Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
SOC 43-6012 · 2024-2034
Perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents. Prepare legal papers and correspondence, such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas. May also assist with legal research.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $64,347per year
- Projected openings
- 36,250
- Projected change
- 0%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Speaking
- Time Management
- Service Orientation
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $108,416 | 1,160 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $91,642 | 100 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $90,718 | 2,420 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $76,970 | 960 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $68,004 | 620 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $63,826 | 230 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $63,591 | 50 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $62,978 | 320 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $62,528 | 1,470 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $62,467 | 480 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $62,314 | 200 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $61,476 | 3,380 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $60,402 | 11,210 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $59,178 | 60 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $58,722 | 3,400 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $58,646 | 50 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $51,261 | 40 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $50,464 | 1,600 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $50,239 | 140 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $49,422 | 130 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $48,727 | 150 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $47,369 | 110 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $46,184 | 240 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | Not reported | 50 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | Not reported | 40 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | Not reported | 90 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | Not reported | 130 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $41,673
- A quarter earn under
- $51,224
- Half earn under
- $64,347
- Three quarters earn under
- $82,558
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $109,102
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paralegals and Legal Assistants | $79,556 | 52,900 | +6% |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | $56,711 | 182,240 | +1.4% |
| Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants | $91,106 | 62,570 | +1.3% |
| Court, Municipal, and License Clerks | $64,818 | 13,520 | +5.5% |
| Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners | $119,268 | 1,690 | -5.3% |
| Office Clerks, General | $49,607 | 356,700 | -4.5% |
Programs that train for this job — 2
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