Paralegal salary in Knoxville, TN

Pay in Knoxville against Tennessee and the US

The middle half of paralegals in Knoxville earns $47,170–$60,510. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $75,660, only 1.9 times the bottom tenth, against 2.3 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($55,750) 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 $13,340 wide, against $20,200 across Tennessee and $29,740 nationally: employers in Knoxville 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 $10,730 over the median, the 25th only $2,610 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $13,845 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 Knoxville, and the Tennessee statewide median of $58,820 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local paralegals earn.

What a hire really costs in Knoxville

At the $49,780 median, a local hire costs about $64,232 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $14,452 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 Knoxville

Of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($52,910) and bookkeepers ($47,320). Project Coordinator is the highest at $91,690.

Measured against the US median, this job is the lowest paid of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville (-20.8%); administrative assistants come first (-3.2%). The typical role here is at -11.0%, so, measured against the US, paralegals cost less in Knoxville than the area's general pay level would suggest. Paralegals hold 1.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Knoxville, 1.7% across Tennessee and 2.5% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Tennessee

Across the 14 areas of Tennessee with data for this job, the median runs from $46,640 in the West Tennessee nonmetro area to $60,800 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $14,160 a year. All 2 areas in Tennessee with more paralegals than Knoxville also pay more, among them Nashville-Murfreesboro, TN ($60,800) and Memphis, TN-MS ($56,850).

Knoxville against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Knoxville is #81 of 503 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Tennessee, Hinesville and Goldsboro pay just above Knoxville and Macon-Bibb County and St. Joseph just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in Knoxville. Of the three markets with about as many paralegals, all three pay more.

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Sources

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