Administrative Assistant salary in Iowa City, IA

Pay in Iowa City against Iowa and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Iowa City earns $37,900–$57,910. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $62,780, only 1.8 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 $20,010 wide, wider than in Iowa as a whole ($13,030) and the US ($19,170), so what a administrative assistant earns in Iowa City depends more on the employer.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $12,520 over the median, the 25th only $7,490 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $16,155 a year in employer cost. 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 Iowa City, and the Iowa statewide median of $45,150 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Iowa City

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 $13,178 to the $45,390 median and brings it to $58,568 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 Iowa City

Of the 16 roles we track in Iowa City, this one ranks #13 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($49,220) and customer support specialists ($42,340). Project Coordinator is the highest at $96,820.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #9 of the 16 roles we track in Iowa City (-4.5%), between office managers (-4.4%) and project coordinators (-5.4%). The typical role here is at -4.5%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 7.8% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Iowa City, 9.4% across Iowa and 10.8% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Iowa

Across the 12 areas of Iowa with data for this job, the median runs from $39,810 in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area to $48,740 in Ames, a gap of $8,930 a year. Of the 9 areas in Iowa with more administrative assistants than Iowa City, 5 pay less, the largest of them the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area ($42,640), Cedar Rapids, IA ($45,110) and the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area ($39,810).

Iowa City against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Iowa City is #412 of 520 US areas for this job. The market is small, and its pay sits near the middle of the US range. Outside Iowa, Grand Rapids-Wyoming and Boise City pay just above Iowa City and Chambersburg and Wilmington just below. All four are within $90 a year of the median in Iowa City. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, two pay more.

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Sources

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