Administrative Assistant salary in Chattanooga, TN-GA

Pay in Chattanooga against Tennessee and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $60,400 or more, 2.2 times the bottom tenth, against 2.0 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of administrative assistants in Chattanooga earns $35,580–$49,960. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $14,380 wide, against $16,960 across Tennessee and $19,170 nationally: employers in Chattanooga pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $6,410 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $7,970, or about $10,284 once benefits are added. 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 median and the 75th percentile in Chattanooga, and the Tennessee statewide median of $45,810 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Chattanooga

At the $41,990 median, a local hire costs about $54,181 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $12,191 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 Chattanooga

Of the 17 roles we track in Chattanooga, this one ranks #14 by median pay, between e-commerce order specialists ($42,840) and data entry specialists ($39,450). Project Coordinator is the highest at $87,240.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #10 of the 17 roles we track in Chattanooga (-11.7%), between payroll specialists (-11.0%) and HR assistants (-12.0%). The typical role here is at -11.0%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 8.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Chattanooga, 9.5% across Tennessee and 10.8% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Tennessee

Across the 14 areas of Tennessee with data for this job, the median runs from $38,230 in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area to $49,000 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $10,770 a year. All 3 areas in Tennessee with more administrative assistants than Chattanooga also pay more, among them Nashville-Murfreesboro, TN ($49,000) and Memphis, TN-MS ($45,960).

Chattanooga against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Chattanooga is #121 of 520 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Tennessee, Florence and Bloomington pay just above Chattanooga and Erie and Oklahoma City just below. All four are within $190 a year of the median in Chattanooga. 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.