Paralegals vs Real Estate Sales Agents
Paralegals earns $4,690 more at the middle. Every figure is US government data you can check.
| Paralegals | Real Estate Sales Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay in the middle median annual wage, May 2024 | $61,010 | $56,320 |
| Pay range 10th to 90th percentile | $39,710 to $98,990 | $31,940 to $125,140 |
| Years of school you pay for our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure | 2 | 1 |
| Typical entry education | Associate's degree | High school diploma or equivalent |
| Jobs opening up each year | 39,300 | not published separately |
| Growth by 2034 | 0% | 3% |
| People doing it now | 376,200 | 420,900 |
| Where the pay is highest and lowest state medians, not adjusted for cost of living or taxes | $99,300 in Washington DC down to $39,120 in Mississippi | $97,440 in New York down to $36,420 in Iowa |
Also compared: Dental Assistants vs Real Estate Sales Agents Firefighters vs Real Estate Sales Agents Paralegals vs Social Workers
Jobs that use what you already know
Same skills, same knowledge, same daily tasks. Most of these are not on this site.
Paralegals
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
- Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers
- Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners
- Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
- Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants
What these usually take: A trade school course, an associate's degree, or one to two years on the job.
Real Estate Sales Agents
- Real Estate Brokers
- Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers
- Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
- Appraisers of Personal and Business Property
What these usually take: A trade school course, an associate's degree, or one to two years on the job.
O*NET 30.3 Database, U.S. Department of Labor. These are jobs that use similar skills, knowledge and daily tasks. It is a measure of how alike two jobs are — not a record of people moving between them.
Jobs that take more training than this one
A job zone is the U.S. Department of Labor’s published measure of how much preparation a job takes. It says nothing about pay.
- Real Estate BrokersUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Property, Real Estate, and Community Association ManagersUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Appraisers and Assessors of Real EstateUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales AgentsUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Appraisers of Personal and Business PropertyUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Loan OfficersUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
- Personal Financial AdvisorsUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience. +$45,820 a year more at the middle.
- Insurance Sales AgentsUsually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience. +$4,050 a year more at the middle.
O*NET 30.3 Database and O*NET Job Zones, U.S. Department of Labor. A job zone is a published measure of how much preparation an occupation takes, not a measure of pay or of whether a job is better. Pay differences are BLS median annual wages, May 2024, and are shown only where both jobs are on this site.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment and wage data, May 2024, and employment projections 2024-34. Years of school is our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure. State medians are not adjusted for cost of living or taxes, and that difference could be large either way. No advice, just data.