Administrative Assistant salary in Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN

Pay in Lafayette-West Lafayette against Indiana and the US

Administrative assistants at the 90th percentile earn $66,690, 2.1 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of administrative assistants in Lafayette-West Lafayette earns $38,280–$52,120. The mean ($46,800) 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 $13,840 wide, between the figure for Indiana ($13,190) and the US figure ($19,170).

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

Local pay is bunched just above the median: the 75th percentile is only $4,850 over it, while the 25th sits $8,990 below. Moving an offer from the median to the 75th percentile costs about $6,258 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 Lafayette-West Lafayette, and the Indiana statewide median of $44,270 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Lafayette-West Lafayette

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 $13,724 to the $47,270 median and brings it to $60,994 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 Lafayette-West Lafayette

Of the 16 roles we track in Lafayette-West Lafayette, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($48,400) and HR assistants ($46,420). Project Coordinator is the highest at $83,330.

Measured against the US median, this job is the best paid of the 16 roles we track in Lafayette-West Lafayette (-0.6%); paralegals come last (-19.0%). The typical role here is at -8.2%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Lafayette-West Lafayette than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 17.5% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Lafayette-West Lafayette, 7.6% across Indiana and 10.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Indiana

Across the 15 areas of Indiana with data for this job, the median runs from $38,080 in the Southern Indiana nonmetro area to $47,270 in Lafayette-West Lafayette, a gap of $9,190 a year. All 3 areas in Indiana with more administrative assistants than Lafayette-West Lafayette pay less, among them Indianapolis-Carmel, IN ($46,450) and the Northern Indiana nonmetro area ($39,280).

Lafayette-West Lafayette against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Lafayette-West Lafayette is #252 of 520 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Indiana, Green Bay and Minot pay just above Lafayette-West Lafayette and Lincoln and Atlantic City-Hammonton just below. All four are within $50 a year of the median in Lafayette-West Lafayette. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, none pays as much.

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