Executive Assistant Salary 2026: US vs Latin America (and What You Actually Pay)
The US executive assistant salary is $76,590 a year at the median ($36.82 an hour), per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle 80% earn $50,560 to $109,850. Staffing vendors estimate full-time remote executive assistants in Latin America at $1,500 to $3,250 a month, and virtual assistants at $900 to $2,200. Salary is only part of what you pay.
Executive assistant salary at a glance
| US median salary | $76,590 a year, $36.82 an hour (BLS, May 2025) |
| US range (10th to 90th percentile) | $50,560 to $109,850 a year |
| Highest-paying US metro | San Jose, CA: $106,220 median |
| Highest-paying industry | Information: $92,250 median |
| US administrative assistant (closest to a virtual assistant) | $47,540 median, $22.86 an hour |
| Latin America, full-time executive assistant | Staffing vendors estimate $1,500 to $3,250 a month, by seniority |
| Latin America, virtual assistant | Staffing vendors estimate $900 to $2,200 a month |
| Full cost of a US hire at the median | About $111,500 a year with benefits (our calculation from BLS ECEC) |
| Pareto Talent, all-in | $3,000 to $3,600 a month by plan, plus a one-time $3,000 placement fee |
I started my career as an executive assistant. So when founders ask me what one earns, I know the honest answer is "it depends", and I know how useless that answer is. This guide replaces it with numbers.
Every US figure here comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 wage survey, the most recent release. I pulled the national, metro and industry tables myself. Latin America has no government benchmark, so those numbers are staffing vendor estimates, labelled as such. If you want the full hiring budget rather than the salary, read our companion guide on what an executive assistant costs in Latin America. This page is about pay.
01 · The US Number
What is the average executive assistant salary in 2026?
The median executive assistant in the US earns $76,590 a year, or about $6,380 a month. The mean is $79,140. That's the BLS category "executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants", which covers 459,910 jobs (BLS OEWS, May 2025). BLS publishes these numbers once a year. The May 2025 survey is what every "2026 salary" figure is built on, whether the page admits it or not.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Hourly pay matters if you're comparing against a virtual assistant's rate. Here's the full spread, annual and hourly:
| Percentile | Per year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $50,560 | $24.31 |
| 25th | $61,390 | $29.52 |
| Median | $76,590 | $36.82 |
| 75th | $94,390 | $45.38 |
| 90th | $109,850 | $52.81 |
| Mean | $79,140 | n/a |
Source: BLS OEWS national tables, May 2025, SOC 43-6011.
02 · Experience
How much do executive assistants make by experience?
BLS doesn't publish pay by years of experience. The percentiles are the closest proxy. As a rough guide, a new executive assistant starts near the 10th to 25th percentile ($50,560 to $61,390), and a seasoned one supporting a CEO lands at the 75th to 90th ($94,390 to $109,850). Location and industry move it too, which I cover next.
The bigger jumps come from changing the job, not adding years to it. Here's the ladder most assistants climb, with the BLS median for each rung:
| Role | What it usually means | US median salary | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative assistant | Supports a team: scheduling, documents, the front desk | $47,540 | $22.86 |
| Executive assistant | Supports one or two executives: inbox, calendar, travel, follow-ups | $76,590 | $36.82 |
| Administrative services manager | Runs office operations and manages the admin staff | $114,130 | $54.87 |
Source: BLS OEWS national tables, May 2025: SOC 43-6014 (secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical and executive), 43-6011 and 11-3012. BLS has no chief of staff category.
Above that sits the chief of staff, a strategic role with no BLS category. Our guide to executive assistant vs virtual assistant vs chief of staff covers what each one does and what each one costs.
One warning before you pay for experience. In the largest recent review of hiring research, years of job experience predicted job performance at just r = .07, close to nothing, while structured interviews scored .42 (Sackett et al., 2022). Experience raises the salary. It doesn't guarantee the work. Test the work.
03 · Location and Industry
Which cities and industries pay executive assistants the most?
Where you live moves the number more than anything else. The highest-paying metro is San Jose at a $106,220 median, followed by San Francisco ($105,190) and Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut ($100,930). That's about $30,000 above the national median. Here are the ten metros with the most executive assistant jobs:
| Metro area | Executive assistant jobs | Median salary | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City | 76,950 | $83,840 | $124,970 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | 20,850 | $82,850 | $122,200 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | 12,960 | $90,320 | $121,330 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton | 11,290 | $85,260 | $126,940 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | 11,250 | $105,190 | $151,750 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | 10,620 | $77,770 | $107,430 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | 10,060 | $72,090 | $101,120 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | 8,560 | $69,600 | $98,150 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | 8,290 | $80,230 | $116,160 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | 7,370 | $80,860 | $106,770 |
Source: BLS OEWS metropolitan area tables, May 2025, SOC 43-6011.
If you're a founder in New York, San Francisco or D.C., the national median understates your market. A top-decile assistant in San Francisco earns $151,750 before benefits.
Industry matters less than city, but it still spreads about $37,000 from top to bottom:
| Industry | Median salary |
|---|---|
| Information (software, media, telecom) | $92,250 |
| Utilities | $86,850 |
| Management of companies | $83,020 |
| Manufacturing | $81,410 |
| Finance and insurance | $80,800 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | $80,210 |
| Educational services | $68,270 |
| Health care and social assistance | $67,150 |
| Accommodation and food services | $55,280 |
Source: BLS OEWS national industry-specific tables, May 2025, by sector, SOC 43-6011. Selected sectors shown.
If you run a software, services or finance business, you're hiring in the top half of this table, against employers who pay $80,000 or more.
04 · Virtual Assistants
How much does a virtual assistant cost?
There's no official virtual assistant salary. BLS doesn't track "virtual assistant" as an occupation, because it describes how someone works, not what they do. The closest US category is the general administrative assistant: $47,540 a year at the median, or $22.86 an hour, with the middle 80% between $33,280 and $66,350 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 43-6014).
Offshore, the numbers drop sharply. Staffing vendors estimate full-time remote virtual assistants in Latin America at $900 to $2,200 a month. Across a full-time month of about 173 hours, that's roughly $5 to $13 an hour. That conversion is my arithmetic, not a published rate.
So what are typical virtual assistant rates? It depends on three things:
- Full-time or hourly. A full-time remote assistant on a monthly salary costs less per hour than a freelancer billing by the hour. Hourly freelancers also usually split their week across several clients.
- Platform fees. Freelance marketplaces add a fee on top of the rate. Ask for the all-in number before you compare.
- Scope. A virtual assistant who handles tasks you hand over is a different job from an executive assistant who owns your inbox, calendar and follow-ups. The second one is worth more, and the salary data shows it: $47,540 vs $76,590 at the US median.
If you're not sure which one you need, read executive assistant vs virtual assistant vs chief of staff. Most founders who start by hiring tasks end up wanting someone who owns outcomes.
05 · Latin America
What is the executive assistant salary in Latin America?
No government agency publishes what US companies pay remote executive assistants in Latin America. Local salary sites measure what local employers pay, which is a different market. What's left is staffing vendors, and none of them publishes a sample or a method. Read every number in this section as an estimate.
With that caveat, staffing vendors estimate full-time remote executive assistants in Latin America at $1,500 to $3,250 a month, rising with seniority:
| Level | Monthly (vendor estimate) | Per year | Rough hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior executive assistant | $1,500 to $1,800 | $18,000 to $21,600 | $9 to $10 |
| Mid-level executive assistant | $1,800 to $2,400 | $21,600 to $28,800 | $10 to $14 |
| Senior executive assistant | $2,400 to $3,250 | $28,800 to $39,000 | $14 to $19 |
| Virtual assistant | $900 to $2,200 | $10,800 to $26,400 | $5 to $13 |
Sources: published 2026 guides from LatAm staffing providers (no method published). Annual and hourly figures are our arithmetic (monthly × 12; ÷ about 173 hours a month).
Here's how those ranges sit next to the US percentiles:
Executive assistant salary per year: US vs Latin America
US bars are single percentile values from government data. Latin America bars run from the low end to the high end of staffing vendor estimates for full-time remote assistants, annualized. Salary only, before benefits, taxes or fees.
- US, BLS percentile
- US median
- Latin America, vendor estimate range
- US executive assistant, 90th percentile$110K · BLS
- US executive assistant, median$77K · BLS
- US executive assistant, 10th percentile$51K · BLS
- Latin America, senior executive assistant$29K to $39K · vendor estimate, $2,400 to $3,250 a month
- Latin America, mid-level executive assistant$22K to $29K · vendor estimate, $1,800 to $2,400 a month
- Latin America, junior executive assistant$18K to $22K · vendor estimate, $1,500 to $1,800 a month
- Latin America, virtual assistant$11K to $26K · vendor estimate, $900 to $2,200 a month
Sources: US percentiles from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants (SOC 43-6011). Latin America ranges: published 2026 guides from LatAm staffing providers (no method published), monthly figures multiplied by 12 by us. Different methods and populations: read the gap as directional.
The gap is real, but don't read it to the dollar. The US bars come from a government survey of employers. The Latin America bars come from vendors with no published method, and two vendors can disagree by close to 2x at the bottom end. The direction is clear. The exact multiple isn't.
Executive assistant salary by country
By country, one staffing vendor estimates monthly pay for remote executive assistants working for foreign companies at roughly:
| Country | Monthly (vendor estimate) | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | $1,250 to $2,850 | $15,000 to $34,200 |
| Colombia | $1,150 to $2,250 | $13,800 to $27,000 |
| Chile | $1,150 to $2,200 | $13,800 to $26,400 |
| Costa Rica | $1,150 to $2,200 | $13,800 to $26,400 |
| Argentina | $1,000 to $2,400 | $12,000 to $28,800 |
| Brazil | $1,000 to $2,200 | $12,000 to $26,400 |
| Uruguay | $1,000 to $2,000 | $12,000 to $24,000 |
| Peru | $850 to $1,850 | $10,200 to $22,200 |
Source: a published 2026 guide by a LatAm staffing provider (no method published). Annual figures are monthly × 12.
Notice that some country ranges start below the junior range above. That's how soft vendor data is: different guides, different cutoffs, no published method.
The country spread is small next to the spread between people. English, time zone and the specific person matter more than the passport. In our own data, Argentina supplied 60% of the 36,186 people who applied to us and 72% of the 518 who passed our final project. Our guide to the cost of an executive assistant in Latin America adds English rankings and time zones to this table, and Latin America vs the Philippines compares the two biggest offshore markets.
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06 · Salary vs Total Cost
How much does an executive assistant cost beyond salary?
The salary is the number on the offer letter. It isn't what you pay. For US office and administrative support workers in private industry, employers spend $36.73 an hour in total compensation. Only $25.22 of it (68.7%) is wages. The other $11.51 (31.3%) is benefits (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026).
Here's where that money goes, per hour worked:
| Cost per hour worked | Amount | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| Wages and salaries | $25.22 | 68.7% |
| Insurance (mostly health) | $4.05 | 11.0% |
| Paid leave | $2.77 | 7.5% |
| Legally required benefits (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, workers' comp) | $2.58 | 7.0% |
| Supplemental pay (bonuses, overtime) | $1.06 | 2.9% |
| Retirement and savings | $1.05 | 2.9% |
| Total compensation | $36.73 | 100% |
Source: BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, Table 4, private industry, office and administrative support occupations, June 2026.
Apply that to the median executive assistant. If $76,590 is 68.7% of the full cost, the full cost is about $111,500 a year, or $9,300 a month. That's my calculation. Across all private-industry workers, wages are 70.0% of compensation, which gives about $109,400. Either way, budget roughly 45% on top of salary.
Payroll tax alone is 7.65% of wages: 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare, paid by the employer on top of what the employee pays (IRS Topic 751). On a $76,590 salary, that's $5,859 a year.
Then come the costs no compensation survey counts:
- Recruiting. SHRM puts the average direct cost per hire at nearly $4,700: ads, recruiter time, screening (SHRM, 2022).
- Your hours. Writing the job post, reading applications, interviewing, checking references. Nobody invoices you for it, but it comes out of the hours you were trying to buy back.
- Management time. Any assistant needs a daily check-in, especially in the first month. We ask our clients for 10 minutes a day. Plan for it.
- The wrong hire. In a CareerBuilder survey, 74% of US employers said they'd hired the wrong person, at an average self-reported cost of $14,900 (HR Dive, 2017). Old and self-reported, so treat it as a floor.
For a remote assistant abroad, the US benefits stack mostly doesn't apply. US minimum-wage and overtime law doesn't cover work done in a foreign country (29 U.S.C. §213(f)). But the law of their country might, and recruiting, management time and the risk of a bad hire travel with you. This isn't legal advice.
07 · What You Actually Pay
Where does Pareto Talent fit?
We charge one flat fee for a full-time Right Hand (our name for the executive assistants and operators we place). The fee is all-in: recruiting, training, testing, matching, ongoing support and replacement are inside it. There's no separate salary, payroll or platform fee for you to manage.
| Plan | Price | Effective per month | Year one, all-in, 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.
Put next to the numbers above, year one on the annual plan costs about 35% of a US hire at the median once benefits are in ($39,000 vs about $111,500). It's around the top of the vendor salary range for a senior executive assistant in Latin America. That range is salary only. Ours includes the work of finding, training and testing the person.
That testing is the part salary data can't show you. Since 2024, 36,186 people have applied to us. 3,250 joined our 10-day live training (40+ hours), and 518 passed the scored final project: a five-day build graded on a 25-point rubric, where one broken link fails it. Our pillar guide on hiring remote talent in Latin America walks through the full process.
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."
If you'd rather hire directly, the salary tables above are your budget. Add recruiting, your hours and a paid work sample for every finalist, and test the work before you trust the résumé.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the average executive assistant salary in 2026?
How much does an executive assistant make an hour?
Which US cities pay executive assistants the most?
How much does a virtual assistant cost?
What are typical virtual assistant rates per hour?
What is the executive assistant salary in Latin America?
How much does an executive assistant cost an employer beyond salary?
How much does a Pareto Talent executive assistant cost?
Data Notes
About the numbers in this guide
US pay is from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 (the latest release), read from the BLS national, metropolitan area and sector-level industry files for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants (SOC 43-6011), administrative assistants (43-6014) and administrative services managers (11-3012). Total cost (about $111,500) is our calculation: the median salary divided by 0.687, the wage share of total compensation for private-industry office and administrative support workers 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; annual and hourly conversions are ours (monthly × 12; about 173 working hours a month). 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 median, mean, percentiles and employment.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS tables, May 2025: national file (hourly percentiles; SOC 43-6014 and 11-3012), metropolitan area file (metro medians and 90th percentiles) and national sector-level industry file (industry medians).
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, Table 4, June 2026: private industry, office and administrative support occupations, $36.73 total, $25.22 wages (68.7%), $11.51 benefits (31.3%). All private industry wage share 70.0%: ECEC news release.
- Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates: employer 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare.
- 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: $14,900 average self-reported cost.
- Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens (2022), "Revisiting Meta-Analytic Estimates of Validity in Personnel Selection," Journal of Applied Psychology, summarized by SIOP: job experience r = .07, structured interviews r = .42.
- US Code, 29 U.S.C. §213(f).
- Pareto Talent, Latin America Remote Talent Report 2026, applicant data 2024 to 2026.
- Remote executive assistant and virtual assistant salary estimates for Latin America, by seniority and by country: published 2026 guides from LatAm staffing providers (no method published).
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