Executive assistants in the United States earned a median of $76,590 a year in May 2025, roughly 1.6 times the $48,310 median for secretaries and administrative assistants as a whole (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The premium sits on top of a shrinking base: BLS projects the overall occupation to lose 75,300 jobs between 2025 and 2035, while executive assistant employment holds flat. Remote work is more common in administrative support than its reputation suggests, with 23.5% of office and administrative support workers teleworking in September 2026 and 13.1% doing so for all of their hours (BLS, Current Population Survey). For context on how mandates are pulling some of these workers back to desks, see our hybrid work mandate compliance statistics. We aggregated data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey), O*NET, Robert Half, Indeed Hiring Lab, Upwork, the World Bank and the International Labour Organization.
TL;DR
- Executive assistant median pay was $76,590 a year ($36.82 an hour) in May 2025 (BLS OEWS May 2025; O*NET OnLine).
- The executive assistant mean wage was $79,140, with the top 10% above $109,850 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
- General secretaries and administrative assistants had a median of $47,540, and the occupation as a whole $48,310 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026).
- California ($92,220) and the District of Columbia ($91,590) posted the highest executive assistant mean wages among states we checked (BLS OEWS May 2025).
- Robert Half’s 2027 midpoint for executive assistants is $73,000, and $98,750 for senior executive assistants (Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide).
- Advertised pay for US administrative assistance jobs grew 2.8% year over year in August 2026, down from 9.1% in November 2021 (Indeed Hiring Lab Wage Tracker).
- 23.5% of office and administrative support workers teleworked in September 2026, 13.1% for all hours (BLS CPS Table A-42).
- Freelance virtual assistants on Upwork charge an average of $18-35 an hour (Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates).
- Upwork’s gross services volume fell 4% year over year in Q2 2026 as lower-complexity work shifts toward automation (Upwork Q2 2026 results).
- Women held 93.5% of executive assistant jobs in 2025 (BLS CPS Table 11).
- BLS projects 0% growth for executive assistants and -6% for general administrative assistants, 2025-2035 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026).
- Clerical occupations have the highest generative AI exposure of any group (ILO Working Paper 140, 2025).
1. Executive Assistant Pay: The Full Distribution
The headline median hides a wide spread. The top 10% of US executive assistants earned more than $109,850 in May 2025, while the bottom 10% earned less than $50,560 (BLS OEWS, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, May 2025). That is a ratio of about 2.2 to 1 (109,850 / 50,560), which reflects how differently the job is defined: a scheduler for a regional office manager and the chief of staff to a Fortune 500 CEO can both carry the title.
The mean ($79,140) sits $2,550 above the median ($76,590), a mild right skew consistent with a small group of very well paid assistants supporting top executives. The median itself is confirmed on O*NET OnLine’s profile for occupation 43-6011.00, which reports $36.82 an hour and $76,590 a year for 2025.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $76,590 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Median hourly wage | $36.82 | O*NET OnLine (BLS May 2025 data) |
| Mean annual wage / mean hourly wage | $79,140 / $38.05 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| 10th percentile annual wage | $50,560 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| 25th percentile annual wage | $61,390 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| 75th percentile annual wage | $94,390 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| 90th percentile annual wage | $109,850 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| OEWS employment (wage and salary jobs) | 459,910 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
Context note: BLS published the May 2025 OEWS estimates on May 15, 2026, so these are the newest official US wage figures available in October 2026. OEWS counts wage and salary jobs in establishments and excludes the self-employed, which matters for this occupation because many virtual executive assistants work as independent contractors (see section 6).
2. The Specialty Premium and the Gender Lens
Inside the broad secretaries and administrative assistants occupation, specialty drives pay more than seniority alone. Executive assistants earn a median of $76,590, versus $47,540 for general secretaries and administrative assistants, a gap of $29,050 a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants). Legal assistants ($55,570) sit in between, and medical assistants in the secretarial category ($45,930) earn the least despite being the only specialty projected to grow.
The workforce is almost entirely female, and the pay picture by sex is uneven. Among full-time general secretaries and administrative assistants, women had median weekly earnings of $940 in 2025, versus $1,298 for the 99,000 men in the role (BLS CPS Table 39, 2025). That puts women at about 72% of the male median (940 / 1,298), though the male sample is small and likely skewed toward different job content. The broader picture is covered in our gender pay gap statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Secretaries and administrative assistants, all specialties: median | $48,310 a year ($23.23 an hour) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| Legal secretaries and administrative assistants: median | $55,570 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| General secretaries and administrative assistants: median / mean | $47,540 / $49,350 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| General secretaries and administrative assistants: OEWS employment | 1,706,790 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Medical secretaries and administrative assistants: median | $45,930 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| All specialties: lowest 10% / highest 10% | Under $35,360 / over $77,720 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| Women’s share of jobs: executive / general assistants | 93.5% / 91.9% | BLS CPS Table 11, 2025 |
| Median weekly earnings, full-time executive assistants | $1,423 (women: $1,374) | BLS CPS Table 39, 2025 |
Context note: the CPS is a household survey and counts 249,000 employed executive assistants in 2025 (BLS CPS Table 11), far fewer than the 459,910 jobs in the employer-based OEWS. Many people with executive support duties describe their job differently to household interviewers, so CPS figures for this occupation are best read as shares and medians, not headcounts.
3. Geography and Industry: Where the Money Is
Location moves executive assistant pay by tens of thousands of dollars. California’s mean wage of $92,220 is $32,960 higher than Mississippi’s $59,260 (92,220 minus 59,260), based on BLS OEWS state data for May 2025 (BLS OEWS state series, California). Washington, DC, where assistants support agency heads, lobbyists and law firm partners, sits at $91,590, just behind California.
Industry differences are smaller than geographic ones for the occupation as a whole. Government (excluding education and hospitals) pays the highest median at $54,250, while healthcare and social assistance, which employs 32% of all secretaries and administrative assistants, pays the lowest of the major employers at $46,290 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). Healthcare’s weight in employment is one reason the all-specialty median ($48,310) stays well below the executive figure.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Executive assistant mean wage, California | $92,220 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant mean wage, District of Columbia | $91,590 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant mean wage, New York | $86,750 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant mean wage, Washington | $82,020 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant mean wage, Texas / Mississippi | $75,300 / $59,260 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Median wage by industry, all secretaries: government / professional, scientific and technical services | $54,250 / $54,080 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| Median wage by industry: educational services / religious, civic and professional organizations | $48,980 / $49,390 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 data) |
| Healthcare and social assistance: share of jobs / median wage | 32% / $46,290 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025 employment, May 2025 wages) |
Context note: we queried six states individually through the BLS public data API rather than the full state ranking, so this table is a comparison of selected states, not a list of the top six. Mean wages, not medians, are shown because they are what the state series report most consistently. Remote workers are counted where their employer’s establishment reports them, which can blur the geographic picture for fully remote assistants.
4. What Employers Are Offering in 2027 Salary Guides and Job Postings
Staffing firm benchmarks and live job ads point to a cooling market. Robert Half’s 2027 Salary Guide puts the national midpoint for executive assistants at $73,000, about $3,600 below the BLS median of $76,590 (73,000 versus 76,590), and projects only “+1.9% average” salary growth for administrative and customer support roles (Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide, Administrative and Customer Support). The senior executive assistant band, which runs to $115,000, is where the money concentrates.
Advertised wages confirm the slowdown. Posted wages for US administrative assistance jobs grew 2.8% year over year in August 2026, down from 3.1% a year earlier and from 9.1% in November 2021 (Indeed Hiring Lab, Wage Tracker data). The pandemic-era hiring scramble has fully unwound, and AI skills are emerging as the main lever for a raise: 60% of administrative and customer support leaders say they offer higher pay for relevant AI skills (Robert Half 2027).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Executive assistant: low / mid / high | $66,500 / $73,000 / $88,500 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Senior executive assistant: low / mid / high | $82,500 / $98,750 / $115,000 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Administrative assistant: low / mid / high | $46,000 / $52,000 / $58,000 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Office manager: low / mid / high | $56,000 / $62,000 / $69,500 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Projected average salary growth, administrative and customer support | +1.9% | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Leaders making more competitive offers / offering above planned range | 55% / 35% | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Leaders paying more for AI skills / paying more for AI than other tech skills | 60% / 31% | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Posted wage growth, US administrative assistance (YoY) | 2.8% Aug 2026; 3.1% Aug 2025; 4.5% Jan 2025; 9.1% Nov 2021 | Indeed Hiring Lab Wage Tracker |
Context note: Robert Half’s ranges come from compensation of candidates it placed, validated with Textkernel job posting data, and the low, mid and high points describe candidates new to the role, with moderate experience and with extensive experience (Robert Half, Executive Assistant salary); they are not BLS-style percentiles. Indeed’s measure is the median year-over-year change across job titles, and its US administrative assistance sample fell from 44,116 observations in August 2025 to 38,113 in August 2026. By comparison, US customer service postings showed 3.2% wage growth in August 2026, a role that faces similar automation pressure (see our call center agent burnout and turnover statistics).
5. Remote Work Share: More Common Than the Stereotype
Administrative support is often assumed to be a desk-in-the-lobby job. The data say otherwise. 23.5% of people at work in office and administrative support occupations teleworked in September 2026, slightly above the 21.9% rate for all workers, and 13.1% teleworked for all of their hours (BLS CPS Table A-42, September 2026). The unusual detail is that fully remote telework (13.1%) outnumbers partial telework (10.5%) in this group, the reverse of the pattern for managers. Administrative roles that go remote tend to go fully remote, which is the operating model of the virtual assistant.
Time use data point the same way. Office and administrative support workers who worked at home on a given day spent an average of 6.02 hours working there, versus 5.64 hours for management, business and financial workers (BLS American Time Use Survey 2025, Table 7). Managers mix home and office within a day; administrative staff who work from home tend to do a full shift there. The tools that make that possible, from softphones to team chat, are covered in our enterprise unified communications statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Office and administrative support: people at work / teleworked | 15,510,000 / 3,650,000 (23.5%) | BLS CPS Table A-42, September 2026 |
| Office and administrative support: teleworked all hours / some hours | 13.1% / 10.5% | BLS CPS Table A-42, September 2026 |
| All workers / management, business and financial telework rate | 21.9% / 42.9% | BLS CPS Table A-42, September 2026 |
| Office and administrative support: worked at home on days worked | 28.6% (74.0% at workplace) | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
| Office and administrative support: hours at home / at workplace on days worked | 6.02 / 7.90 | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
| Management, business and financial: worked at home on days worked | 57.0% (5.64 hours) | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
| Executive assistants with daily telephone / e-mail use | 99% / 97% | O*NET OnLine 43-6011.00 work context |
| Executive assistants with daily face-to-face discussions | 74% | O*NET OnLine 43-6011.00 work context |
Context note: the CPS counts telework during a single reference week; ATUS counts any work done at home on an average day worked in 2025, which is why its share is higher. O*NET’s work context data show why executive assistant roles resist full remote: 74% report daily face-to-face discussions, a share that tends to anchor the job near the executive.
6. Virtual Assistants and the Freelance Marketplace
The virtual assistant market runs on platforms rather than payrolls, so its pay data come from marketplaces. Upwork says freelance virtual assistants charge an average of $18-35 an hour, ranging from $12-20+ for administrative and data entry work to $38-50+ for advanced or consultant-level assistants (Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates). The top of that range overlaps the $38.05 mean hourly wage of salaried executive assistants (BLS OEWS May 2025), but the bottom tier is below the $23.23 median for secretaries overall.
The platform economics behind those rates are shifting. Upwork’s gross services volume fell 4% year over year to $966.4 million in Q2 2026, and active clients fell 4% to 763,000, while GSV from AI-related work grew more than 22% (Upwork, Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results). Management said “lower-complexity work continues to shift toward automation”, a description that fits routine scheduling, inbox triage and data entry.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average freelance virtual assistant rate | $18-35 an hour | Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates |
| Administrative / data entry virtual assistants | $12-20+ an hour | Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates |
| Marketing, customer service or accounting virtual assistants | $20-35+ an hour | Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates |
| Advanced / consultant virtual assistants | $38-50+ an hour | Upwork, Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates |
| Upwork gross services volume / active clients, Q2 2026 | $966.4 million (-4%) / 763,000 (-4%) | Upwork Q2 2026 results |
| GSV per active client / AI-related GSV growth, Q2 2026 | $5,230 (+5%) / over 22% | Upwork Q2 2026 results |
| Online gig work platforms worldwide | 545, with workers and clients in 186 countries | World Bank, Working Without Borders 2023 |
| Gig economy share of the global labor market | Up to 12% | World Bank, Working Without Borders 2023 |
Context note: Upwork’s rate ranges reflect North American freelancers with over 1,000 hours and a 90% success rate, and the page carries no date. The World Bank also found low- and middle-income countries account for 40% of traffic to gig platforms and that women earned 68% of men’s wages on one major platform it reviewed (World Bank, September 7, 2023). Most recent available data: World Bank, 2023.
7. Outlook: Flat for Executives, Shrinking for Generalists, Highest AI Exposure
BLS has written AI directly into its outlook for the occupation. Employment of secretaries and administrative assistants is projected to decline 2% from 2025 to 2035, a loss of 75,300 jobs, with “Technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) systems and digital tools” named as a reason (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The split is sharp: executive assistants hold flat at 489,200 jobs, general assistants lose 114,100, and medical assistants gain 47,100 as healthcare administration expands.
Globally, the exposure is concentrated in exactly this kind of work. The ILO’s refined index finds “Clerical occupations continue to have the highest exposure levels” to generative AI, and 3.3% of global employment falls in the highest exposure category, 4.7% for women versus 2.4% for men (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025). The ILO’s conclusion is that transformation of jobs is a more likely outcome than outright elimination, which matches the BLS projection of a flat, not falling, executive tier.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| All secretaries and administrative assistants, 2025-2035 | -2% (-75,300 jobs; 3,515,600 in 2025) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Average annual openings, 2025-2035 | About 314,400 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Executive assistants, 2025-2035 | 0% (489,300 to 489,200) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| General secretaries and administrative assistants, 2025-2035 | -6% (-114,100) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Legal / medical secretaries and administrative assistants, 2025-2035 | -5% (-8,300) / +5% (+47,100) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Global employment in the highest GenAI exposure category | 3.3% (women 4.7%, men 2.4%) | ILO Working Paper 140, 2025 |
| Women vs men in highest exposure category, high-income countries | 9.6% vs 3.5% | ILO Working Paper 140, 2025 |
| Employment with some GenAI exposure: low-income vs high-income countries | 11% vs 34% | ILO Working Paper 140, 2025 |
Context note: O*NET lists executive assistant employment at 502,800 in 2024 with a projected decline of 1% or lower for 2024-2034 and about 50,000 openings, figures from the previous BLS projection cycle; the 2025-2035 numbers above supersede them. BLS also notes that many executive assistants now support more than one manager, a structural change that limits headcount growth even where pay rises.
Summary: Executive & Virtual Assistant Salaries by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Executive assistant median annual wage | $76,590 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant mean annual wage | $79,140 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant top 10% | Above $109,850 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| All secretaries and administrative assistants median | $48,310 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| General administrative assistant median | $47,540 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Highest state mean among those checked | California $92,220 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Lowest state mean among those checked | Mississippi $59,260 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |
| Executive assistant 2027 midpoint | $73,000 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Senior executive assistant high end | $115,000 | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Projected admin and customer support salary growth | +1.9% | Robert Half 2027 Salary Guide |
| Posted wage growth, administrative assistance | 2.8% (August 2026) | Indeed Hiring Lab Wage Tracker |
| Office and admin support telework rate | 23.5% (September 2026) | BLS CPS Table A-42 |
| Office and admin support teleworking all hours | 13.1% | BLS CPS Table A-42 |
| Office and admin support working at home on days worked | 28.6% | BLS American Time Use Survey 2025 |
| Freelance virtual assistant average rate | $18-35 an hour | Upwork |
| Upwork gross services volume change, Q2 2026 | -4% | Upwork Q2 2026 results |
| Women’s share of executive assistant jobs | 93.5% | BLS CPS Table 11, 2025 |
| Projected change, all secretaries 2025-2035 | -2% (-75,300) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Projected change, executive assistants 2025-2035 | 0% | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2026 |
| Occupational group with highest GenAI exposure | Clerical | ILO Working Paper 140, 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read during research for this article in a government dataset or release, an organization’s published report, a company filing or a platform’s own published page. Where we computed a ratio or difference, the arithmetic is shown inline.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 (released May 15, 2026), read through the BLS public data API: executive assistant mean annual wage series, California state series; other OEWS figures (percentiles, employment, state means) come from sibling series in the same API
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants (2025-2035 projections)
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey: Table A-42, telework by occupation, September 2026, Table 11, employed persons by occupation, sex and race, 2025, Table 39, median weekly earnings by occupation and sex, 2025
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: American Time Use Survey 2025, Table 7
- O*NET OnLine (US Department of Labor): Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants, 43-6011.00
- Robert Half: 2027 Salary Guide, Administrative and Customer Support, Executive Assistant salary page
- Indeed Hiring Lab: Wage Tracker data repository (posted wage growth by sector)
- Upwork: Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates, Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (August 10, 2026)
- World Bank: Working Without Borders press release, September 7, 2023
- International Labour Organization: Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (May 20, 2025)
- Data watch: Headcounts for executive assistants differ by source because each measures something different: 459,910 wage and salary jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025), 489,300 jobs (BLS employment projections base, 2025, a broader count than OEWS), 502,800 (O*NET, previous projection cycle, 2024) and 249,000 employed people (CPS household survey, 2025). Robert Half’s 2027 midpoint ($73,000) is below the BLS median ($76,590) because it reflects placements rather than all employed assistants and uses experience tiers, not percentiles. BLS does not publish a separate category for virtual assistants, so freelance rates rely on Upwork’s undated platform estimates and should be read as marketplace asking rates, not earnings. State figures cover six states we queried, not the full ranking. The World Bank gig economy figures (2023) are the most recent available of their kind. The International Association of Administrative Professionals and the American Society of Administrative Professionals research pages could not be loaded (403 and 429 errors), so no association survey data were used; WebSearch was unavailable for this session, so all figures come from directly fetched primary pages. The Indeed sector file for remote postings exceeded fetch limits and was not used.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when BLS releases October 2026 telework data in the Current Population Survey and Upwork reports its third quarter 2026 results.