Medical Administrative Assistant salary in Memphis, TN-MS

Pay in Memphis against Tennessee and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in Memphis earns $36,650–$46,960. The top tenth earns $58,110 or more, 1.7 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 1.7 times. The mean ($43,290) 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 only $10,310 wide, against $10,410 across Tennessee and $12,010 nationally: employers in Memphis 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 $7,020 over the median, the 25th only $3,290 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $9,058 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 Memphis, and the Tennessee statewide median of $39,940 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Memphis

At the $39,940 median, a local hire costs about $51,535 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $11,595 here. 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 Memphis

Of the 17 roles we track in Memphis, this one ranks #16 by median pay, between e-commerce order specialists ($40,770) and virtual receptionists ($34,530). Project Coordinator is the highest at $85,130.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in Memphis (-13.0%), between e-commerce order specialists (-11.7%) and sales development representatives (-15.5%). The typical role here is at -8.9%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in Memphis than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 12.0% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Memphis, 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. The one area in Tennessee with more medical administrative assistants, Nashville-Murfreesboro, TN ($45,570), also pays more.

Memphis against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Memphis is #29 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, Greenville and Punta Gorda pay just above Memphis and Altoona and Blacksburg-Christiansburg just below. All four are within $120 a year of the median in Memphis. 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.