Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants salary

SOC 43-6011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$76,590

per year, nationally

Middle half

$61,390–$94,390

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

459,910

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-1.6%

50,000 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$50,560$109,850

10th: $50,560
25th: $61,390
Median: $76,590
75th: $94,390
90th: $109,850

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$90,850	109.9	4,560	2.20×
2	New Jersey	$89,520	108.8	11,690	0.92×
3	California	$89,000	110.7	59,640	1.11×
4	Massachusetts	$82,650	105.8	14,820	1.38×
5	Connecticut	$82,520	103.6	6,490	1.29×
6	Hawaii	$80,710	110.0	1,440	0.77×
7	New York	$80,640	107.9	88,890	3.10×
8	Virginia	$80,330	101.1	10,360	0.85×
9	Washington	$79,250	107.0	11,560	1.10×
10	Delaware	$78,920	99.8	1,320	0.92×
11	Maryland	$78,540	105.0	13,960	1.71×
12	Minnesota	$78,470	98.6	7,970	0.91×
13	Rhode Island	$77,820	102.3	950	0.64×
14	Oregon	$75,480	103.4	6,000	1.03×
15	Pennsylvania	$75,270	97.6	12,910	0.72×
16	Illinois	$74,390	100.0	14,900	0.83×
17	New Mexico	$73,890	92.2	2,800	1.09×
18	Texas	$71,990	97.1	34,520	0.83×
19	New Hampshire	$71,650	104.2	1,210	0.60×
20	Vermont	$70,770	98.0	770	0.85×
21	Arizona	$70,770	100.7	6,490	0.68×
22	North Carolina	$70,140	94.3	8,890	0.61×
23	Ohio	$69,600	92.8	10,940	0.67×
24	Alabama	$69,450	88.8	2,880	0.46×
25	Wisconsin	$68,920	94.1	4,480	0.51×
26	Georgia	$68,290	96.3	14,560	1.01×
27	Tennessee	$68,190	91.9	5,360	0.55×
28	Nevada	$67,830	100.0	2,670	0.58×
29	Michigan	$66,840	96.2	9,030	0.69×
30	Nebraska	$66,210	90.1	1,860	0.61×
31	Alaska	$66,210	102.4	1,320	1.37×
32	Colorado	$65,850	103.1	10,340	1.22×
33	Kansas	$64,860	90.1	2,750	0.65×
34	Florida	$64,710	103.4	19,220	0.65×
35	Maine	$64,100	97.0	2,320	1.22×
36	West Virginia	$63,820	89.5	860	0.41×
37	Kentucky	$62,410	90.2	2,700	0.46×
38	Iowa	$62,340	87.8	4,150	0.90×
39	North Dakota	$61,270	89.0	540	0.42×
40	Utah	$61,130	98.9	5,440	1.06×
41	South Carolina	$60,890	93.7	3,880	0.57×
42	Missouri	$60,320	90.8	8,500	0.98×
43	Idaho	$60,200	95.5	1,180	0.46×
44	Oklahoma	$59,910	87.8	2,810	0.56×
45	Montana	$59,750	94.6	550	0.36×
46	Indiana	$59,080	93.3	5,060	0.53×
47	Mississippi	$55,670	87.0	1,240	0.36×
48	South Dakota	$55,170	88.6	1,230	0.91×
49	Louisiana	$53,240	88.2	9,270	1.62×
50	Wyoming	$52,210	92.7	560	0.67×
51	Arkansas	$51,600	86.9	2,070	0.54×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$106,220	110.4	5,300	1.58×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$105,190	115.6	11,250	1.60×
3	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$100,930	106.9	1,710	1.43×
4	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$92,240	107.8	490	0.81×
5	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$90,320	108.9	12,960	1.40×
6	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$87,910	106.7	3,530	1.10×
7	Vallejo, CA	$86,190	108.5	230	0.54×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$85,260	108.3	11,290	1.41×
9	Napa, CA	$84,640	112.6	180	0.76×
10	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$84,540	111.9	4,510	0.99×
11	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$84,330	109.4	160	0.74×
12	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$84,090	109.9	260	0.90×
13	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$83,840	112.6	76,950	2.74×
14	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$82,850	113.6	20,850	1.12×
15	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$82,740	108.8	460	0.77×
16	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$82,250	110.5	740	0.77×
17	Rochester, MN	$82,230	90.8	150	0.42×
18	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$81,640	99.8	430	0.91×
19	Santa Fe, NM	$81,410	98.8	600	3.30×
20	Corvallis, OR	$80,960	104.0	140	1.22×
21	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$80,860	111.1	7,370	1.19×
22	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$80,700	103.2	1,250	1.76×
23	Merced, CA	$80,650	98.3	150	0.63×
24	Lexington Park, MD	$80,630	100.8	230	1.09×
25	New Haven, CT	$80,620	104.6	800	0.96×
26	Urban Honolulu, HI	$80,600	111.0	1,040	0.79×
27	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$80,370	102.7	2,750	1.55×
28	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$80,230	103.1	8,290	0.69×
29	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$80,090	100.1	340	0.88×
30	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$80,030	104.8	6,150	1.06×
31	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$79,900	97.3	2,620	0.65×
32	Barnstable Town, MA	$79,810	98.4	310	1.12×
33	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$79,790	108.6	310	0.87×
34	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$79,510	103.7	720	1.87×
35	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$79,490	102.6	7,150	0.83×
36	Salinas, CA	$79,390	109.0	360	0.66×
37	Carson City, NV	$79,230	98.1	100	1.05×
38	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$79,200	105.1	500	0.58×
39	Boulder, CO	$79,170	105.2	880	1.55×
40	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$78,750	105.4	3,880	1.09×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants earn the most

Best paying metro areas for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

Similar occupations

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