Administrative Assistant salary in Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA

Pay in Santa Rosa-Petaluma against California and the US

Administrative assistants at the 90th percentile earn $79,860, 1.9 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of administrative assistants in Santa Rosa-Petaluma earns $47,840–$69,680. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $21,840 wide, wider than in California as a whole ($19,010) and the US ($19,170), so what a administrative assistant earns in Santa Rosa-Petaluma depends more on the employer.

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $9,880 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $11,960, or about $15,432 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 10th and 25th percentiles in Santa Rosa-Petaluma, and the California statewide median of $55,400 falls between the 25th percentile and the median. An offer at the national rate would be lower than what three quarters of local administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in Santa Rosa-Petaluma

At the $57,720 median, a local hire costs about $74,477 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $16,757 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 Santa Rosa-Petaluma

Of the 17 roles we track in Santa Rosa-Petaluma, this one ranks #13 by median pay, between HR assistants ($57,820) and customer support specialists ($51,810). Project Coordinator is the highest at $107,340.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #3 of the 17 roles we track in Santa Rosa-Petaluma (+21.4%), between paralegals (+24.3%) and bookkeepers (+20.7%). The typical role here is at +15.7%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Santa Rosa-Petaluma than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 12.3% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Santa Rosa-Petaluma, 9.5% across California and 10.8% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $49,150 in El Centro to $62,940 in San Jose-Sunnyvale, a gap of $13,790 a year. Of the 10 areas in California with more administrative assistants than Santa Rosa-Petaluma, 8 pay less, the largest of them Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($53,550), Riverside-San Bernardino, CA ($52,920) and San Diego-Chula Vista, CA ($55,380).

Santa Rosa-Petaluma against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Santa Rosa-Petaluma is #146 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 California, Boston-Cambridge and Bremerton-Silverdale pay just above Santa Rosa-Petaluma and Longview-Kelso and Bridgeport-Stamford just below. 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.