Pay · 43-6014
Secretaries and administrative assistants earn $47,540 a year at the midpoint
One of the largest occupations in the country — about 1,706,790 people — with a midpoint of $47,540 a year.
National figures for secretaries and administrative assistants, 43-6014, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Administrative assistant earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Resumes for secretaries and administrative assistants
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Answered telephones and gave information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
- Greeted visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or directed them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
- Created, maintained, and entered information into databases.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Examples
Resumes written for this kind of job.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Administrative assistant wages by state
The 49 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.60 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $59,910 | $39,480 | $39,480 — $84,290 | 11,800 |
| Massachusetts | $57,940 | $41,510 | $41,510 — $78,400 | 37,750 |
| Washington | $57,330 | $43,250 | $43,250 — $74,750 | 31,710 |
| Connecticut | $57,210 | $40,700 | $40,700 — $78,300 | 22,650 |
| California | $55,400 | $38,060 | $38,060 — $78,170 | 158,630 |
| Rhode Island | $52,140 | $38,000 | $38,000 — $72,800 | 5,200 |
| Oregon | $51,740 | $38,480 | $38,480 — $70,320 | 23,150 |
| Minnesota | $51,400 | $38,080 | $38,080 — $66,830 | 31,330 |
| Hawaii | $50,830 | $38,480 | $38,480 — $68,120 | 7,020 |
| New Jersey | $50,260 | $36,150 | $36,150 — $72,180 | 65,960 |
| Maine | $49,820 | $39,530 | $39,530 — $63,470 | 6,740 |
| New York | $49,600 | $37,330 | $37,330 — $64,840 | 122,490 |
| Colorado | $48,690 | $37,300 | $37,300 — $64,960 | 29,120 |
| Maryland | $48,680 | $35,360 | $35,360 — $67,070 | 54,890 |
| Alaska | $48,530 | $35,360 | $35,360 — $64,620 | 5,390 |
| Illinois | $48,310 | $31,930 | $31,930 — $76,790 | 74,280 |
| New Hampshire | $48,080 | $34,380 | $34,380 — $63,690 | 9,050 |
| Delaware | $47,970 | $35,930 | $35,930 — $64,170 | 6,320 |
| Arizona | $47,940 | $36,420 | $36,420 — $67,980 | 31,220 |
| Wisconsin | $47,710 | $36,680 | $36,680 — $61,940 | 28,100 |
| Virginia | $47,620 | $34,040 | $34,040 — $66,700 | 31,580 |
| North Dakota | $47,480 | $34,920 | $34,920 — $60,780 | 5,800 |
| Utah | $47,050 | $31,600 | $31,600 — $63,850 | 14,870 |
| Nebraska | $46,760 | $35,900 | $35,900 — $62,130 | 16,240 |
| Nevada | $46,570 | $34,180 | $34,180 — $63,210 | 16,790 |
| New Mexico | $46,450 | $33,870 | $33,870 — $61,820 | 25,430 |
| Pennsylvania | $46,270 | $32,040 | $32,040 — $61,800 | 65,310 |
| Ohio | $46,230 | $32,130 | $32,130 — $63,150 | 54,790 |
| Michigan | $46,020 | $33,360 | $33,360 — $63,950 | 40,830 |
| Florida | $45,900 | $33,380 | $33,380 — $63,340 | 104,000 |
| Tennessee | $45,810 | $29,660 | $29,660 — $63,130 | 34,580 |
| North Carolina | $45,790 | $31,720 | $31,720 — $61,750 | 43,690 |
| Iowa | $45,150 | $33,880 | $33,880 — $60,760 | 12,830 |
| Texas | $45,140 | $29,810 | $29,810 — $63,020 | 149,650 |
| South Carolina | $44,880 | $29,100 | $29,100 — $61,660 | 30,180 |
| Indiana | $44,270 | $31,220 | $31,220 — $60,160 | 20,100 |
| Kentucky | $44,200 | $30,470 | $30,470 — $60,470 | 18,420 |
| Montana | $43,940 | $30,430 | $30,430 — $55,970 | 4,520 |
| Idaho | $43,710 | $29,890 | $29,890 — $58,820 | 7,570 |
| Missouri | $43,540 | $30,890 | $30,890 — $60,270 | 33,180 |
| Kansas | $42,270 | $30,340 | $30,340 — $58,690 | 32,120 |
| South Dakota | $41,700 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $51,480 | 6,120 |
| Alabama | $41,630 | $29,170 | $29,170 — $59,090 | 45,050 |
| Georgia | $41,600 | $26,330 | $26,330 — $62,090 | 44,430 |
| West Virginia | $40,370 | $28,820 | $28,820 — $57,970 | 8,820 |
| Oklahoma | $39,660 | $27,110 | $27,110 — $56,630 | 20,120 |
| Louisiana | $38,790 | $26,680 | $26,680 — $56,340 | 28,040 |
| Arkansas | $37,630 | $28,540 | $28,540 — $55,060 | 8,590 |
| Mississippi | $37,340 | $25,770 | $25,770 — $57,870 | 14,720 |
Administrative assistant pay rate, hourly to annual
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Place 579 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 27% of the occupations in the survey.
- 577 Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers $47,630
- 578 Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters $47,550
- 579 Secretaries and administrative assistants $47,540
- 580 Motorboat Operators $47,520
- 581 Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers $47,450
Questions people ask
What is an administrative assistant’s yearly income?
An administrative assistant makes a median of $47,540 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $38,830 and $58,000.
What is an administrative assistant’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $22.86 an hour; the average is $49,350 a year.
What is the starting pay for an administrative assistant?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $38,830 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $33,280.
Which state pays secretaries and administrative assistants the most?
District of Columbia, with a median of $59,910 a year.
How many people work as secretaries and administrative assistants?
About 1,706,790 in the United States — number 579 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $130 of what secretaries and administrative assistants earn — $47,540 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $10 more Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters $47,550median a year 10th percentile: $36,230 90th percentile: $70,080
- $90 less Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers $47,450median a year 10th percentile: $34,320 90th percentile: $66,370
- $130 more New Accounts Clerks $47,670median a year 10th percentile: $38,180 90th percentile: $60,910