Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Vermont

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May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$53,755

after federal, FICA and Vermont tax

Tax takes

$13,405

20.0% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$55,627

Vermont costs less than average

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

$67,160

Kept after tax

$53,755

Worth in national money

$55,627

State rank

10

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for this job is strong here. Vermont's middle earner gets $67,160, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 6.79% ahead of the national figure.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 178 among 453 occupations Vermont publishes pay for.
  • Vermont is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $67,160 the take-home is $53,755; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,627 would nationally. The average comes to $69,020, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For paralegals and legal assistants, Vermont sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $67,160, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 6.79% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
  • Position 178 of 453 in Vermont 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.
  • Post-tax income for paralegals and legal assistants in Vermont, on $67,160, is $53,755 — equivalent to $55,627 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 $69,020 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$48,650
Half earn under$67,160
Top tenth earn over$87,390
This salary$67,160

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

Compare with
+$2,322take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Vermont$53,755
Take-home in Texas$56,077
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$2,081

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

Moving to
$0now · $67,160$64,562
$64,562in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$64,188
You could take a cut of−$2,598
Prices in Texas97 vs 97

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $67,160 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,650 and the ninetieth is $87,390 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Vermont the take-home figure of $53,755, from $67,160, 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 178 of 453 occupations here.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,627, the adjusted value of that $67,160 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 178 of 453 in the state.
  • The Vermont median of $67,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,650 to $87,390. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,755 from $67,160. 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 178 of 453 locally.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $55,627 — the adjusted value of that $67,160 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 178 of 453 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $48,650 at the bottom tenth to $87,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $55,627.

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; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $53,755.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,650 to $87,390) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Vermont'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 $55,627 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 $53,755 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.