Administrative Assistant salary in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA

Pay in Waterloo-Cedar Falls against Iowa and the US

The middle half of administrative assistants in Waterloo-Cedar Falls earns $38,870–$52,480. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $62,100, 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 $13,610 wide, between the figure for Iowa ($13,030) and the US figure ($19,170).

What to budget for an administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $6,250 a year in pay and about $8,065 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $7,360 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 median and the 75th percentile in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and the Iowa statewide median of $45,150 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Waterloo-Cedar Falls

At the $46,230 median, a local hire costs about $59,652 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $13,422 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 Waterloo-Cedar Falls

Of the 17 roles we track in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between bookkeepers ($47,540) and data entry specialists ($45,520). Project Coordinator is the highest at $81,600.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in Waterloo-Cedar Falls (-2.8%), between payroll specialists (-1.6%) and bookkeepers (-6.2%). The typical role here is at -12.1%, so, measured against the US, administrative assistants cost more in Waterloo-Cedar Falls than the area's general pay level would suggest. Administrative assistants hold 11.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, 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. Of the 6 areas in Iowa with more administrative assistants than Waterloo-Cedar Falls, 5 pay less, the largest of them Davenport-Moline, IA-IL ($45,710), the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area ($42,640) and Cedar Rapids, IA ($45,110).

Waterloo-Cedar Falls against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Waterloo-Cedar Falls is #391 of 520 US areas for this job. The market is small, and its pay sits near the middle of the US range. Outside Iowa, Lancaster and Dayton-Kettering pay just above Waterloo-Cedar Falls and St. Louis and Pueblo just below. All four are within $80 a year of the median in Waterloo-Cedar Falls. 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.