Paralegal Salaries in California
While lawyers are often the target of statements such as crime novelist Mario Puzo's quote, "A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns," paralegals stay out of the spotlight and acrimony. Paralegals form the foundation and support for the firms where they work, performing clerical tasks, research, correspondence and other daily duties. California's paralegals earned salaries higher than the country's average for their profession.
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Facts
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics determined the average salary for paralegals nationwide to be $50,080 per year in 2009, as published in its Occupational Employment and Wages report. On average, paralegals in California earned higher than their countrywide counterparts, averaging statewide salaries of $57,230 per year, a difference of $7,150 per year.
Range
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Not all of California's 26,830 paralegals (as of May 2009) earned higher than average salaries. In California's overall bottom 10th percentile of earners, paralegal salaries averaged $34,010 annually. At the opposite end of the scale, paralegal salaries in the highest earning 90th percentile reached $89,300 per year.
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Cities
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Paralegal salaries varied widely not just between California residents and the rest of the country, but within the state itself. Average salaries for California paralegals were as high as $64,520 in the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City area and as low as $32,850 in Visalia-Porterville. Some paralegals earning in the 90th percentile averaged more than twice the national average. Stockton led the state with 90th percentile salaries of $114,340 per year, followed by the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area, at $100,090 per year. The lowest paralegal salaries in the state were in Chico at $18,670 per year and Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario at $25,080 annually.
Considerations
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Becoming a paralegal in California requires postsecondary education, either at the two-year associate degree level or four-year bachelor's degree; the two-year associate degree is the most common. The American Bar Association approved 27 institutions in California teaching paralegal studies, including the University of California (multiple locations), West Los Angeles College, Cuyamaca College, Fremont College, California State University (East Bay and Los Angeles) and Pasadena City College.
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References
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