Average Starting Salary – Paralegal

If you're interested in law, but not yet ready to commit several years of time and money to law school, you might consider becoming a paralegal. With a good average starting salary, paralegal jobs can be quite rewarding, and can also be perfect for gaining hands-on experience within a law firm. The chart above shows that a paralegal average starting salary is around $34,000, which is pretty good figuring you save the $80,000 expense (or more) of law school. Although, in terms of salary, the initial investment of law school typically pays off in the long run, with the Average Starting Salary for an Attorney surpassing the paralegal average starting salary by almost $20,000. But, if you're still uncertain about law school, a job as a paralegal could be a wise decision. According to the salary chart above, a paralegal average starting salary will lead to significantly higher salaries after just a few years of experience. And If you do decide to pursue a law degree later on, your experience as a paralegal could get you one foot in the door of a law firm, and help land you that golden paycheck.

If you're wondering which employers offer the highest average starting salary, paralegal workers in the corporate world experience a sizable advantage over paralegals employed elsewhere. Comparing the overall paralegal average starting salary to the Corporate Paralegal Average Starting Salary confirms that Corporate Paralegals come out on top by almost $6,000 a year. This starting salary advantage also expands into the upper experience levels, with corporate paralegals of 20 years or more making an average salary of around $59,000. That's about $9,000 more than the average starting salary paralegal novices can achieve.

Paralegal - Average Salary vs. Median Salary

What is the average starting salary paralegals earn? This type of question is incredibly common in the world of salary research. What many peopple don't realize, however, is that searching for "median paralegal salaries" will actually produce better results than "paralegal average salary." Dr. Salary explains why this subtle difference is important to your paralegal salary research in his article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"