Administrative Assistant salary in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area

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

The middle half of administrative assistants in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area earns $42,370–$57,520. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $63,500, only 1.7 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 $15,150 wide, against $15,680 across Minnesota and $19,170 nationally: employers in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $8,640 a year in pay and about $11,148 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $6,510 in pay. 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 25th percentile and the median in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area, and the Minnesota statewide median of $51,400 falls between the median and the 75th percentile.

What a hire really costs in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area

At the $48,880 median, a local hire costs about $63,071 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $14,191 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 the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area

Of the 16 roles we track in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($50,190) and customer support specialists ($47,720). Project Coordinator is the highest at $88,000.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #3 of the 16 roles we track in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area (+2.8%), between virtual receptionists (+4.1%) and medical administrative assistants (+1.4%). The typical role here is at -1.8%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 15.1% of the jobs in these 16 roles in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area, 10.7% across Minnesota and 10.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Minnesota

Across the 9 areas of Minnesota with data for this job, the median runs from $46,640 in the Northeast Minnesota nonmetro area to $54,080 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, a gap of $7,440 a year. The one area in Minnesota with more administrative assistants, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI ($54,080), also pays more.

the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area is #139 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the top quarter of US areas. Outside Minnesota, Lewiston-Auburn and Nashville-Murfreesboro pay just above the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area and Philadelphia-Camden and Kenosha just below. All four are within $120 a year of the median in the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area. 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.