Best Paralegal programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent.
41 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,091 people a year. The job pays a median of $68,410 in New York across about 34,220 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Legal Assistant/Paralegalmain feeder CIP 22.0302In New York → | 638 | 58.5% | 30 | $37,542 | $25,166 |
| 2 | Legal Studiesmain feeder CIP 22.0000In New York → | 453 | 41.5% | 12 | $39,558 | $25,252 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 15 of the 41 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryant & Stratton College - Online Orchard Park, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 206 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $30,998 | 23% | $14,394 | — |
| 2 | St. John's University - New York Queens, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 124 | Legal Studies | $29,307 | 66% | $27,359 | 83% |
| 3 | CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 122 | Legal Studies | $32,649 | 56% | — | 57% |
| 4 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 95 | Legal Studies | — | 75% | — | 74% |
| 5 | United States Military Academy West Point, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 48 | Legal Studies | — | 87% | — | 12% |
| 6 | Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 47 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $41,431 | 80% | $33,867 | 57% |
| 7 | Nassau Community College Garden City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 44 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $32,464 | 23% | — | — |
| 8 | CUNY New York City College of Technology Brooklyn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 42 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $34,675 | 21% | — | 80% |
| 9 | SUNY College of Technology at Canton Canton, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $48,269 | 38% | — | 92% |
| 10 | CUNY LaGuardia Community College Long Island City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $36,358 | 24% | — | — |
| 11 | Rockland Community College Suffern, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 29% | — | — |
| 12 | Erie Community College Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 28% | — | — |
| 13 | Suffolk County Community College Selden, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 29% | — | — |
| 14 | Dutchess Community College Poughkeepsie, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 19 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 30% | — | — |
| 15 | Herkimer County Community College Herkimer, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 19 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 35% | — | — |
| 16 | St. John Fisher University Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Legal Studies | — | 74% | $25,213 | 66% |
| 17 | SUNY Westchester Community College Valhalla, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 25% | — | — |
| 18 | Finger Lakes Community College Canandaigua, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 30% | — | — |
| 19 | Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Legal Studies | $38,579 | 46% | $17,604 | 86% |
| 20 | Monroe Community College Rochester, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | $34,799 | 27% | — | — |
| 21 | Daemen University Amherst, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 59% | $16,826 | 68% |
| 22 | Schenectady County Community College Schenectady, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 32% | — | — |
| 23 | SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Legal Studies | — | 63% | — | 74% |
| 24 | Tompkins Cortland Community College Dryden, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Legal Assistant/Paralegal | — | 26% | — | — |
| 25 | Ithaca College Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Legal Studies | — | 76% | $28,970 | 69% |
All 41 schools in New York
Every school in New York with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryant & Stratton College - Online | Orchard Park | Private not-for-profit | 206 | 1 |
| St. John's University - New York | Queens | Private not-for-profit | 124 | 1 |
| CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice | New York | Public | 122 | 1 |
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo | Public | 95 | 1 |
| United States Military Academy | West Point | Public | 48 | 1 |
| Marist University | Poughkeepsie | Private not-for-profit | 47 | 1 |
| Nassau Community College | Garden City | Public | 44 | 1 |
| CUNY New York City College of Technology | Brooklyn | Public | 42 | 1 |
| SUNY College of Technology at Canton | Canton | Public | 29 | 1 |
| CUNY LaGuardia Community College | Long Island City | Public | 27 | 1 |
| Rockland Community College | Suffern | Public | 25 | 1 |
| Erie Community College | Buffalo | Public | 23 | 1 |
| Suffolk County Community College | Selden | Public | 22 | 1 |
| Dutchess Community College | Poughkeepsie | Public | 19 | 1 |
| Herkimer County Community College | Herkimer | Public | 19 | 1 |
What paralegals and legal assistants earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $62,890. New York pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: New York employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in New York
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Paralegals and Legal Assistants page.
How to become a Paralegal
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Associate's degree
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Paralegals and Legal Assistants2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 22.0000Legal Studies
- 22.0302Legal Assistant/Paralegal
Common questions
Answers for people weighing paralegals and legal assistants programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Paralegal?+
Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Legal Assistant/Paralegal, which awarded 638 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 58.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Paralegal?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Legal Support Services, Non-Professional Legal Studies. Together they graduate about 1,091 people a year in New York.
How much do paralegals and legal assistants earn in New York?+
The median is $68,410 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 8.8% above the U.S. median of $62,890. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for paralegals and legal assistants growing?+
BLS projects a +0.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 39,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
41 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do paralegals and legal assistants work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Paralegal, Legal Clerk, Legal Assistant, Paralegal Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 23-2011.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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