Executive Assistant salary in Cedar Rapids, IA

Pay in Cedar Rapids against Iowa and the US

Executive assistants at the 90th percentile earn $80,180, 2.0 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.2. The middle half of executive assistants in Cedar Rapids earns $46,750–$66,710. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $19,960 wide, between the figure for Iowa ($19,940) and the US figure ($33,000).

What to budget for an executive assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $9,210 a year in pay and about $11,884 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $10,750 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 $76,590 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in Cedar Rapids, and the Iowa statewide median of $62,340 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local executive assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in Cedar Rapids

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 $16,694 to the $57,500 median and brings it to $74,194 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

Our open executive assistant roles pay $800–$1,100 a month under a direct contract. The one-time fee is $2,500³ with a 180-day replacement; paying through Deel adds $49 a month⁴. Change any number below to match your plan.

A local hire here costs about 5.1 times as much as a remote hire in year one at the midpoint of our range. From year two, when the fee drops out, it is 6.2 times the remote figure of $11,988. About the candidates: most apply through our assessment platform with a written and a spoken English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff interviews every shortlisted candidate live, in English, before you meet them.

Other roles in Cedar Rapids

Of the 17 roles we track in Cedar Rapids, this one ranks #7 by median pay, between recruiters ($63,070) and paralegals ($57,420). Project Coordinator is the highest at $93,760.

Measured against the US median, this job is the lowest paid of the 17 roles we track in Cedar Rapids (-24.9%); data entry specialists come first (+9.7%). The typical role here is at -8.3%, so, measured against the US, executive assistants cost less in Cedar Rapids than the area's general pay level would suggest. Executive assistants hold 2.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Cedar Rapids, 3.0% across Iowa and 2.9% 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 $52,730 in the Southwest Iowa nonmetro area to $64,990 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, a gap of $12,260 a year. All 2 areas in Iowa with more executive assistants than Cedar Rapids also pay more, among them Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA ($64,990) and Iowa City, IA ($62,740).

Cedar Rapids against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Cedar Rapids is #144 of 506 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Iowa, Kingsport-Bristol and Ogden pay just above Cedar Rapids and Sumter and Johnstown just below. All four are within $310 a year of the median in Cedar Rapids. Of the three markets with about as many executive assistants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

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