City and County of San Francisco / Legal Assistant
Role across City and County of San Francisco
Legal Assistant
Provide legal advice, draft and review documents, and represent the agency in legal matters.
132 people hold the Legal Assistant role across 11 departments in City and County of San Francisco, with a median total compensation of $165,860. Among 19 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City and County of San Francisco ranks #1 by median pay.
- Employees
- 132
- Median pay
- $165,860
- Departments
- 11
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #1 of 19
Compared with the local labor market
Legal Assistant pay vs. the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area
Across all employers in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area, the median wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants — about 7,630 people — is $84,030. City and County of San Francisco pays a median base salary of $119,997 for this role, 43% above that figure — about the 84th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City and County of San Francisco sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Paralegals and Legal Assistants across every employer in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City and County of San Francisco’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants — about 392,880 people — is $62,890. City and County of San Francisco’s median base salary is 91% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 127 of 132 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at City and County of San Francisco is $165,860, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Legal Assistant pay in other jurisdictions
Where Legal Assistants are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Legal Assistant roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within City and County of San Francisco
Departments with this role
Largest City and County of San Francisco departments for this role
Departments in City and County of San Francisco employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.