Administrative Assistant salary in Fargo, ND-MN

Pay in Fargo against North Dakota and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Fargo earns $40,530–$51,920. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $60,270, only 1.7 times the bottom tenth, against 2.0 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($46,480) is no higher than the median, so few high earners skew the figures here. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $11,390 wide, against $13,610 across North Dakota and $19,170 nationally: employers in Fargo pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $4,860 a year in pay and about $6,271 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $6,530 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 median and the 75th percentile in Fargo, and the North Dakota statewide median of $47,480 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Fargo

At the $47,060 median, a local hire costs about $60,723 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,663 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 Fargo

Of the 15 roles we track in Fargo, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between HR assistants ($49,680) and medical administrative assistants ($45,540). Project Coordinator is the highest at $97,430.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #6 of the 15 roles we track in Fargo (-1.0%), between medical administrative assistants (-0.8%) and HR assistants (-1.8%). The typical role here is at -2.5%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 12.8% of the jobs in these 15 roles in Fargo, 17.2% across North Dakota and 10.9% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in North Dakota

Across the 6 areas of North Dakota with data for this job, the median runs from $46,110 in the East North Dakota nonmetro area to $50,020 in the West North Dakota nonmetro area, a gap of $3,910 a year. No other area in North Dakota has as many administrative assistants, and 1 of the other 5 pays less.

Fargo against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Fargo is #184 of 520 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside North Dakota, Allentown-Bethlehem and Oshkosh-Neenah pay just above Fargo and Jackson and Racine-Mount Pleasant just below. All four are within $40 a year of the median in Fargo. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, none pays as much.

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Sources

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