Executive Assistant salary in San Francisco-Oakland, CA

Pay in San Francisco-Oakland against California and the US

Executive assistants at the 90th percentile earn $151,750, 2.2 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.2. The middle half of executive assistants in San Francisco-Oakland earns $86,130–$127,280. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $41,150 wide, wider than in California as a whole ($34,980) and the US ($33,000), so what a executive assistant earns in San Francisco-Oakland depends more on the employer.

What to budget for an executive assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $19,060 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $22,090, or about $28,503 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 10th and 25th percentiles in San Francisco-Oakland, and the California statewide median of $89,000 falls between the 25th percentile and the median. An offer at the national rate would be lower than what three quarters of local executive assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in San Francisco-Oakland

At the $105,190 median, a local hire costs about $135,729 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $30,539 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.

For the $135,729 a local hire costs here, you could cover about 9.4 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 San Francisco-Oakland

Of the 17 roles we track in San Francisco-Oakland, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between accountants ($110,730) and recruiters ($103,140). Project Coordinator is the highest at $135,040.

Measured against the US median, executive assistants rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in San Francisco-Oakland (+37.3%), between payroll specialists (+38.2%) and recruiters (+35.8%). The typical role here is at +32.0%, so, measured against the US, executive assistants cost more in San Francisco-Oakland than the area's general pay level would suggest. Executive assistants hold 4.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in San Francisco-Oakland, 3.6% across California and 2.9% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $64,470 in Hanford-Corcoran to $106,220 in San Jose-Sunnyvale, a gap of $41,750 a year. The one area in California with more executive assistants, Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($82,850), pays less: a bigger pool at a lower median.

San Francisco-Oakland against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, San Francisco-Oakland is #5 of 506 US areas, one of the ten largest markets for this job. No metro area outside California pays executive assistants more than San Francisco-Oakland; the table shows the next highest outside California. 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.