Administrative Assistant salary in the West Tennessee nonmetro area

Pay in the West Tennessee nonmetro area against Tennessee and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $58,250 or more, 2.2 times the bottom tenth, against 2.0 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of administrative assistants in the West Tennessee nonmetro area earns $31,860–$48,330. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $16,470 wide, against $16,960 across Tennessee and $19,170 nationally: employers in the West Tennessee 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 $8,590 a year in pay and about $11,084 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $7,880 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 the West Tennessee nonmetro area, and the Tennessee statewide median of $45,810 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the West Tennessee nonmetro area

At the $39,740 median, a local hire costs about $51,277 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $11,537 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 West Tennessee nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the West Tennessee nonmetro area, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($43,340) and e-commerce order specialists ($38,490). Project Coordinator is the highest at $77,580.

Measured against the US median, administrative assistants rank #9 of the 17 roles we track in the West Tennessee nonmetro area (-16.4%), between customer support specialists (-16.1%) and e-commerce order specialists (-16.6%). The typical role here is at -16.4%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Administrative assistants hold 15.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the West Tennessee nonmetro area, 9.5% across Tennessee and 10.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Tennessee

Across the 14 areas of Tennessee with data for this job, the median runs from $38,230 in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area to $49,000 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $10,770 a year. All 4 areas in Tennessee with more administrative assistants than the West Tennessee nonmetro area also pay more, among them Nashville-Murfreesboro, TN ($49,000) and Memphis, TN-MS ($45,960).

the West Tennessee nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the West Tennessee nonmetro area is #230 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Tennessee, Anniston-Oxford and Tallahassee pay just above the West Tennessee nonmetro area and Columbia and Warner Robins just below. All four are within $90 a year of the median in the West Tennessee 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.