Executive Assistant salary in Santa Fe, NM

Pay in Santa Fe against New Mexico and the US

The middle half of executive assistants in Santa Fe earns $72,530–$89,440. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $95,680, only 1.8 times the bottom tenth, against 2.2 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($79,790) is no higher than the median, so few high earners skew the figures here. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $16,910 wide, against $17,970 across New Mexico and $33,000 nationally: employers in Santa Fe pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an executive assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $8,880 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $8,030, or about $10,361 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 25th percentile and the median in Santa Fe, and the New Mexico statewide median of $73,890 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Santa Fe

At the $81,410 median, a local hire costs about $105,045 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $23,635 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 $105,045 a local hire costs here, you could cover about 7.3 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 Santa Fe

Of the 13 roles we track in Santa Fe, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($89,380); accountants come next at $72,780.

Measured against the US median, this job is the best paid of the 13 roles we track in Santa Fe (+6.3%); marketing specialists come last (-23.1%). The typical role here is at -5.4%, so, measured against the US, executive assistants cost more in Santa Fe than the area's general pay level would suggest. Executive assistants hold 7.9% of the jobs in these 13 roles in Santa Fe, 3.0% across New Mexico and 3.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in New Mexico

Across the 6 areas of New Mexico with data for this job, the median runs from $64,870 in Las Cruces to $81,410 in Santa Fe, a gap of $16,540 a year. The one area in New Mexico with more executive assistants, Albuquerque, NM ($73,160), pays less: a bigger pool at a lower median.

Santa Fe against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Santa Fe is #93 of 506 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside New Mexico, Waterbury-Shelton and Rochester pay just above Santa Fe and Corvallis and Seattle-Tacoma just below. All four are within $820 a year of the median in Santa Fe. 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.