Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,493
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$9,627
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,996
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$55,120
Kept after tax
$45,493
Worth in national money
$44,996
State rank
20
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Arizona pays this job around $55,120 at the midpoint, 20 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 270 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $55,120, take-home of $45,493 is worth roughly $44,996 in national money. The average comes to $58,860, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For legal secretaries and administrative assistants the Arizona median is $55,120, ranking 20 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 270 of 491 occupations in Arizona by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, whose median is $55,120, the adjusted figure of $44,996 differs little from $45,493 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $58,860 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,470 |
| This salary | $55,120 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $45,493 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,469 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,824 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $53,906 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,415 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Arizona earn under $55,120 and half over. The published range runs $41,410 at the tenth percentile to $78,470 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $45,493, from $55,120, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 270 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,996 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 270.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $41,410 to $78,470; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,493 from $55,120. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 270 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,996, worked from $55,120, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arizona address, on work sitting at 270 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $58,860, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $41,410 and the top tenth $78,470, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $44,996 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $45,493 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $58,860. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($41,410 to $78,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $44,996 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $45,493 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.