Administrative Assistant salary in Owensboro, KY

Pay in Owensboro against Kentucky and the US

Administrative assistants at the 90th percentile earn $56,850, 1.9 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of administrative assistants in Owensboro earns $37,470–$48,160. The mean ($42,650) is 8% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $10,690 wide, against $14,400 across Kentucky and $19,170 nationally: employers in Owensboro 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 $8,800 over the median, the 25th only $1,890 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $11,355 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 median and the 75th percentile in Owensboro, and the Kentucky statewide median of $44,200 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Owensboro

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 $11,427 to the $39,360 median and brings it to $50,787 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 Owensboro

Of the 14 roles we track in Owensboro, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between customer support specialists ($45,260) and medical administrative assistants ($37,070). Project Coordinator is the highest at $79,320.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #7 of the 14 roles we track in Owensboro (-17.2%), between paralegals (-15.2%) and virtual receptionists (-17.7%). The typical role here is at -17.4%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 11.1% of the jobs in these 14 roles in Owensboro, 9.4% across Kentucky and 11.0% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Kentucky

Across the 10 areas of Kentucky with data for this job, the median runs from $38,280 in the East Kentucky nonmetro area to $47,790 in Lexington-Fayette, a gap of $9,510 a year. Of the 7 areas in Kentucky with more administrative assistants than Owensboro, 3 pay less: the South Central Kentucky nonmetro area ($38,630), the West Kentucky nonmetro area ($38,820) and the East Kentucky nonmetro area ($38,280).

Owensboro against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Owensboro is #473 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a small market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Kentucky, Abilene and Sebring pay just above Owensboro and Beckley and Gainesville just below. All four are within $40 a year of the median in Owensboro. 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.