Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,326
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$9,364
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,108
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$49,690
Kept after tax
$40,326
Worth in national money
$44,108
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Idaho. The middle earner gets $49,690. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 20.99% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Idaho, this sits in the middle: 285 of 476 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Idaho is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $49,690 the take-home is $40,326; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $44,108 would nationally. The average comes to $54,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For paralegals and legal assistants, Idaho sits in the lower band at $49,690, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 20.99%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Paralegals and legal assistants ranks 285 of 476 occupations in Idaho 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.
- Post-tax income for paralegals and legal assistants in Idaho, on $49,690, is $40,326 — equivalent to $44,108 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $54,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,420 |
| This salary | $49,690 |
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 Idaho | $40,326 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,106 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$778 |
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 | $47,474 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$941 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 paralegals and legal assistants in Idaho earn under $49,690 and half over. The published range runs $36,930 at the tenth percentile to $75,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,326 take-home in Idaho comes from $49,690. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 285 of 476.
- One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,108, the adjusted value of that $49,690 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 285 of 476 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for paralegals and legal assistants in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,930 to $75,420; 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.
- Retained pay of $40,326, from $49,690, assumes a single Idaho filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 285 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $44,108 — the adjusted value of that $49,690 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 285 of 476 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 $54,640 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 $36,930, the highest tenth $75,420, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,108 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Idaho then takes its own share, leaving $40,326.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Idaho is $54,640. 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 ($36,930) and the ninetieth ($75,420) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho'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 $44,108 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 $40,326 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.