Administrative Assistant salary in Decatur, IL

Pay in Decatur against Illinois and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Decatur earns $38,570–$53,210. The top tenth earns $61,760 or more, 1.8 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.0 times. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $14,640 wide, against $22,130 across Illinois and $19,170 nationally: employers in Decatur pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $7,320 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $7,320, or about $9,445 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 Decatur, and the Illinois statewide median of $48,310 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Decatur

At the $45,890 median, a local hire costs about $59,213 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,323 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 Decatur

Of the 14 roles we track in Decatur, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($48,200) and medical administrative assistants ($41,820). Project Coordinator is the highest at $102,870.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #3 of the 14 roles we track in Decatur (-3.5%), between payroll specialists (-2.5%) and bookkeepers (-4.9%). The typical role here is at -8.6%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Decatur than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 16.7% of the jobs in these 14 roles in Decatur, 12.4% across Illinois and 11.0% 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 11 areas in Illinois with more administrative assistants than Decatur, 5 pay less, the largest of them the South Illinois nonmetro area ($37,040), the West Central Illinois nonmetro area ($41,150) and the East Central Illinois nonmetro area ($43,870).

Decatur against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Decatur is #459 of 520 US areas for this job. The market is small, and its pay sits near the middle of the US range. Outside Illinois, Palm Bay-Melbourne and Fond du Lac pay just above Decatur and Staunton-Stuarts Draft and Farmington just below. All four are within $30 a year of the median in Decatur. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

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