Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,594
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$9,866
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,455
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$49,460
Kept after tax
$39,594
Worth in national money
$36,455
State rank
28
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Hawaii sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $49,460, ranking 28 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Hawaii, this sits in the middle: 320 of 437 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $49,460 the take-home is $39,594. But Hawaii costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $36,455 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $55,930, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Hawaii occupies the middle band for legal secretaries and administrative assistants: a median of $49,460, ranking 28 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 320 of 437 occupations in Hawaii 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Hawaii income tax is $39,594 for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, from $49,460. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,455. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $55,930 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,080 |
| This salary | $49,460 |
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 Hawaii | $39,594 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,685 |
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 | $46,563 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,084 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Hawaii earn under $49,460 and half over. The published range runs $48,310 at the tenth percentile to $75,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $39,594, from $49,460, 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 320 of 437 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,455 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 320.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,310 to $75,080; 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 Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,594 from $49,460. 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 320 of 437 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,455, worked from $49,460, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 320 of 437 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 $55,930, 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 $48,310 and the top tenth $75,080, so most people doing this work in Hawaii sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $36,455 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,594 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Hawaii is $55,930. 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 ($48,310 to $75,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,455 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 $39,594 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.