Administrative Assistant salary in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

Pay in La Crosse-Onalaska against Wisconsin and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in La Crosse-Onalaska earns $40,610–$53,810. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $60,450, only 1.6 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 $13,200 wide, against $13,670 across Wisconsin and $19,170 nationally: employers in La Crosse-Onalaska pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $6,500 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $6,700, or about $8,645 once benefits are added. 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 La Crosse-Onalaska, and the Wisconsin statewide median of $47,710 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in La Crosse-Onalaska

At the $47,110 median, a local hire costs about $60,787 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,677 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 La Crosse-Onalaska

Of the 17 roles we track in La Crosse-Onalaska, this one ranks #14 by median pay, between medical administrative assistants ($47,480) and customer support specialists ($45,820). Project Coordinator is the highest at $94,990.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #7 of the 17 roles we track in La Crosse-Onalaska (-0.9%), between payroll specialists (+2.1%) and bookkeepers (-3.4%). The typical role here is at -3.6%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 10.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in La Crosse-Onalaska, 10.0% across Wisconsin and 10.8% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Wisconsin

Across the 17 areas of Wisconsin with data for this job, the median runs from $44,720 in the Northwestern Wisconsin nonmetro area to $51,410 in Madison, a gap of $6,690 a year. Of the 7 areas in Wisconsin with more administrative assistants than La Crosse-Onalaska, 3 pay less: the South Central Wisconsin nonmetro area ($45,760), the Northeastern Wisconsin nonmetro area ($45,300) and the Western Wisconsin nonmetro area ($45,790).

La Crosse-Onalaska against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, La Crosse-Onalaska is #368 of 520 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Wisconsin, Fort Collins-Loveland and Salisbury pay just above La Crosse-Onalaska and Louisville and Allentown-Bethlehem just below. All four are within $30 a year of the median in La Crosse-Onalaska. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, one pays more.

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