Salaries for Legal Secretaries: The Ultimate Guide

Having a secretary perform regular office tasks is commonplace for many businesses and corporations today, but what are the salaries for legal secretaries? Legal secretaries are employed in many law firms where they are responsible for performing a number of general office duties. These duties differ from job to job, but often include answering phones, creating appointment schedules and sending professional correspondence to clients and opposing counsel.

Introduction

If you are looking for legal secretary salary information, we have some research based numbers to help you make your decision. Inside we’ll give you some brief information on what their jobs entail as well as how much they are making in each state. Handy, right?

How Much Do Legal Secretary Jobs Pay per Hour?

$20,000$42,868 /year$69,500

$21 /hour

How Much Do Legal Secretary Jobs Pay per Hour? Comparison by Location

Nationwide

United States

$21

Lagos, NG

$21

How much does a Legal Secretary make?

As of Jun 21, 2022, the average hourly pay for a Legal Secretary in the United States is $20.61 an hour.

While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $33.41 and as low as $9.62, the majority of Legal Secretary wages currently range between $15.62 (25th percentile) to $24.04 (75th percentile) across the United States. The average pay range for a Legal Secretary varies greatly (by as much as $8.41), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.

Based on recent job posting activity on ZipRecruiter, the Legal Secretary job market in both Lagos, NG and throughout the entire state of is not very active as few companies are currently hiring. A Legal Secretary in your area makes on average $21 per hour, or $0.03 (0%) more than the national average hourly salary of $20.61. ranks number 1 out of 50 states nationwide for Legal Secretary salaries.

To estimate the most accurate hourly salary range for Legal Secretary jobs, ZipRecruiter continuously scans its database of millions of active jobs published locally throughout America.

Find your next high paying job as a Legal Secretary on ZipRecruiter today.

What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Legal Secretary Jobs

We’ve identified 10 cities where the typical salary for a Legal Secretary job is above the national average. Topping the list is Sunnyvale, CA, with Santa Rosa, CA and Cambridge, MA close behind in the second and third positions. Cambridge, MA beats the national average by $7,522 (17.5%), and Sunnyvale, CA furthers that trend with another $10,748 (25.1%) above the $42,868 average.

With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as a Legal Secretary appears to be exceedingly fruitful.

Finally, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top ten cities varies very little at 10% between Sunnyvale, CA and San Mateo, CA, reinforcing the limited potential for much wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may be the best factor to use when considering location and salary for a Legal Secretary role.

CityAnnual SalaryMonthly PayWeekly PayHourly Wage
Sunnyvale, CA$53,616$4,468$1,031$25.78
Santa Rosa, CA$52,195$4,350$1,004$25.09
Cambridge, MA$50,390$4,199$969$24.23
Vacaville, CA$49,271$4,106$948$23.69
New York City, NY$49,030$4,086$943$23.57
Long Beach, CA$48,627$4,052$935$23.38
Fairfield, CA$48,605$4,050$935$23.37
Lynn, MA$48,562$4,047$934$23.35
Costa Mesa, CA$48,348$4,029$930$23.24
San Mateo, CA$48,167$4,014$926$23.16

What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Legal Secretary Jobs in the U.S.

We found at least five jobs related to the Legal Secretary job category that pay more per year than a typical Legal Secretary salary. Top examples of these roles include: Director Legal Secretary, Senior Litigation Secretary, and Chief Secretary.

Importantly, all of these jobs are paid between $28,500 (66.5%) and $45,345 (105.8%) more than the average Legal Secretary salary of $42,868. If you’re qualified, getting hired for one of these related Legal Secretary jobs may help you make more money than that of the average Legal Secretary position.

Job TitleAnnual SalaryMonthly PayWeekly PayHourly Wage
Director Legal Secretary$88,213$7,351$1,696$42.41
Senior Litigation Secretary$78,879$6,573$1,517$37.92
Chief Secretary$77,060$6,422$1,482$37.05
Legal Secretarial$75,453$6,288$1,451$36.28
Work From Home Financial Secretary$71,368$5,947$1,372$34.31

Conclusion

As you can see, salaries for legal secretaries vary significantly from one region to another. If you live in a big city and are willing to work long hours, a good salary is there for the taking. The same goes for professionals who excel in a niche area of law. But if you’re just starting out your career and want comparable pay as experienced secretaries, you might have to consider relocating to a place offering a better salary for associates. And if you work in an isolated area or with more boring clients, your paycheck will reflect that fact. Perhaps then it’s best not to worry too much about getting a higher salary until you’ve gained some experience. It’s not the end of the world!

Leave a Reply