Legal Support Workers, All Other in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,321
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$20,509
23.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,022
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$85,830
Kept after tax
$65,321
Worth in national money
$58,022
State rank
6
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays legal support workers, all other a middle wage of $85,830, ranking 6 of 45 states and sitting about 19.03% above the national middle.
- Against other work in California, this sits in the middle: 168 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $85,830, tax leaves $65,321 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,022 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $92,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for legal support workers, all other is $85,830, about 19.03% above the national figure and 6 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Legal support workers, all other ranks 168 of 492 occupations in California 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 tax, $65,321 remains from the California median of $85,830 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,022 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $92,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Legal Support Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $142,610 |
| This salary | $85,830 |
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 California | $65,321 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,211 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,202 |
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 | $80,300 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,236 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in California earn less than $85,830. The published range is $49,350 up to $142,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $65,321, worked from $85,830. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 168 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $58,022 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 168.
- Reported values are medians; for legal support workers, all other in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,350 to $142,610. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $65,321, on $85,830 for work ranking 168 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 168 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,022, worked from $85,830, 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 California address, on work sitting at 168 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $92,750 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,350, the highest tenth $142,610, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $58,022 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; California then takes its own share, leaving $65,321.
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 45 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 California is $92,750. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($49,350) and the ninetieth ($142,610) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $58,022 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 $65,321 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.