Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Chattanooga, TN-GA

Pay in Chattanooga against Tennessee and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Chattanooga earns $35,560–$45,930. The top tenth earns $56,890 or more, 1.8 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 1.7 times. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $10,370 wide, against $10,410 across Tennessee and $12,010 nationally: employers in Chattanooga 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 $7,290 over the median, the 25th only $3,080 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $9,406 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 75th and 90th percentiles in Chattanooga, and the Tennessee statewide median of $39,940 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local medical administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in Chattanooga

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 $11,218 to the $38,640 median and brings it to $49,858 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 Chattanooga

Of the 17 roles we track in Chattanooga, this one ranks #16 by median pay, between data entry specialists ($39,450) and virtual receptionists ($35,070). Project Coordinator is the highest at $87,240.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #15 of the 17 roles we track in Chattanooga (-15.9%), between marketing specialists (-15.6%) and recruiters (-18.8%). The typical role here is at -11.0%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in Chattanooga than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 12.5% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Chattanooga, 11.5% across Tennessee and 6.1% nationally. The job is a bigger 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 $36,230 in the East Tennessee nonmetro area to $45,570 in Nashville-Murfreesboro, a gap of $9,340 a year. Of the 3 areas in Tennessee with more medical administrative assistants than Chattanooga, 1 pays less: Knoxville, TN ($38,420).

Chattanooga against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Chattanooga is #51 of 514 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, Wichita Falls and Las Cruces pay just above Chattanooga and Columbus and Killeen-Temple just below. All four are within $50 a year of the median in Chattanooga. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

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