Paralegal Salary in Utah 2026,
$63,220 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $63,220 a year, or $30.40 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $48,790 and $80,160 and a full range of $43,930 to $100,510. That is 0.5% above the $62,890 national median — essentially level — but the band is unusually wide, with the top decile more than doubling the bottom.

Salt Lake City-Murray at $64,670, by a wide margin over Ogden at $54,020, St. George at $51,350, Provo-Orem-Lehi at $47,830 and Logan at $46,290. The eighteen-thousand-dollar gap between Salt Lake City and Logan is the widest metro spread in this Utah unit, and it reflects how completely the legal profession concentrates in the state capital.

A limited licence, administered through the Utah State Bar, that authorises a qualifying paralegal to advise and represent clients directly in defined areas — family law, debt collection and landlord-tenant matters among them — without an attorney. It requires specified education, experience and examination. Only a handful of states offer anything comparable, and it is the single most distinctive feature of paralegal practice in Utah, because it converts a support role into one that can serve clients directly.

Not for the standard role. A paralegal works under attorney supervision, governed by the rules of professional conduct rather than a state credential, and employers screen on education and on NALA, NFPA or NALS certification. The Licensed Paralegal Practitioner credential is separate and optional — it is not required to work as a paralegal, but it is required to advise or represent clients directly in the areas it covers.

Because 'paralegal' covers everything from document support in a small firm to complex litigation and corporate transactional work in a large Salt Lake City practice, and Utah's legal market has both. The $43,930 tenth percentile reflects entry roles in the smaller markets, where Logan at $46,290 and Provo-Orem-Lehi at $47,830 sit; the $100,510 ninetieth reflects senior specialists in the capital. Firm type, practice area and seniority together account for more variation here than in any other occupation in this Utah unit.

It changes what the job can be. In every other role in this unit, the ceiling is set by the top of an employed pay band. The Licensed Paralegal Practitioner credential lets a qualified paralegal advise and represent clients directly in defined areas — family law, debt collection, landlord-tenant matters — which means fee income rather than salary, and a practice rather than a post. That is a genuinely different economic model, and it does not appear in a wage series at all. Utah created it to address unmet legal need in exactly those high-volume, moderate-complexity areas where many people cannot afford an attorney, and it is one of very few such credentials in the country.

Geography dominates it in a way the state median hides. Salt Lake City-Murray at $64,670 is close to the state figure, but Ogden at $54,020, St. George at $51,350, Provo-Orem-Lehi at $47,830 and Logan at $46,290 are all materially below it — a paralegal outside the capital should not plan around the state median. The figure also blends law firm employment with in-house corporate and government legal departments, which pay and progress quite differently, and it excludes overtime, which is significant in litigation support during trial preparation.

Salt Lake City, first and unambiguously — the eighteen-thousand-dollar gap to Logan is larger than any credential in this occupation. Then practice area: complex litigation, corporate transactional and intellectual property work pay above general practice, and they concentrate in the larger capital firms. NALA, NFPA or NALS certification supports the move to specialist work. Senior and lead paralegal roles reach the $80,160 seventy-fifth percentile. And the Licensed Paralegal Practitioner credential is the one route in this state out of the employed band entirely.