Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,827
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$12,423
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,240
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$63,250
Kept after tax
$50,827
Worth in national money
$56,240
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Nebraska pays this job a middle wage of $63,250, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 0.57% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 180 among 488 occupations Nebraska publishes pay for.
- Here is where Nebraska does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $63,250 you keep $50,827, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,240 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,480, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Nebraska's median for paralegals and legal assistants is $63,250, about 0.57% above the national figure and 17 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 180 of 488 in Nebraska places paralegals and legal assistants in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Nebraska income tax, retained pay for paralegals and legal assistants on $63,250 is $50,827. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,240 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 $63,480 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $44,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,990 |
| This salary | $63,250 |
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 Nebraska | $50,827 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,001 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,697 |
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 | $60,544 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,053 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,250 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,230 and the ninetieth is $86,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Nebraska's $50,827, worked from $63,250. 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 180 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nebraska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $56,240, the adjusted value of that $63,250 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 180 of 488 in the state.
- The Nebraska median of $63,250 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,230 to $86,990. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Nebraska take-home of $50,827, on $63,250 for work ranking 180 of 488 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 180 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nebraska, so $56,240 — the adjusted value of that $63,250 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 180 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $44,230 and the top tenth $86,990, so most people doing this work in Nebraska sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $56,240.
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 Nebraska's own levy, $50,827 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,230 to $86,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $56,240 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 $50,827 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.