Medical Administrative Assistant salary in San Diego-Chula Vista, CA

Pay in San Diego-Chula Vista against California and the US

Medical administrative assistants at the 90th percentile earn $71,010, 1.6 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 1.7. The middle half of medical administrative assistants in San Diego-Chula Vista earns $47,390–$62,250. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $14,860 wide, between the figure for California ($16,740) 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 $10,600 over the median, the 25th only $4,260 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $13,677 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 10th and 25th percentiles in San Diego-Chula Vista, and the California statewide median of $54,490 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would be lower than what three quarters of local medical administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in San Diego-Chula Vista

At the $51,650 median, a local hire costs about $66,645 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $14,995 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 San Diego-Chula Vista

Of the 17 roles we track in San Diego-Chula Vista, this one ranks #13 by median pay, between administrative assistants ($55,380) and customer support specialists ($48,730). Project Coordinator is the highest at $117,460.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #7 of the 17 roles we track in San Diego-Chula Vista (+12.5%), between project coordinators (+14.8%) and executive assistants (+10.4%). The typical role here is at +10.3%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Medical administrative assistants hold 8.8% of the jobs in the 16 of these roles with a job count in San Diego-Chula Vista, 7.4% across California and 6.4% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $45,820 in El Centro to $69,350 in San Jose-Sunnyvale, a gap of $23,530 a year. Of the 2 areas in California with more medical administrative assistants than San Diego-Chula Vista, 1 pays less: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($51,410).

San Diego-Chula Vista against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, San Diego-Chula Vista is #18 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside California, Albany and Minneapolis-St. Paul pay just above San Diego-Chula Vista and Norwich-New London and Boston-Cambridge just below. All four are within $220 a year of the median in San Diego-Chula Vista. Of the three markets with about as many medical administrative assistants, none pays as much.

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