Paralegal salary in Modesto, CA

Pay in Modesto against California and the US

The middle half of paralegals in Modesto earns $54,590–$75,570. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $93,890, only 2.0 times the bottom tenth, against 2.3 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($64,150) is 9% 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 $20,980 wide, against $38,260 across California and $29,740 nationally: employers in Modesto 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 $16,750 over the median, the 25th only $4,230 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $21,613 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 median and the 75th percentile in Modesto, and the California statewide median of $77,390 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles.

What a hire really costs in Modesto

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 $17,077 to the $58,820 median and brings it to $75,897 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 Modesto

Of the 17 roles we track in Modesto, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($60,930) and HR assistants ($55,780). Project Coordinator is the highest at $102,490.

Measured against the US median, paralegals rank #15 of the 17 roles we track in Modesto (-6.5%), between e-commerce order specialists (-0.8%) and marketing specialists (-9.1%). The typical role here is at +5.5%, so, measured against the US, paralegals cost less in Modesto than the area's general pay level would suggest. Paralegals hold 2.9% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Modesto, 2.8% across California and 2.5% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $58,280 in Chico to $99,250 in San Jose-Sunnyvale, a gap of $40,970 a year. All 8 areas in California with more paralegals than Modesto also pay more, among them Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($77,520) and San Francisco-Oakland, CA ($84,030).

Modesto against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Modesto is #122 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 California, Dover and Bloomington pay just above Modesto and Abilene and Dayton-Kettering just below. All four are within $140 a year of the median in Modesto. Of the three markets with about as many paralegals, two pay more.

Questions

Sources

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