Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Columbia, MO

Pay in Columbia against Missouri and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Columbia earns $37,440–$50,660. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $52,200, only 1.5 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 $13,220 wide, wider than in Missouri as a whole ($11,000) and the US ($12,010), so what a medical administrative assistant earns in Columbia depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $8,770 over the median, the 25th only $4,450 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $11,316 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 Columbia, and the Missouri statewide median of $43,980 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Columbia

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 $12,162 to the $41,890 median and brings it to $54,052 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 Columbia

Of the 16 roles we track in Columbia, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($46,140) and customer support specialists ($41,210). Project Coordinator is the highest at $80,870.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #4 of the 16 roles we track in Columbia (-8.8%), between customer support specialists (-8.0%) and virtual receptionists (-10.5%). The typical role here is at -16.5%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost more in Columbia than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 4.2% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Columbia, 4.4% across Missouri and 6.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Missouri

Across the 12 areas of Missouri with data for this job, the median runs from $36,810 in the Southeast Missouri nonmetro area to $45,620 in St. Louis, a gap of $8,810 a year. Of the 4 areas in Missouri with more medical administrative assistants than Columbia, 2 pay less: Springfield, MO ($37,150) and the Southeast Missouri nonmetro area ($36,810).

Columbia against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Columbia is #332 of 514 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Missouri, Provo-Orem and Columbus pay just above Columbia and Sioux City and Lansing-East Lansing just below. All four are within $220 a year of the median in Columbia. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

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