Compared with the local labor market
Paralegal Specialist pay vs. Florida
Across all employers in Florida, the median wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants — about 40,950 people — is $61,000. Department of Children and Families pays a median base salary of $43,168 for this role, 29% below that figure — about the 17th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Children and Families sits in the local pay range
$38,830
$48,230
$61,000
$75,780
$83,410
Department of Children and Families median · $43,168
The bar is the range of annual wages for Paralegals and Legal Assistants across every employer in Florida, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Children and Families’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. Department of Children and Families’s median base salary is 31% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$44,740
$50,340
$62,890
$80,080
$101,500
Department of Children and Families median · $43,168
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 Florida range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Children and Families is $43,168, 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
Paralegal Specialist beyond Florida
This role is reported in 4 jurisdictions. In Florida, the median of $44,437 ranks #4 of 4. See Paralegal Specialist across all of Florida →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Paralegal Specialistroles 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.