Legal Assistance

What the Numbers Say About Legal Assistance

0.2% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Legal Assistance occupation (OPM code 986): 4,124 people, headcount down -2.2% versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path.

Average tenure in Legal Assistance runs 11.4 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $64,987 per year, 40.9% below the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 2.4% from the prior period, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce.

The Legal and Kindred Group family (code 9) groups Legal Assistance together with 17 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Legal Assistance postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Within the Legal and Kindred Group family, Legal Assistance ranks #6 of 18 by headcount, accounting for 3.1% of the family's combined 133,580 employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (11th percentile) of pay among Legal and Kindred Group occupations.