Paralegal salary in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Pay in Brownsville-Harlingen against Texas and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $78,850 or more, 2.7 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 Brownsville-Harlingen earns $38,960–$58,560. The mean ($51,030) is 12% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $19,600 wide, against $30,330 across Texas and $29,740 nationally: employers in Brownsville-Harlingen pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a paralegal here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $13,080 over the median, the 25th only $6,520 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $16,877 a year in employer cost. 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 75th and 90th percentiles in Brownsville-Harlingen, and the Texas statewide median of $62,310 falls there too. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local paralegals earn.

What a hire really costs in Brownsville-Harlingen

At the $45,480 median, a local hire costs about $58,684 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,204 here. 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 Brownsville-Harlingen

Of the 17 roles we track in Brownsville-Harlingen, this one ranks #7 by median pay, between marketing specialists ($47,320) and sales development representatives ($44,460). Project Coordinator is the highest at $73,050.

Measured against the US median, paralegals rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in Brownsville-Harlingen (-27.7%), between recruiters (-26.9%) and payroll specialists (-27.8%). The typical role here is at -24.4%, so, measured against the US, paralegals cost less in Brownsville-Harlingen than the area's general pay level would suggest. Paralegals hold 2.1% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Brownsville-Harlingen, 1.9% across Texas and 2.5% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Texas

Across the 30 areas of Texas with data for this job, the median runs from $45,480 in Brownsville-Harlingen to $64,500 in Midland, a gap of $19,020 a year. All 10 areas in Texas with more paralegals than Brownsville-Harlingen also pay more, among them Dallas-Fort Worth, TX ($63,220) and Houston-Pasadena, TX ($62,730).

Brownsville-Harlingen against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Brownsville-Harlingen is #150 of 503 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Texas, Jonesboro and Florence-Muscle Shoals pay just above Brownsville-Harlingen and Enid and Hattiesburg just below. All four are within $430 a year of the median in Brownsville-Harlingen. Of the three markets with about as many paralegals, all three pay more.

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