Executive Assistant salary in Knoxville, TN

Pay in Knoxville against Tennessee and the US

Executive assistants at the 90th percentile earn $103,820, 2.2 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.2. The middle half of executive assistants in Knoxville earns $57,500–$80,710. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $23,210 wide, against $23,470 across Tennessee and $33,000 nationally: employers in Knoxville pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an executive assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $9,810 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $13,400, or about $17,290 once benefits are added. 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 median and the 75th percentile in Knoxville, and the Tennessee statewide median of $68,190 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Knoxville

At the $67,310 median, a local hire costs about $86,852 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $19,542 here. 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 6.0 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 7.2 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 Knoxville

Of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between recruiters ($67,370) and office managers ($63,580). Project Coordinator is the highest at $91,690.

Measured against the US median, executive assistants rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in Knoxville (-12.1%), between recruiters (-11.3%) and customer support specialists (-13.2%). The typical role here is at -11.0%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Executive assistants hold 1.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Knoxville, 1.5% across Tennessee and 2.9% nationally. The job is a smaller 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 $51,240 in Morristown to $73,700 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $22,460 a year. Of the 2 areas in Tennessee with more executive assistants than Knoxville, 1 pays less: Memphis, TN-MS ($63,610).

Knoxville against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Knoxville is #98 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 Tennessee, Corpus Christi and Beckley pay just above Knoxville and Lawrence and Utica-Rome just below. All four are within $320 a year of the median in Knoxville. Of the three markets with about as many executive assistants, none pays as much.

Questions

Sources

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