What Paralegals and Legal Assistants earn in Harris County, TX
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $62,730: the median annual pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Harris County, TX. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $30.16 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $69,250, which is 10.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,320 people working in this occupation across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Harris County, TX has roughly 4,838,303 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $42,160 a year ($20.27 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $101,370 or more ($48.74 an hour). That is a gap of $59,210 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $49,840 at the 25th percentile and $80,230 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.4 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $30.16 an hour or $62,730 a year at the median for Harris County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $5,228 a month, $2,413 every two weeks and $1,206 each week. After taxes the same job pays $25.26 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Paralegals and Legal Assistants this way: "Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents"; "Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system"; "Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits"; "Meet with clients and other professionals to discuss details of cases".
Job outlook for Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 404,900 jobs in 2025 to 403,800 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 40,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 10.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: associate's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $62,890 for this occupation; the Harris County, TX median of $62,730 is 0.3% below it.
How pay in Harris County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
A worker in this occupation in Harris County, TX earns $2,355 more than the Texas average of $60,375, a premium of 3.9%. Over a year that premium is worth $2,355 before tax and roughly $1,972 after tax. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $63,220 in Dallas County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $65,930 across the contiguous United States. At $62,730, Harris County, TX pays $3,200 less, which is 4.8% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Harris County, TX
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Harris County, TX, Paralegals and Legal Assistants ranks number 270 by median pay, ahead of about 56% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $172,160 a year, which is $109,430 more than the median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Paralegals and Legal Assistants earning the Harris County, TX median of $62,730, they add up to $10,198. The result is $52,532 of take-home pay a year ($4,378 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $46,980. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,399, an effective 8.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,889 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $910. FICA totals $4,799, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Harris County, TX is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $3,137 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $261 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Harris County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Harris County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $93,479 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.1% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.9%, compared with the 8.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Harris County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Harris County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $52,532 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Harris County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,261 a month ($15,132 a year), and at $1,497 for two bedrooms. For Paralegals and Legal Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 28.8% of take-home pay and 24.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.5% of gross pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Harris County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $22,199 a year in Harris County, TX. Subtract that from $52,532 of take-home pay and $30,333 remains, which is $2,528 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 48.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Harris County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Harris County, TX: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Harris County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Harris County, TX
Homeowners in Harris County, TX pay a median of $4,489 a year in real estate taxes, 6% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 44% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $276,600, the median tax bill is 1.62% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Paralegals and Legal Assistants median of $62,730, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Harris County, TX
Renters in Harris County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,401 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Texas median of $1,403. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,261 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $276,600, 3% below the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $74,983, 4% below the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.2% of that income.
Commuting in Harris County, TX
Workers in Harris County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 29.0 minutes each way, 9% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.9% of workers in Harris County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Paralegals and Legal Assistants afford to live in Harris County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $62,730 that ceiling is $1,568 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,261 is $307 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.25 an hour; the median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $30.16, which is 24% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $25.26 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,497 a month means $749 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,150 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $36,483.
How fast you can save
At $2,528 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 4 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 8 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Paralegals and Legal Assistants pay in Harris County, TX
How much do Paralegals and Legal Assistants make per hour in Harris County, TX?
The median is $30.16 per hour, based on $62,730 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $20.27 at the 10th percentile to $48.74 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Paralegals and Legal Assistants take home after taxes in Harris County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $62,730 becomes $52,532 a year. That is $4,378 a month, $2,020 every two weeks or $1,010 a week.
How much tax do Paralegals and Legal Assistants pay in Harris County, TX?
Total taxes are $10,198 a year, an effective rate of 16.3%: $5,399 federal income tax, $4,799 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Paralegals and Legal Assistants earn more in Harris County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes. The local median of $62,730 is +3.9% versus the Texas average of $60,375, a difference of $2,355 a year.
Can Paralegals and Legal Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Harris County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,261 a month against take-home pay of $4,378, which is 28.8% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,568 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Harris County, TX?
About $2,528 a month ($30,333 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,199 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Harris County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$24.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $15,132 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $30.16.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Texas rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.