Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Ames, IA

Pay in Ames against Iowa and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Ames earns $37,200–$45,980. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $49,030, only 1.4 times the bottom tenth, against 1.7 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $8,780 wide, against $9,420 across Iowa and $12,010 nationally: employers in Ames pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $5,770 over the median, the 25th only $3,010 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $7,445 a year in employer cost. 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 $45,930 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Ames, and the Iowa statewide median of $40,980 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Ames

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 $11,674 to the $40,210 median and brings it to $51,884 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for medical administrative assistants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Ames

Of the 16 roles we track in Ames, this one ranks #15 by median pay, between customer support specialists ($42,820) and virtual receptionists ($35,170). Project Coordinator is the highest at $97,290.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #13 of the 16 roles we track in Ames (-12.5%), between HR assistants (-10.7%) and paralegals (-15.4%). The typical role here is at -6.4%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in Ames than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 9.1% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Ames, 7.8% across Iowa and 6.1% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Iowa

Across the 12 areas of Iowa with data for this job, the median runs from $38,290 in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area to $50,130 in Iowa City, a gap of $11,840 a year. Of the 9 areas in Iowa with more medical administrative assistants than Ames, 6 pay less, the largest of them the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area ($38,290), Davenport-Moline, IA-IL ($39,270) and Cedar Rapids, IA ($38,830).

Ames against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Ames is #339 of 514 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Iowa, Odessa and Johnstown pay just above Ames and Columbia and Sherman-Denison just below. All four are within $80 a year of the median in Ames. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, two pay more.

Questions

Sources

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