Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,824
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$10,586
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,148
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$55,410
Kept after tax
$44,824
Worth in national money
$48,148
State rank
18
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays this job around $55,410 at the midpoint, 18 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 290 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $55,410 you keep $44,824, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,148 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $56,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For legal secretaries and administrative assistants the Wisconsin median is $55,410, ranking 18 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 290 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for legal secretaries and administrative assistants on $55,410 is $44,824. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,148 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $56,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,860 |
| This salary | $55,410 |
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 Wisconsin | $44,824 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,702 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$88 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $53,073 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$106 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Wisconsin earn under $55,410 and half over. The published range runs $46,020 at the tenth percentile to $75,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $44,824, from $55,410, 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 290 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 $48,148 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. 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 290.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,020 to $75,860; 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 Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $44,824 from $55,410. 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 290 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,148, worked from $55,410, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 290 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,020 at the tenth percentile, $75,860 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $48,148 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $44,824.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,020 to $75,860) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $48,148 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $44,824 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.