How Much Does an Executive Assistant Cost? US vs Latin America (2026)
The median executive assistant salary in the US is $76,590 a year ($36.82 an hour), per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With benefits and payroll costs, a US hire runs about $109,000. Staffing vendors estimate full-time remote executive assistants in Latin America at roughly $1,000 to $3,250 a month. What you really pay depends on the hiring model, and on whether the first hire works.
Executive assistant cost at a glance
| US median salary | $76,590 a year, about $6,380 a month (BLS, May 2025) |
| US hourly median | $36.82. The 10th percentile is $24.31; the 90th is $52.81. |
| US range | $50,560 (10th percentile) to $109,850 (90th percentile) a year |
| US hire with benefits | About $109,000 a year at the median. Benefits are 30% of private employer pay costs (BLS ECEC). |
| Latin America, full-time remote | Roughly $1,000 to $3,250 a month, per staffing vendor estimates (no official benchmark exists) |
| Pareto Talent, managed | $3,000 to $3,600 a month depending on the plan, plus a one-time $3,000 placement fee |
| Cost of a bad hire | $14,900 on average, self-reported by US employers in a 2017 survey |
Founders ask me what an executive assistant costs before they ask anything else. The salary is the easy part. The real cost includes benefits, the hours you spend hiring, and the months you lose if the first person doesn't work out.
I started as an executive assistant myself, and for the last four years we've recruited, trained and matched remote executive assistants from Latin America with US founders. This guide puts every number on the same basis: US government data, what vendors estimate for Latin America, what each hiring model adds, and what we charge. Where a number is mine, I say so. I run a company that sells one of these options, so I've linked every outside figure so you can check it.
01 · The US Benchmark
What is the average executive assistant salary in the US?
The median salary for an executive assistant in the US is $76,590 a year, or $36.82 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The mean is a little higher, at $79,140. That's for the BLS category "executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants", which covers 459,910 jobs (BLS, May 2025). For pay by percentile, city and industry, see our executive assistant salary guide.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The spread is wide. An entry-level executive assistant at the 10th percentile earns $50,560. One at the 90th percentile, usually supporting a senior executive in a big city, earns $109,850.
| Percentile | Per year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $50,560 | $24.31 |
| 25th | $61,390 | n/a |
| Median | $76,590 | $36.82 |
| 75th | $94,390 | n/a |
| 90th | $109,850 | $52.81 |
| Mean | $79,140 | $38.05 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants (SOC 43-6011). Hourly figures for the 25th and 75th percentiles were not pulled.
Where do executive assistants earn the most?
Location moves the number by tens of thousands of dollars. The median executive assistant in Washington, D.C. earns $90,850. In Arkansas, it's $51,600. If you're a founder in New Jersey, California or Massachusetts, the national median understates what you'll pay.
Executive assistant median pay by state
The five highest-paying and five lowest-paying states, with the national median for reference.
- District of Columbia$90,850
- New Jersey$89,520
- California$89,000
- Massachusetts$82,650
- Connecticut$82,520
- United States$76,590 · national median
- Mississippi$55,670
- South Dakota$55,170
- Louisiana$53,240
- Wyoming$52,210
- Arkansas$51,600
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, state medians for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, pulled from the BLS public data API.
02 · The Real Cost
How much does it cost to hire an executive assistant in the US?
Salary is only part of it. In US private industry, wages and salaries make up 70.0% of what employers spend on compensation, and benefits make up the other 30.0%: health insurance, paid leave, retirement and legally required costs like Social Security and Medicare (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026). For full-time private workers, the legally required benefits alone are 7.0% of total compensation.
So here's my calculation. If an executive assistant's salary is the $76,590 median, and salary is 70% of the full cost, the full cost is $76,590 divided by 0.70: about $109,400 a year, or roughly $9,100 a month. At the 90th percentile, the same math gives about $157,000. Your benefits package will move it up or down, but most founders are surprised by how far.
Then add hiring. SHRM puts the average direct cost per hire at nearly $4,700 (SHRM, 2022). That's job ads, recruiter time and screening. It doesn't count your own hours reading résumés and running interviews.
03 · Latin America
How much does an executive assistant in Latin America cost?
There's no official benchmark for what US companies pay remote executive assistants in Latin America. No government agency publishes it. The numbers you'll find online come from staffing vendors, and none of them publishes a sample or a method.
With that caveat, staffing vendors estimate full-time remote executive assistants in Latin America at roughly $1,000 to $3,250 a month, or about $12,000 to $39,000 a year. One vendor breaks it down by seniority: about $1,500 to $1,800 a month for junior assistants, $1,800 to $2,400 for mid-level and $2,400 to $3,250 for senior. Another puts virtual and executive assistants at $900 to $2,200 a month. The two disagree at the bottom end, which tells you how soft these numbers are.
What a full-time executive assistant costs per year
US salary percentiles from government data vs vendor estimates for remote assistants in Latin America. Salary only, before benefits and payroll taxes.
- US, 90th percentile$110K · top 10% earn more
- US, 75th percentile$94K
- US median$77K · half earn more, half less
- US, 25th percentile$61K
- US, 10th percentile$51K · bottom 10% earn less
- Latin America, vendor estimate, high end$39K · $3,250 a month × 12
- Latin America, vendor estimate, low end$12K · $1,000 a month × 12
Sources: US figures from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants. Latin America figures: published 2026 guides from LatAm staffing providers (no method published), annualized by us. Different methods and populations: read the gap as directional.
Read this gap as directional, not exact. The US numbers are a government survey of employers. The Latin America numbers are vendor estimates with no published method. They measure different people in different ways, and the US salary excludes benefits. The direction is clear. The precise multiple isn't.
Executive assistant salary by country in Latin America
One staffing vendor publishes ranges by country for remote executive assistants working for foreign companies. Treat them as one provider's estimate, not a rate card:
| Country | Monthly range (vendor estimate) | Time zone | English (EF EPI 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | $1,000 to $2,400 | UTC-3 | High, #1 in Latin America |
| Mexico | $1,250 to $2,850 | UTC-6 | Very low |
| Colombia | $1,150 to $2,250 | UTC-5 | Low |
| Brazil | $1,000 to $2,200 | UTC-3 | Low |
| Chile | $1,150 to $2,200 | UTC-3 or UTC-4 | Moderate |
| Costa Rica | $1,150 to $2,200 | UTC-6 | Moderate |
| Uruguay | $1,000 to $2,000 | UTC-3 | Moderate |
| Peru | $850 to $1,850 | UTC-5 | Moderate |
Sources: salary ranges from a published 2026 guide by a LatAm staffing provider (no method published); time zones from the IANA Time Zone Database; English from the EF English Proficiency Index 2025.
Notice what the table doesn't show: a premium for English. Argentina is the only large Latin American market in EF's "High" band, yet its range sits in the middle. In our own data, Argentina supplies 60% of the 36,186 people who applied to us and 72% of the 518 who passed our final project. The country with the strongest English isn't the most expensive one on paper. The person you hire still matters more than the passport, so test English yourself. Our Latin America Remote Talent Report has the full breakdown.
How much does a virtual executive assistant cost per hour?
A full-time month is about 173 working hours (40 hours × 52 weeks ÷ 12). At the vendor range of $1,000 to $3,250 a month, a full-time remote assistant in Latin America works out to roughly $6 to $19 an hour. That's my arithmetic, not a published rate. The US median is $36.82 an hour before benefits.
Part-time and hourly virtual assistants on freelance marketplaces are priced differently, usually with a platform fee on top. Hourly works for tasks. If you want someone to own your inbox, calendar and follow-ups, you want a full-time executive assistant on your hours.
Skip the salary research
We place full-time executive assistants from Latin America, already trained and tested on real work, with US founders. See three hand-picked profiles within 24 hours.
04 · Hiring Models
What does each way of hiring an executive assistant cost?
The salary is one line. How you hire decides the rest: who finds the person, who tests them, who handles payroll, and what happens if it doesn't work out. There are five common models.
| Hiring model | What you pay | What's hidden | Who vets | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance marketplace | An hourly or project rate, plus a platform fee | Your time to post, screen and manage; most freelancers split their week across clients | You | You start over |
| Direct hire as a contractor | Their monthly rate. Vendors estimate $1,000 to $3,250 a month full-time. | Your recruiting time (SHRM's US average is about $4,700 per hire in direct costs), payments, and local-law risk if the contractor is really an employee | You | You start over |
| Employer of Record (EOR) | The salary plus local benefits and a monthly platform fee | Recruiting is still on you; the platform handles payroll, not hiring | You | You start over |
| Recruiting agency | The salary plus a one-time placement fee | Fee terms and replacement windows vary; you still run payroll or an EOR | The agency, to its own standard | Sometimes a limited replacement window |
| Managed placement | One monthly fee that covers the person and the service | Ask what the person takes home and how they're employed | The firm | Replacement included |
A few notes on the rows without numbers. EOR platform fees, agency placement fees and marketplace fees are all real, but there's no neutral published benchmark for any of them, so I won't quote one. Get the number in writing from whoever you're talking to, and ask what's included.
On contractors: US minimum-wage and overtime law doesn't apply to work performed in a foreign country (29 U.S.C. §213(f)). That's why the local law in the person's country decides whether a "contractor" is really an employee. If you set fixed hours, direct the work every day and pay a monthly salary, ask an employment lawyer in that country before you sign. An EOR moves that risk off your company, at a higher monthly cost. This isn't legal advice.
05 · The Hidden Cost
What does a bad executive assistant hire cost?
The most expensive line on any of these tables is the hire that doesn't work. In a CareerBuilder survey of 2,257 US hiring managers, 74% said they had hired the wrong person, and the average self-reported cost of a bad hire was $14,900 (HR Dive, 2017). That survey is old and self-reported, so treat it as a floor, not a measurement.
For a founder, the bigger cost isn't on an invoice. It's the two or three months you spend training someone who can't do the job, the follow-ups that slip while you do, and the second search. At SHRM's ~$4,700 in direct costs per hire, plus your own hours, hiring twice can cost more than the savings you were chasing.
This is why we test before anyone is matched. Since 2024, 36,186 people have applied to us. 3,250 joined our 10-day live training, and 518 passed the scored final project: a five-day build, graded on a 25-point rubric, where one broken link fails it. If you hire on your own, give every candidate a paid work sample that looks like the real job before you interview. Our pillar guide shows the full process.
06 · What We Charge
How much does a Pareto Talent executive assistant cost?
We price one way: a flat fee for a full-time Right Hand (our name for the executive assistants and operators we place), plus a one-time placement fee on the first invoice.
| Plan | Price | Effective per month | Year one with the $3,000 placement fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | $36,000 a year | $3,000 | $39,000 |
| Quarterly | $10,000 a quarter | about $3,333 | $43,000 |
| Month-to-month | $3,600 a month | $3,600 | $46,200 |
Source: Pareto Talent pricing, October 2026.
That's more than the vendor salary range for a direct hire in Latin America. Here's what the difference pays for:
- Recruiting and testing. Every Right Hand comes through our application, the 10-day live bootcamp (40+ hours of training) and the scored final project, plus an interview.
- Matching. You see three hand-picked profiles within 24 hours and interview them yourself.
- Ongoing support. We stay involved after the match, with onboarding and check-ins.
- Replacement. If it's not right, we replace your Right Hand at no cost.
And three guarantees, word for word from our site:
- Freedom 40. "Attend the Delegation Mastermind, follow the onboarding plan, and meet with your Right Hand 10 minutes daily. If you don't get at least 40 hours back within your first 30 days, your next month is on us."
- Matching Guarantee. "If we don't find a match you're truly excited about, you owe nothing."
- Lifetime Replacement. "If the match is ever not right, for any reason, at any time, we replace your Right Hand at no cost."
Year-one cost of one full-time executive assistant
Salary or fees for the first 12 months. The US line adds employer benefits and payroll costs; the managed lines include the one-time placement fee.
- US hire at the median, with benefits$109K · our calculation: $76,590 ÷ 0.70
- US hire at the median, salary only$77K
- Pareto, month-to-month plan$46K · $3,600 × 12 + $3,000 placement fee
- Pareto, quarterly plan$43K · $10,000 × 4 + $3,000
- Pareto, annual plan$39K · all-in: recruiting, training, matching, support and replacement
- Latin America direct hire, vendor high end$39K · salary only, before your recruiting time
Sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (wages are 70.0% of private employer compensation cost); Pareto Talent pricing as of October 2026; LatAm vendor estimate as above.
Put side by side, the annual plan's year one ($39,000) costs about a third of a US hire at the median once benefits are in (about $109,400 by my calculation). It's about the same as the top of the vendor salary range for a direct hire in Latin America, but that range is salary alone. It doesn't include finding, training and testing the person, your own recruiting time, or the cost of starting over if the hire doesn't work out.
07 · Choosing
Which option should you choose?
Hire in the US if the job needs someone in the room: in-person events, an office, a family office with physical errands. Budget about $109,000 a year at the median, more in a high-cost state.
Hire directly in Latin America if you have time to recruit hundreds of applicants, test each on real work, and set up payment and contracts properly. It's the cheapest option on paper, and many founders do it well.
Use a managed placement if your time is the scarce resource. You pay more than the raw salary, and in exchange someone else reads the applications, runs the training, scores the work and stands behind the result.
Whichever you pick, budget for the full year, not the monthly rate. Then delegate outcomes, not tasks. Our guide to how to delegate as a founder covers the part that decides whether any of this pays off.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the average salary for an executive assistant?
How much does it cost to hire an executive assistant?
How much does an executive assistant in Latin America cost?
How much does a virtual executive assistant cost per hour?
How much are benefits on top of an executive assistant's salary?
Which Latin American country is cheapest for executive assistants?
How much does Pareto Talent cost?
What does a bad hire cost?
Is it cheaper to hire a contractor or use an Employer of Record?
Data Notes
About the numbers in this guide
US pay is from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025, for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants (SOC 43-6011), pulled from the BLS public data API. Loaded cost (about $109,400) is our calculation: the median salary divided by 0.70, the wage share of private employer compensation in the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026. Latin America salaries come from published 2026 guides by LatAm staffing providers that don't publish a method; they're shown as ranges and annualized or converted to hourly by us. Our data covers everyone who applied to Pareto Talent's training program, Bootcamps 2 to 7 (2024 to 2026). Full method: Latin America Remote Talent Report. Pareto Talent's prices are as listed on our site in October 2026.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2025: Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants: national percentiles, mean, employment and state medians.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, released September 9, 2026: wages 70.0% and benefits 30.0% of private industry compensation costs; legally required benefits 7.0% for full-time private workers.
- SHRM, The Real Costs of Recruitment (2022): average cost per hire of nearly $4,700.
- HR Dive (2017), CareerBuilder: 74% of employers admit hiring the wrong candidate.
- EF Education First, EF English Proficiency Index 2025.
- IANA, Time Zone Database.
- US Code, 29 U.S.C. §213(f).
- Pareto Talent, Latin America Remote Talent Report 2026, applicant data 2024 to 2026.
- Remote executive assistant salary estimates for Latin America, overall and by country: published 2026 guides from LatAm staffing providers (no method published).
A full-time executive assistant from $3,000 a month
Recruited, trained and tested on real work before you meet them. Tell us what you need and see three hand-picked profiles within 24 hours. If we don't find a match you're excited about, you owe nothing.