Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Hickory-Lenoir, NC

Pay in Hickory-Lenoir against North Carolina and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Hickory-Lenoir earns $36,700–$44,920. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $48,660, 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 $8,220 wide, against $9,510 across North Carolina and $12,010 nationally: employers in Hickory-Lenoir 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 $6,540 over the median, the 25th only $1,680 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $8,439 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 Hickory-Lenoir, and the North Carolina statewide median of $44,190 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 Hickory-Lenoir

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 $11,143 to the $38,380 median and brings it to $49,523 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 Hickory-Lenoir

Of the 17 roles we track in Hickory-Lenoir, this one ranks #14 by median pay, between administrative assistants ($41,710) and data entry specialists ($37,940). Project Coordinator is the highest at $85,490.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in Hickory-Lenoir (-16.4%), between customer support specialists (-15.6%) and project coordinators (-16.4%). The typical role here is at -12.8%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in Hickory-Lenoir than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 14.1% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Hickory-Lenoir, 10.9% across North Carolina and 6.1% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in North Carolina

Across the 18 areas of North Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $37,600 in Fayetteville to $46,860 in Durham-Chapel Hill, a gap of $9,260 a year. Of the 10 areas in North Carolina with more medical administrative assistants than Hickory-Lenoir, 2 pay less: the Eastern North Carolina nonmetro area ($37,860) and the Central North Carolina nonmetro area ($38,140).

Hickory-Lenoir against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Hickory-Lenoir is #95 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 North Carolina, Knoxville and Youngstown-Warren pay just above Hickory-Lenoir and Paducah and Hammond just below. All four are within $60 a year of the median in Hickory-Lenoir. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, two pay more.

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