What Paralegals and Legal Assistants earn in Henry County, GA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $64,080: the median annual pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $30.81 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $76,560, which is 19.5% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 10,290 people working in this occupation across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Henry County, GA has roughly 249,960 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $45,500 a year ($21.88 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $105,310 or more ($50.63 an hour). That is a gap of $59,810 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $50,700 at the 25th percentile and $83,250 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA is $30.81. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $64,080, and the same salary is $5,340 a month before taxes or about $2,465 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $24.48 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Paralegals and Legal Assistants this way: "Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents"; "Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system"; "Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits"; "Meet with clients and other professionals to discuss details of cases".
Job outlook for Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 404,900 jobs in 2025 to 403,800 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 40,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 10.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: associate's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $62,890 for this occupation; the Henry County, GA median of $64,080 is 1.9% above it.
How pay in Henry County, GA compares
Compared with the Georgia average
Henry County, GA pays above the state benchmark. The Georgia employment-weighted average for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $61,021; the local median of $64,080 beats it by $3,059, or 5.0%. Within Georgia, Henry County, GA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $65,930 across the contiguous United States. At $64,080, Henry County, GA pays $1,850 less, which is 2.8% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Henry County, GA
Among the 585 occupations with published wages in Henry County, GA, Paralegals and Legal Assistants ranks number 248 by median pay, ahead of about 58% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $618,090 a year, which is $554,010 more than the median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $64,080 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $13,166 a year, which leaves $50,914, or $4,243 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $21 goes to taxes and $79 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 20.6%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $48,330. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,561, an effective 8.7% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,973 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $929. FICA totals $4,902, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Georgia
Georgia income tax on this salary is $2,703 a year, or 4.2% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 49% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $225 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Henry County, GA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Henry County, GA show an average adjusted gross income of $64,200 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.4% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.6%, compared with the 8.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Henry County, GA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Henry County, GA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $50,914 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Henry County, GA is $1,619 a month, or $19,428 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,762 a month. For Paralegals and Legal Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 38.2% of take-home pay and 30.3% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.4% of gross pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Georgia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,488 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $720, for $2,207 in total. Gasoline in Georgia averages $2.95 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,366.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $26,437 a year, 52% of take-home pay. That leaves $24,477 a year, or $2,040 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 38.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Henry County, GA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Henry County, GA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Henry County, GA, set beside the Georgia and national medians.
Property taxes in Henry County, GA
Homeowners in Henry County, GA pay a median of $2,741 a year in real estate taxes, 17% above the Georgia median of $2,341 and 12% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $313,900, the median tax bill is 0.87% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Paralegals and Legal Assistants median of $64,080, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Henry County, GA
Renters in Henry County, GA pay a median gross rent of $1,674 a month in the Census survey, 20% above the Georgia median of $1,393. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,619 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $313,900, 3% above the Georgia median of $303,300. Median household income is $83,146, 7% above the Georgia median of $77,353, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.4% of that income.
Commuting in Henry County, GA
Workers in Henry County, GA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 33.1 minutes each way, 17% above the Georgia average of 28.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.6% of workers in Henry County, GA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Paralegals and Legal Assistants afford to live in Henry County, GA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $64,080 that ceiling is $1,602 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,619 is $17 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.13 an hour; the median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $30.81, which is 1% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.48 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,762 a month means $881 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,856 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,333.
How fast you can save
At $2,040 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Paralegals and Legal Assistants pay in Henry County, GA
What is the hourly wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA?
The median is $30.81 per hour, based on $64,080 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.88 at the 10th percentile to $50.63 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $64,080 becomes $50,914 a year. That is $4,243 a month, $1,958 every two weeks or $979 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA?
Total taxes are $13,166 a year, an effective rate of 20.6%: $5,561 federal income tax, $4,902 FICA and $2,703 Georgia income tax.
Is pay for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA above the Georgia average?
Yes. The local median of $64,080 is +5.0% versus the Georgia average of $61,021, a difference of $3,059 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Paralegals and Legal Assistants salary in Henry County, GA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,619 a month against take-home pay of $4,243, which is 38.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,602 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Henry County, GA?
About $2,040 a month ($24,477 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,437 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Henry County, GA at the 30% guideline?
$31.13 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,428 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Paralegals and Legal Assistants is $30.81.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Georgia rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.