Administrative Assistant salary in the East Kentucky nonmetro area

Pay in the East Kentucky nonmetro area against Kentucky and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in the East Kentucky nonmetro area earns $30,730–$46,330. The top tenth earns $57,990 or more, 2.1 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.0 times. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $15,600 wide, between the figure for Kentucky ($14,400) and the US figure ($19,170).

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $8,050 a year in pay and about $10,387 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $7,550 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 the East Kentucky nonmetro area, and the Kentucky statewide median of $44,200 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in the East Kentucky nonmetro area

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 $11,114 to the $38,280 median and brings it to $49,394 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 the East Kentucky nonmetro area

Of the 16 roles we track in the East Kentucky nonmetro area, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($41,110) and data entry specialists ($36,850). Project Coordinator is the highest at $78,100.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #4 of the 16 roles we track in the East Kentucky nonmetro area (-19.5%), between HR assistants (-16.4%) and customer support specialists (-20.6%). The typical role here is at -22.7%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in the East Kentucky nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 13.8% of the jobs in these 16 roles in the East Kentucky nonmetro area, 9.3% across Kentucky and 10.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Kentucky

Across the 10 areas of Kentucky with data for this job, the median runs from $38,280 in the East Kentucky nonmetro area to $47,790 in Lexington-Fayette, a gap of $9,510 a year. All 5 areas in Kentucky with more administrative assistants than the East Kentucky nonmetro area also pay more, among them Louisville, KY-IN ($47,090) and the Central Kentucky nonmetro area ($44,720).

the East Kentucky nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the East Kentucky nonmetro area is #277 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Kentucky, Huntington-Ashland and Macon-Bibb County pay just above the East Kentucky nonmetro area and Gulfport-Biloxi and Lafayette just below. All four are within $220 a year of the median in the East Kentucky nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

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