Paralegal salary in Boston-Cambridge, MA-NH

Pay in Boston-Cambridge against Massachusetts and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $126,470 or more, 2.5 times the bottom tenth, against 2.3 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of paralegals in Boston-Cambridge earns $63,850–$98,470. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $34,620 wide, wider than in Massachusetts as a whole ($34,240) and the US ($29,740), so what a paralegal earns in Boston-Cambridge depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a paralegal here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $18,620 a year in pay and about $24,026 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $16,000 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $62,890 falls between the 10th and 25th percentiles in Boston-Cambridge, and the Massachusetts statewide median of $77,640 falls between the 25th percentile and the median. An offer at the national rate would be lower than what three quarters of local paralegals earn.

What a hire really costs in Boston-Cambridge

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $23,182 to the $79,850 median and brings it to $103,032 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for paralegals we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Boston-Cambridge

Of the 17 roles we track in Boston-Cambridge, this one ranks #7 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($83,420) and office managers ($77,990). Project Coordinator is the highest at $114,990.

Measured against the US median, paralegals rank #2 of the 17 roles we track in Boston-Cambridge (+27.0%), between marketing specialists (+30.0%) and administrative assistants (+24.8%). The typical role here is at +15.6%, so, measured against the US, paralegals cost more in Boston-Cambridge than the area's general pay level would suggest. Paralegals hold 2.1% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Boston-Cambridge, 2.0% across Massachusetts and 2.5% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Massachusetts

Across the 7 areas of Massachusetts with data for this job, the median runs from $62,210 in Pittsfield to $79,850 in Boston-Cambridge, a gap of $17,640 a year. No other area in Massachusetts has as many paralegals, and all 6 others pay less.

Boston-Cambridge against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Boston-Cambridge is #13 of 503 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside Massachusetts, Denver-Aurora and Santa Maria-Santa Barbara pay just above Boston-Cambridge and Vallejo and Sacramento-Roseville just below. All four are within $1,300 a year of the median in Boston-Cambridge. Of the three markets with about as many paralegals, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.