Administrative Assistant salary in Cape Girardeau, MO-IL

Pay in Cape Girardeau against Missouri and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Cape Girardeau earns $31,600–$42,020. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $48,960, only 1.6 times the bottom tenth, against 2.0 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $10,420 wide, against $13,180 across Missouri and $19,170 nationally: employers in Cape Girardeau pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $4,540 a year in pay and about $5,858 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $5,880 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $47,540 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in Cape Girardeau, and the Missouri statewide median of $43,540 falls there too. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in Cape Girardeau

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $10,881 to the $37,480 median and brings it to $48,361 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for administrative assistants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Cape Girardeau

Of the 14 roles we track in Cape Girardeau, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between customer support specialists ($38,190) and medical administrative assistants ($37,360). Project Coordinator is the highest at $78,150.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #7 of the 14 roles we track in Cape Girardeau (-21.2%), between recruiters (-20.1%) and accountants (-23.5%). The typical role here is at -22.3%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 13.9% of the jobs in these 14 roles in Cape Girardeau, 12.1% across Missouri and 11.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Missouri

Across the 12 areas of Missouri with data for this job, the median runs from $37,180 in the Southeast Missouri nonmetro area to $46,810 in Kansas City, a gap of $9,630 a year. Of the 11 areas in Missouri with more administrative assistants than Cape Girardeau, 2 pay less: the Southeast Missouri nonmetro area ($37,180) and the North Missouri nonmetro area ($37,470).

Cape Girardeau against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Cape Girardeau is #458 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a small market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Missouri, Texarkana and Rome pay just above Cape Girardeau and Enid and Dalton just below. All four are within $60 a year of the median in Cape Girardeau. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, all three pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.