Medical Administrative Assistant salary in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area

Pay in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area against Tennessee and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $56,520 or more, 1.9 times the bottom tenth, against 1.7 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of medical administrative assistants in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area earns $31,870–$45,390. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $13,520 wide, wider than in Tennessee as a whole ($10,410) and the US ($12,010), so what a medical administrative assistant earns in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a medical administrative assistant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $7,920 a year in pay and about $10,219 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $5,600 in pay. 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 South Central 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 South Central 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 $10,878 to the $37,470 median and brings it to $48,348 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 South Central Tennessee nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area, this one ranks #16 by median pay, between data entry specialists ($37,750) and virtual receptionists ($30,720). Project Coordinator is the highest at $81,590.

Measured against the US median, medical administrative assistants rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area (-18.4%), between executive assistants (-16.4%) and virtual receptionists (-19.2%). The typical role here is at -14.3%, so, measured against the US, medical administrative assistants cost less in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Medical administrative assistants hold 15.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area, 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. Of the 7 areas in Tennessee with more medical administrative assistants than the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area, 3 pay less: the North Central Tennessee nonmetro area ($37,230), Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA ($36,800) and Johnson City, TN ($36,570).

the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area is #128 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, yet its pay sits in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Tennessee, Weirton-Steubenville and Shreveport-Bossier City pay just above the South Central Tennessee nonmetro area and Gulfport-Biloxi and Cape Girardeau just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in the South Central 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.