Official pay data
Updated October 8, 2026
Salary guide
Official annual estimates for the whole country, mapped to the closest published occupation.
United States · annual wage estimate
25th percentile
$38,830
Median
$47,540
75th percentile
$58,000
BLS covers wage and salary employees, including part-time workers, but excludes self-employed workers and owners or partners in unincorporated firms. Wages include commissions and production bonuses, but exclude overtime premiums, employer benefits, and non-production bonuses; this is not a base-pay-only or total-compensation measure. Annual wage estimates generally convert hourly rates using a full-time, year-round schedule of 2,080 hours. Actual annual earnings on a shorter schedule can be lower.
This is a country-level occupation benchmark, not a local offer estimate. Pay can differ by location, employer, duties, and working pattern.
Source: BLS, 2025-05-01. Mapped to Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive; the occupation is broader than the page role. Figures are estimates, not advertised salaries.
This national benchmark fits an Administrative Assistant because that title appears within the occupation used for the estimate. It is most useful when the job centers on office coordination, scheduling, records, correspondence, and routine information flow. It is less precise for legal or medical specialties, or [Executive Assistant roles](/salaries/executive-assistant), whose work sits outside this occupation or carries a different scope.
Benchmark fit
Use this as a national comparison for general Administrative Assistant work, not as a description of every role carrying that title.
Nearby titles: Administrative Assistant is a reported title in the benchmark occupation..
Do not use this benchmark as a direct match for executive administrative work. Executive roles provide high-level support to offices and top executives and may include complex research, reporting, or supervision.
Role scope
Administrative Assistants help an office run efficiently by keeping communication, schedules, records, and routine administrative work moving.
Answer calls, take messages, transfer callers, and direct visitors or inquiries. · Schedule and confirm appointments, maintain calendars, and arrange meetings. · Maintain paper or electronic files, records, correspondence, and databases. · Prepare and edit correspondence, meeting notes, presentations, and routine reports. · Coordinate information through email and incoming or outgoing mail.
Current calendars, appointment arrangements, and meeting coordination. · Organized records, filing systems, and maintained databases. · Correspondence, meeting notes, presentations, and routine reports.
This adjacent specialty supports offices and top executives at a higher level and may involve complex research, reports, or supervision.
Read the range
A close match is a general Administrative Assistant whose work includes calendars, correspondence, filing, databases, calls, and routine office coordination. A role centered on high-level executive support, complex research, or supervisory duties needs a separate scope check before using this comparison.
One quarter of employees earn below this figure.
Half of employees earn below this figure and half above it; it is not the arithmetic midpoint of the displayed range.
One quarter of employees earn above this figure.
Beyond salary
Compare the offer's fixed cash pay with any conditional cash payments separately, then review benefits on their own terms. The benchmark wage measure includes commissions and production bonuses, but it does not include overtime premiums, employer benefits, or non-production bonuses.
Ask whether the stated salary is the guaranteed amount or whether any part depends on commissions or production bonuses.
If commissions, production bonuses, or other bonuses are offered, ask which payments are conditional and what rules determine them.
Review any offered health cover, retirement contribution, leave, and overtime arrangements separately because employer benefits and overtime premiums are outside the benchmark wage measure.
Offer review
Questions
Source
Source: BLS, 2025-05-01. The figures cover Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive (43-6014) and all employment. Updated October 8, 2026. This broad occupation benchmark may not match every Administrator vacancy.
Put the benchmark to work
Use the salary range as context. Tailor your resume around the experience that supports your target level.
