Administrative Assistant salary in Duluth, MN-WI

Pay in Duluth against Minnesota and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Duluth earns $41,500–$55,660. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $60,940, only 1.7 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 $14,160 wide, against $15,680 across Minnesota and $19,170 nationally: employers in Duluth pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $7,920 a year in pay and about $10,219 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $6,240 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 25th percentile and the median in Duluth, and the Minnesota statewide median of $51,400 falls between the median and the 75th percentile.

What a hire really costs in Duluth

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 $13,860 to the $47,740 median and brings it to $61,600 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 Duluth

Of the 15 roles we track in Duluth, this one ranks #13 by median pay, between medical administrative assistants ($47,870) and customer support specialists ($44,940). Project Coordinator is the highest at $96,550.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #2 of the 15 roles we track in Duluth (+0.4%), between medical administrative assistants (+4.2%) and customer support specialists (+0.4%). The typical role here is at -5.2%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Duluth than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 13.0% of the jobs in these 15 roles in Duluth, 10.8% across Minnesota and 10.9% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Minnesota

Across the 9 areas of Minnesota with data for this job, the median runs from $46,640 in the Northeast Minnesota nonmetro area to $54,080 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, a gap of $7,440 a year. All 5 areas in Minnesota with more administrative assistants than Duluth also pay more, among them Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI ($54,080) and the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area ($48,880).

Duluth against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Duluth is #274 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 Minnesota, Charleston-North Charleston and Omaha pay just above Duluth and State College and Helena just below. All four are within $70 a year of the median in Duluth. 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.