Executive assistant salary

What It Means

Executive assistant salary is the pay of an assistant who supports a company's top leaders. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counts executive assistants in its occupation "executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants", whose median annual wage was $76,590 in May 2025, about $36.82 an hour. That's well above the $48,310 median for secretaries and administrative assistants as a whole.

How People Say It at Work

• "She runs the CEO's whole calendar."
• "We're hiring an EA for the leadership team."
• "Is that offer a salary or hourly?"

The Breakdown

The numbers, from BLS (May 2025)

Across all secretaries and administrative assistants, the lowest 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more percent earned less than $35,360 and the highest 10 percent more than $77,720.

Worked example. An offer of $76,590 a year, the median, works out to $36.82 an hour at 2,080 hours and $6,382.50 a month before taxes. An offer of $60,000 is about $28.85 an hour, below the executive median and above the median for the whole group.

What moves the number

• The level of the job. BLS's executive group earns far more than its other secretary and assistant groups.
• Where you work. BLS publishes state estimates from the same May 2025 survey alongside the national figures.

Good to Know

These figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, which covers wage and salary workers at businesses and leaves out the self-employed, so an assistant working freelanceFreelancingWorking for yourself, selling your skills to different clients by the project or the hour instead of holding a long-term job with one employer. See more for executives isn't in them. A median is the middle wage: half earned more and half less. Salary is only part of what a job pays, so compare offers on bonuses and benefitsBenefits packageEverything an employer offers on top of wages, such as health insurance, paid leave and a retirement plan, which can be worth thousands of dollars a year. See more too.

Related Terms and Categories

• Pay frequency

  How often an employer pays you, usually weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly, which sets how many paychecks you get in a year.

• Salary negotiation

  Discussing pay and other terms with an employer before you accept a job offer, to reach a starting salary that fits the role and your skills.

• Total compensation

  The full value of what an employer pays for your work in a year: base pay plus bonuses and the employer's spending on benefits such as insurance and retirement.

• Asking for a raise

  Requesting higher pay from your current employer, usually backed by your results, your role's market pay and what you plan to take on next.

• Take-home pay

  The money that actually reaches you from a paycheck after taxes and other deductions are taken out, also called net pay or net income.

• Benefits package

  Everything an employer offers on top of wages, such as health insurance, paid leave and a retirement plan, which can be worth thousands of dollars a year.

Pay, rates and costs