Compared with the local labor market
Legal Secretary pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants — about 27,470 people — is $62,860. Water Resources Control Board pays a median base salary of $37,927 for this role, 40% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Water Resources Control Board sits in the local pay range
$40,710
$50,040
$62,860
$80,650
$106,580
Water Resources Control Board median · $37,927
The bar is the range of annual wages for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Water Resources Control Board’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants — about 156,280 people — is $55,570. Water Resources Control Board’s median base salary is 32% below that national figure, about the 13th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$36,500
$44,450
$55,570
$71,970
$91,730
Water Resources Control Board median · $37,927
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 California range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Water Resources Control Board is $39,427, 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 Secretary beyond California
This role is reported in 21 jurisdictions. In California, the median of $68,958 ranks #4 of 21. See Legal Secretary across all of California →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Legal Secretary roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.