Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in the United States earn a median of $45,930 a year. Pay starts near $35,930. The national 90th percentile is $60,530. This page does not publish a state top-of-range figure.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, SOC 43-6013). Employment 961,610. Last checked 22 September 2026. National percentiles via the BLS OEWS release as republished on O*NET OnLine wage tables.
Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025 (Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants). Entry is the national 10th percentile. The top chip is the national 90th percentile, not a state. The middle half of workers earns $38,570 to $50,580. Hourly equivalents: $17.27, $22.08, and $29.10. O*NET respondents most often said a high school diploma or equivalent is required (48 percent). An associate degree was the next answer, at 26 percent. That is an employer survey, not a clinical license. The marker on the exposure bar is PayCrunch editorial context, not a BLS statistic. Updated 22 September 2026.
Schedule and confirm appointments, answer and direct calls, complete claim forms, and route records. The patient is not a generic visitor.
AI tools that fit Medical Secretary work September 2026
A short list of general tools. This is not a sponsored placement, not a weekly crawl, and not a product review with prices. Use whatever your employer already allows.
A general assistant for plain-language notes.
How a Medical Secretary uses it: Turn a scheduling rule into steps a new secretary can follow, then match them to the clinic's own sheet. Do not paste a patient record.
AI inside Excel and Outlook.
How a Medical Secretary uses it: Summarize a week of no-show counts you already totaled, without names.
Google's assistant in Search and Workspace.
How a Medical Secretary uses it: Check a published insurance-form instruction only from a source you can name, not from a guess.
Medical secretary: the slot, the form, and SOC 43-6013
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants are SOC 43-6013. The locked chips are entry $35,930, median $45,930, and a national 90th percentile of $60,530. BLS counted 961,610 wage-and-salary workers in this occupation in May 2025. The medical-assistant page is a different occupation, median $45,690. Close pay is not the same job. The administrative-assistant page is SOC 43-6014.
The published band is tight
The middle half earns $38,570 to $50,580. From the median $45,930 to the national 90th percentile $60,530 is $14,600 a year. Referral coordination and the claim form are how people move inside this band. This page does not invent a state median.
What the desk is not allowed to guess
A slot needs the visit type the clinic defined. A claim form needs the field the payer asked for. A chart note does not go into a public chat window.
Outlook
O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 as average (3 to 4 percent). O*NET projects about 85,900 openings a year over 2024–2034. Average growth is not a raise.
Locked wage chips on this page: entry $35,930, median $45,930, national 90th percentile $60,530. SOC 43-6013. If a sentence disagrees with those three figures, the figures win.
How to do the work that sits inside this pay band
These steps stay inside the published national range. They are not a promise that you will be paid the 90th percentile.
The wrong slot wastes the clinician and the patient.
Turn this scheduling request into the questions I should ask. Do not invent a visit type I did not paste, and do not include a patient name.A blank that you guessed becomes a denial.
List the claim fields I can fill from the notes I paste, and the fields I should leave blank.The secretary moves the record. The clinician writes it.
Rewrite this routing note so it names the destination and the date. Do not add a clinical conclusion.Careers related to Medical Secretary
Similar pay, same field
- Medical Assistant $45,690
- Dental Assistant $48,070
- Administrative Assistant $47,540
- Office Clerk $45,010
Where this can lead
- Medical Billing Specialist $51,140
- Office Supervisor $69,500
Wages in this list are the national medians printed on those pages. Every new page in this batch uses BLS OEWS May 2025. The step from this median to the national 90th percentile is $14,600.
Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).
Paste only facts you already have: a count, a date, a step, a file name. If the draft adds a number, a policy, or a product you did not provide, delete it.
Do not paste account numbers, full customer records, patient information, or anything your employer has told you to keep inside its own system.
TODO: PC_GEAR is not filled in this batch. No product links and no ASINs until a reviewed list exists. Do not invent ASINs.
TODO: state-wage table is not filled in this batch. The chips above are national OEWS May 2025 percentiles only. State medians are not estimated here.
Sources
- BLS OEWS — Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants (SOC 43-6013)
- O*NET OnLine summary for 43-6013.00 (2025 wages and 2024–2034 outlook category)
- Salary (10th, 25th, median, 75th, 90th) — national BLS OEWS May 2025.
- Employment — national OEWS May 2025 wage-and-salary employment, 961,610.
- Outlook — O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 as average (3 to 4 percent). Projected openings: about 85,900 a year.
- Not on this page — state wages, metro wages, and product recommendations.
Check another occupation
These ten pages are the next high-employment OEWS lines that were missing as their own salary URLs.