Executive Assistant Salary

Leaders of businesses of all sizes are typically busy running the company, meeting with clients and business partners, and ensuring the organization meets its targets. While that’s an exciting list of responsibilities, it often leaves them little time to handle smaller tasks. This is where an executive assistant comes into play. They take care of administrative tasks for executives, freeing them to focus on the business as a whole. 

With such a meaningful set of responsibilities, you’re likely wondering how well companies compensate executive assistants. Discover the average executive assistant salary, factors impacting their pay, and more details below.

What is an executive assistant?

Executive assistants offer support to senior-level leaders within the organization. In this role, you’ll typically have a broad job description that requires you to perform a wide range of administrative support tasks to support C-level executives, including positions like chief executive officers (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs), and chief operating officers (COOs). 

An executive assistant's job responsibilities could include answering phones, taking messages, routing telephone calls, greeting and admitting visitors, scheduling meetings, reviewing reports, and even setting up travel arrangements. Additional activities you may engage in include performing market research and training clerical staff and administrative assistants. 

How much is the average executive assistant salary?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), executive assistants earn an average annual wage of $73,680 in the United States [1]. But this salary can vary. Compare the average provided by the BLS and several other job posting sites [2,3,4,5]:

Factors that impact an executive assistant salary

As with many other careers in the US, an executive assistant’s salary can vary based on various factors. These variables include education, certifications, experience, job title, and more. 

Education

An executive assistant's typical minimum educational requirement is a high school diploma or an associate degree, though you can make yourself stand out with an advanced degree. Take a look at how your education can impact your potential executive assistant salary [2]. 

• High school diploma: $48,917

• Associate degree: $49,667

• Bachelor’s degree: $52,480

• Master’s degree: $52,631

If you decide to earn a bachelor’s degree, business administration is one of the most common majors. You’ll learn many skills you’ll need to succeed in this role. These might include:

• Finance 

• Business law and ethics 

• Global business influences 

• Marketing

• Data-driven decision-making 

• Strategy development 

• Management and operations

• Entrepreneurship 

• Project management 

• Information systems 

• Analytics 

• Principles of economics 

• Human resources 

• Conflict resolution 

Certifications

In addition to your education, holding specific certificates designed for executive assistants can help your career and potentially increase your executive assistant salary. Some certifications that you might consider earning and their respective potential salaries include the following: 

• Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) offered by the International Association of Administration Professionals: $69,000 [6]

• Administrative Assistant Certification offered by the National Career Certification Board: $55,000 [7] 

• Microsoft Office Specialist offered by Microsoft: $69,000 [8]

Experience

As you spend time in a role, you gain insight and knowledge that makes you a more marketable employee, including as an executive assistant. According to Glassdoor, your base salary could also increase based on your years in the field [3]. 

• 0–1 years: $63,222

• 1–3 years: $67,075

• 4–6 years: $71,066

• 7–9 years: $72,852 

• 10–14 years: $76,789

• 15 or more years: $80,327 

Job title

An executive assistant can have various job titles depending on their functions and seniority within the office. These roles can also impact salary:

• Personal assistant: In this role, you’ll focus more on one executive's personal and family lives. You may work with another executive assistant when setting the executive’s schedule and handling overlapping personal and business activities. You may also manage the executive’s personal life, including scheduling, family travel, appointments, and events. This role has an average base salary of $52,102 [9].

• Administrative assistant: As an administrative assistant, you’ll perform many of the tasks executive assistants do, such as answering phones, managing all administrative functions for the office, and maintaining files. However, you generally won’t handle the more tactical items, such as market research and meeting preparation. The average administrative assistant role pays a base salary of $47,948 [10].

• Operations manager: As an operations manager, you focus more on business operations. This can include setting up internal and external processes and the business’s key performance indicators (KPIs). You’ll also ensure the organization has the operational controls and administrative reporting to meet its financial and operational targets. The average base salary for an operations manager is $78,009 [11].

• Senior executive assistant: After spending about five to 10 years in an executive assistant or related role, you may be ready to take on a senior executive assistant position. As a senior executive assistant, you may work with the highest-level executives in the company, such as a CEO, CFO, and others. You may also have higher-level tasks, such as supervising other administrative assistants, sitting on board meetings, client and executive liaising, and more. A senior executive assistant's average annual base salary is $83,397 [12].

• Chief of staff: As chief of staff, you’ll generally have more impact on the business and often be the right hand to top executives. Some of your tasks may include creating presentations, refining recruiting and human resources processes, helping the CEO or other executives interview prospective leadership candidates, establishing objectives and key results (OKRs), and more. The average base salary for a chief of staff is $153,581 [13].

Industry

Executive assistants can work in a wide range of industries nationwide. Some common industries for executive assistants include legal and medical offices, hospitals, schools, government agencies, and various private organizations and enterprises. According to November 2024 data from Glassdoor, some of the highest-paying industries for executive assistants and their average salaries are [3]: 

• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology: $92,213

• Information technology: $91,206

• Legal: $89,434

• Energy, mining, and utilities: $89,157

• Financial services: $86,450

Next steps in exploring being an executive assistant

If you’re detail-oriented and enjoy handling a wide range of tasks to help guide a business’s and its executives’ success, a career as an executive assistant may be a great option. Depending on the geographic location and industry in which you work, you can earn a competitive salary in this field. 

Experience and education can also impact how much you make. You can gain insight into some of the skills involved with executive assistant roles with the Microsoft 365 Fundamentals Specialization and the University of Pennsylvania’s Business Foundations Specialization on Coursera.