Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Columbia, SC

Pay in Columbia against South Carolina and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Columbia earns $36,390–$45,400. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $51,360, 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 only $9,010 wide, against $9,750 across South Carolina and $12,010 nationally: employers in Columbia pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $5,240 a year in pay and about $6,761 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $3,770 in pay. 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 Columbia, and the South Carolina statewide median of $40,170 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 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 $11,659 to the $40,160 median and brings it to $51,819 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 17 roles we track in Columbia, this one ranks #14 by median pay, between e-commerce order specialists ($45,320) and customer support specialists ($37,430). Project Coordinator is the highest at $85,260.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in Columbia (-12.6%), between data entry specialists (-12.4%) and marketing specialists (-12.9%). The typical role here is at -10.5%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Medical administrative assistants hold 4.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Columbia, 6.3% across South Carolina and 6.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in South Carolina

Across the 11 areas of South Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $37,030 in Florence to $44,640 in Charleston-North Charleston, a gap of $7,610 a year. Of the 2 areas in South Carolina with more medical administrative assistants than Columbia, 1 pays less: Greenville-Anderson, SC ($39,410).

Columbia against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Columbia is #76 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 South Carolina, Ames and Odessa pay just above Columbia and Sherman-Denison and Battle Creek just below. All four are within $60 a year of the median in Columbia. 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.