Office Manager salary in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

Pay in Durham-Chapel Hill against North Carolina and the US

The middle half of office managers in Durham-Chapel Hill earns $59,030–$83,570. The top tenth earns $100,430 or more, 2.1 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.3 times. The mean ($74,330) is 9% 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 $24,540 wide, against $28,070 across North Carolina and $29,140 nationally: employers in Durham-Chapel Hill pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an office manager here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $15,120 over the median, the 25th only $9,420 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $19,510 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 $69,500 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Durham-Chapel Hill, and the North Carolina statewide median of $62,340 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Durham-Chapel Hill

At the $68,450 median, a local hire costs about $88,323 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $19,873 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 office managers 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 Durham-Chapel Hill

Of the 17 roles we track in Durham-Chapel Hill, this one ranks #6 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($72,460) and executive assistants ($64,170). Project Coordinator is the highest at $104,870.

Measured against the US median, office managers rank #11 of the 17 roles we track in Durham-Chapel Hill (-1.5%), between HR assistants (-0.2%) and data entry specialists (-2.1%). The typical role here is at +0.2%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Office managers hold 7.2% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Durham-Chapel Hill, 6.8% across North Carolina and 9.1% nationally. The job is a smaller 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 $54,150 in the Western North Carolina nonmetro area to $68,450 in Durham-Chapel Hill, a gap of $14,300 a year. All 2 areas in North Carolina with more office managers than Durham-Chapel Hill pay less, among them Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC ($65,170) and Raleigh-Cary, NC ($64,550).

Durham-Chapel Hill against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Durham-Chapel Hill is #88 of 517 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside North Carolina, St. Louis and Bozeman pay just above Durham-Chapel Hill and Grand Forks and Amherst Town-Northampton just below. All four are within $170 a year of the median in Durham-Chapel Hill. Of the three markets with about as many office managers, two pay more.

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