Administrative Assistant salary in Champaign-Urbana, IL

Pay in Champaign-Urbana against Illinois and the US

Administrative assistants at the 90th percentile earn $68,850, 2.1 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of administrative assistants in Champaign-Urbana earns $38,510–$63,200. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $24,690 wide, wider than in Illinois as a whole ($22,130) and the US ($19,170), so what a administrative assistant earns in Champaign-Urbana depends more on the employer.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $14,940 over the median, the 25th only $9,750 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $19,277 a year in employer cost. 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 25th percentile and the median in Champaign-Urbana, and the Illinois statewide median of $48,310 falls between the median and the 75th percentile.

What a hire really costs in Champaign-Urbana

At the $48,260 median, a local hire costs about $62,271 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $14,011 here. 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 Champaign-Urbana

Of the 16 roles we track in Champaign-Urbana, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($48,830) and medical administrative assistants ($46,060). Project Coordinator is the highest at $90,770.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #3 of the 16 roles we track in Champaign-Urbana (+1.5%), between payroll specialists (+1.6%) and medical administrative assistants (+0.3%). The typical role here is at -7.3%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Champaign-Urbana than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 14.6% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Champaign-Urbana, 12.2% across Illinois and 10.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Illinois

Across the 12 areas of Illinois with data for this job, the median runs from $37,040 in the South Illinois nonmetro area to $51,880 in Bloomington, a gap of $14,840 a year. Of the 8 areas in Illinois with more administrative assistants than Champaign-Urbana, 7 pay less, the largest of them the South Illinois nonmetro area ($37,040), the West Central Illinois nonmetro area ($41,150) and Peoria, IL ($46,550).

Champaign-Urbana against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Champaign-Urbana is #273 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the top quarter of US areas. Outside Illinois, Midland and Reno pay just above Champaign-Urbana and Bangor and Anchorage just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in Champaign-Urbana. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, none pays as much.

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