How much do legal secretarys make in 2026?
Legal secretaries earn a national median of $55,570 a year ($26.72 an hour) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 43-6012, legal secretaries and administrative assistants, with the bottom 10% near $36,500 and the top 10% at $91,730 across 156,280 workers. That is a good wage for an administrative occupation, and it reflects genuine specialist knowledge: court filing rules and electronic filing systems, document formatting conventions that matter legally, transcription of legal dictation, docketing and deadline calculation, and the client contact that comes with supporting fee earners. The honest part of this page is the outlook. BLS projects employment to fall 5.8% by 2034, a real decline rather than slow growth, and the reason is straightforward — document automation, electronic filing, practice management systems and attorneys doing their own drafting have removed a substantial share of the traditional workload, and firms have consolidated support ratios so that one secretary now covers several attorneys rather than one. The roles that remain are more senior and better paid, concentrated at the top of this band, and they combine secretarial work with docketing, billing and practice coordination. Roughly 19,600 openings a year still arise, almost entirely from replacement rather than growth. → Full legal secretary career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $55,570 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Legal Secretarys earn a national median $55,570/yr ($26.72/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 43-6012); the P10 to P90 range is $36,500 to $91,730.
- BLS projects legal secretary employment to fall 5.8% by 2034 — a genuine decline, driven by document automation, electronic filing and consolidated support ratios.
- The roles that remain are more senior and better paid, combining secretarial work with docketing, billing and practice coordination at the top of the $36,500 to $91,730 band.
- Roughly 19,600 openings a year still arise, but they come almost entirely from replacement rather than from the occupation growing.
US Legal Secretary Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do legal secretarys earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 43-6012; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 43-6012, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a legal secretary earn at each career stage?
Legal secretary pay follows the seniority of the fee earners supported and how much docketing and coordination the role carries. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 43-6012.
By State
Which states pay legal secretarys the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the national legal secretary median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Court filing systems and rules are state-specific, which makes this experience less portable across state lines than the modeled figures imply.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($63,910), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay legal secretarys the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations. The surviving senior roles concentrate at large firms in major legal centres, while smaller markets have absorbed more of the decline.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a legal secretary’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does legal secretary pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Legal Secretarys sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify legal secretary wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a legal secretary actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Legal Secretary Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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