,340
75th percentile Observed$100,960United States: $80,080
90th percentile Observed$116,750United States: $101,500
Median hourly pay Observed$38.17United States: $30.24
Employment (jobs) Observed9,460
Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed2.663
Location quotient Observed1.05
Difference from United States median ($62,890) Derived+26%
Rank among 51 states Derived2
Ratio to Washington all-occupation median ($62,990) Derived1.26×
90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived2.31

Nearby in the ranking

  1. 1. District of Columbia$89,750
  2. 2. Washington$79,400
  3. 3. Colorado$78,190
  4. 4. Massachusetts$77,640

Largest cities in Washington: Seattle, Tri-Cities, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.

More pay data

Source, method and data quality

  • Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (Public domain (U.S. Government work)). Reference period: May 2025. Updates: Yearly (spring release).
  • Observed figures are copied from the published table without adjustment. Derived figures (rankings, ratios and differences) are calculated by us from those observed figures. No figure on this page is modeled or estimated.
  • Relative standard error (PRSE) published per estimate.
  • Confidence score: 95/100. Based on the published sampling error and job count. We only publish region pages scoring 60 or more that have at least 6 observed figures.
  • Place hierarchy from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Data last updated: .
  • Full method: methodology.