Paralegal salary in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area

Pay in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area against Mississippi and the US

Paralegals at the 90th percentile earn $88,340, 2.4 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.3. The middle half of paralegals in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area earns $36,950–$57,160. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $20,210 wide, against $21,890 across Mississippi and $29,740 nationally: employers in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a paralegal here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $11,080 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $9,130, or about $11,781 once benefits are added. 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 the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area, and the Mississippi statewide median of $46,180 falls between the 25th percentile and the median. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local paralegals earn.

What a hire really costs in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area

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 $13,944 to the $48,030 median and brings it to $61,974 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 the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area, this one ranks #8 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($48,350) and payroll specialists ($47,130). Project Coordinator is the highest at $78,640.

Measured against the US median, paralegals rank #12 of the 17 roles we track in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area (-23.6%), between project coordinators (-23.1%) and medical administrative assistants (-23.8%). The typical role here is at -22.1%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Paralegals hold 2.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area and 2.5% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Mississippi

Across the 7 areas of Mississippi with data for this job, the median runs from $36,420 in the Lower East Mississippi nonmetro area to $50,470 in Jackson, a gap of $14,050 a year. The one area in Mississippi with more paralegals, Jackson, MS ($50,470), also pays more.

the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area is #124 of 503 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, yet its pay sits in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Mississippi, Waterloo-Cedar Falls and Sherman-Denison pay just above the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area and Longview and Muskegon-Norton Shores just below. All four are within $90 a year of the median in the Upper East Mississippi nonmetro area. 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.