Executive Assistant salary in Ithaca, NY

Pay in Ithaca against New York and the US

The middle half of executive assistants in Ithaca earns $63,840–$69,310. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $85,930, only 1.4 times the bottom tenth, against 2.2 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $5,470 wide, against $31,930 across New York and $33,000 nationally: employers in Ithaca pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an executive assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $0 a year in pay and about $0 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $5,470 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 Ithaca, and the New York statewide median of $80,640 falls there too. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local executive assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in Ithaca

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 $20,122 to the $69,310 median and brings it to $89,432 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.

For the $89,432 a local hire costs here, you could cover about 6.2 remote hires in year one at the midpoint of our range. From year two the fee drops out and the remote figure is $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 Ithaca

Of the 14 roles we track in Ithaca, this one ranks #6 by median pay, between office managers ($73,640) and sales development representatives ($61,930). Project Coordinator is the highest at $96,870.

Measured against the US median, executive assistants rank #12 of the 14 roles we track in Ithaca (-9.5%), between project coordinators (-5.3%) and sales development representatives (-11.5%). The typical role here is at +0.1%, so, measured against the US, executive assistants cost less in Ithaca than the area's general pay level would suggest. Executive assistants hold 12.0% of the jobs in these 14 roles in Ithaca, 8.6% across New York and 3.1% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in New York

Across the 16 areas of New York with data for this job, the median runs from $66,990 in Utica-Rome to $83,840 in New York-Newark, a gap of $16,850 a year. Of the 9 areas in New York with more executive assistants than Ithaca, 1 pays less: the Central East New York nonmetro area ($67,570).

Ithaca against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Ithaca is #95 of 506 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside New York, Bend and Athens-Clarke County pay just above Ithaca and Hagerstown-Martinsburg and Pittsburgh just below. All four are within $280 a year of the median in Ithaca. Of the three markets with about as many executive assistants, two pay more.

Questions

Sources

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