Administrative Assistant salary in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area

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

The middle half of administrative assistants in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area earns $36,630–$47,180. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $52,920, only 1.7 times the bottom tenth, against 2.0 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($42,120) 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 only $10,550 wide, against $13,030 across Iowa and $19,170 nationally: employers in the Southwest Iowa 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 $4,840 a year in pay and about $6,245 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $5,710 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 75th and 90th percentiles in the Southwest 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 Southwest Iowa nonmetro area

At the $42,340 median, a local hire costs about $54,632 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $12,292 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 Southwest Iowa nonmetro area

Of the 15 roles we track in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between HR assistants ($43,970) and customer support specialists ($41,600). Project Coordinator is the highest at $84,560.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #4 of the 15 roles we track in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area (-10.9%), between bookkeepers (-8.0%) and office managers (-12.2%). The typical role here is at -16.1%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 14.1% of the jobs in the 14 of these roles with a job count in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area, 9.6% across Iowa and 11.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

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. Of the 7 areas in Iowa with more administrative assistants than the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area, 2 pay less: the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area ($39,810) and the Northeast Iowa nonmetro area ($41,700).

the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area is #397 of 520 US areas for this job. The market is small, and its pay sits near the middle of the US range. Outside Iowa, Elizabethtown and Yuma pay just above the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area and Victoria and St. Joseph just below. All four are within $130 a year of the median in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many administrative assistants, one pays more.

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