Administrative Assistant salary in Knoxville, TN

Pay in Knoxville against Tennessee and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Knoxville earns $36,840–$51,530. The top tenth earns $64,390 or more, 2.2 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 $14,690 wide, against $16,960 across Tennessee and $19,170 nationally: employers in Knoxville pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

Local pay is bunched just above the median: the 75th percentile is only $5,530 over it, while the 25th sits $9,160 below. Moving an offer from the median to the 75th percentile costs about $7,135 more a year with benefits. 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 Knoxville, and the Tennessee statewide median of $45,810 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Knoxville

At the $46,000 median, a local hire costs about $59,355 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,355 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 Knoxville

Of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($47,320) and HR assistants ($45,030). Project Coordinator is the highest at $91,690.

Measured against the US median, this job is the best paid of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville (-3.2%); paralegals come last (-20.8%). The typical role here is at -11.0%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Knoxville than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 10.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Knoxville, 9.5% across Tennessee and 10.8% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Tennessee

Across the 14 areas of Tennessee with data for this job, the median runs from $38,230 in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area to $49,000 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $10,770 a year. Of the 2 areas in Tennessee with more administrative assistants than Knoxville, 1 pays less: Memphis, TN-MS ($45,960).

Knoxville against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Knoxville is #62 of 520 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Tennessee, Ogden and Flagstaff pay just above Knoxville and Winchester and Sioux City just below. All four are within $50 a year of the median in Knoxville. 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.