Medical Administrative Assistant salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale, CA

Pay in San Jose-Sunnyvale against California and the US

The middle half of medical administrative assistants in San Jose-Sunnyvale earns $56,440–$80,300. The top tenth earns $81,860 or more, 1.8 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 1.7 times. The mean ($68,750) is no higher than the median, so few high earners skew the figures here. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $23,860 wide, wider than in California as a whole ($16,740) and the US ($12,010), so what a medical administrative assistant earns in San Jose-Sunnyvale depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $12,910 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $10,950, or about $14,129 once benefits are added. 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 below the 10th percentile in San Jose-Sunnyvale, and the California statewide median of $54,490 falls between the 10th and 25th percentiles. An offer at the national rate would be lower than what nine in ten local medical administrative assistants earn.

What a hire really costs in San Jose-Sunnyvale

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 $20,134 to the $69,350 median and brings it to $89,484 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale

Of the 17 roles we track in San Jose-Sunnyvale, this one ranks #10 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($77,950) and HR assistants ($67,590). Marketing Specialist is the highest at $141,960.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in San Jose-Sunnyvale (+51.0%), between paralegals (+57.8%) and recruiters (+47.7%). The typical role here is at +35.1%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost more in San Jose-Sunnyvale than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 5.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale, 6.9% across California and 6.1% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

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. All 5 areas in California with more medical administrative assistants than San Jose-Sunnyvale pay less, among them Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($51,410) and San Francisco-Oakland, CA ($61,330).

San Jose-Sunnyvale against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, San Jose-Sunnyvale is #34 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. No US metro area pays medical administrative assistants more than San Jose-Sunnyvale; the table shows the next highest outside California. 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.