Administrative Assistant salary in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area

Pay in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area against Iowa and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area earns $35,630–$47,270. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $55,690, 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 only $11,640 wide, against $13,030 across Iowa and $19,170 nationally: employers in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $7,460 over the median, the 25th only $4,180 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $9,626 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 75th and 90th percentiles in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area, and the Iowa statewide median of $45,150 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area

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 $11,558 to the $39,810 median and brings it to $51,368 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 the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area, this one ranks #15 by median pay, between customer support specialists ($42,700) and medical administrative assistants ($39,300). Project Coordinator is the highest at $81,210.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area (-16.3%), between medical administrative assistants (-14.4%) and recruiters (-16.7%). The typical role here is at -10.0%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost less in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 11.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area, 9.4% across Iowa and 10.8% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

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. All 4 areas in Iowa with more administrative assistants than the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area also pay more, among them Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA ($47,500) and Davenport-Moline, IA-IL ($45,710).

the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area is #295 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Iowa, Tallahassee and Kingsport-Bristol pay just above the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area and Anniston-Oxford and Columbia just below. All four are within $130 a year of the median in the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, two pay more.

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