Medical Administrative Assistant salary in the East Tennessee nonmetro area

Pay in the East Tennessee nonmetro area against Tennessee and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in the East Tennessee nonmetro area earns $33,820–$44,850. The top tenth earns $49,290 or more, 1.7 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 1.7 times. The mean ($39,240) is 8% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $11,030 wide, between the figure for Tennessee ($10,410) and the US figure ($12,010).

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $8,620 over the median, the 25th only $2,410 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $11,123 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 the East Tennessee nonmetro area, 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 the East Tennessee nonmetro area

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 $10,518 to the $36,230 median and brings it to $46,748 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 the East Tennessee nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the East Tennessee nonmetro area, this one ranks #15 by median pay, between customer support specialists ($36,510) and data entry specialists ($34,680). Project Coordinator is the highest at $88,910.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in the East Tennessee nonmetro area (-21.1%), between paralegals (-19.5%) and executive assistants (-22.1%). The typical role here is at -17.0%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in the East Tennessee nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 13.0% of the jobs in the 16 of these roles with a job count in the East Tennessee nonmetro area, 13.4% across Tennessee and 6.7% 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. All 10 areas in Tennessee with more medical administrative assistants than the East Tennessee nonmetro area also pay more, among them Nashville-Murfreesboro, TN ($45,570) and Memphis, TN-MS ($39,940).

the East Tennessee nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the East Tennessee nonmetro area is #149 of 514 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Tennessee, Auburn-Opelika and McAllen-Edinburg pay just above the East Tennessee nonmetro area and Mobile and Tuscaloosa just below. All four are within $140 a year of the median in the East Tennessee nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, all three pay more.

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