SOC 43-6014.00Bright outlook

    Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

    Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers.

    Median pay
    $47,540
    Growth
    -6.0%
    Decline
    Openings a year
    163,900
    Typical education
    High school diploma

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $33,280
    Median
    $47,540
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $66,350
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    1,706,790 people work in this occupation.

    What secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive do

    Job Zone 2: Some preparation

    Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers.

    Usually a high school diploma; some on-the-job training or experience.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    16 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    6 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    0 / 100
    Social (S)
    44 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    53 / 100
    Conventional (C) · strongest
    99 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code CES. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Working with Computers
    85
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    79
    Getting Information
    79
    Performing Administrative Activities
    77
    Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
    69
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    69
    Documenting/Recording Information
    65
    Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
    62
    Communicating with People Outside the Organization
    62
    Processing Information
    61
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Active Listening
    • Speaking
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Writing
    • Service Orientation
    • Time Management
    • Coordination
    • Monitoring
    • Critical Thinking
    • Judgment and Decision Making

    Knowledge

    • Administrative
    • English Language
    • Computers and Electronics
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Administration and Management
    • Mathematics
    • Communications and Media
    • Economics and Accounting
    • Personnel and Human Resources
    • Public Safety and Security

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension
    • Oral Expression
    • Written Comprehension
    • Written Expression
    • Near Vision
    • Speech Clarity
    • Speech Recognition
    • Information Ordering
    • Problem Sensitivity
    • Category Flexibility

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Cooperation
    • Social Orientation
    • Integrity
    • Self-Control
    • Optimism
    • Cautiousness
    • Sincerity
    • Adaptability

    Also called

    Administrative Assistant (Admin Assistant) · Administrative Associate · Administrative Clerk · Administrative Coordinator · Administrative Liaison · Administrative Resources Associate · Administrative Secretary (Admin Secretary) · Administrative Specialist (Admin Specialist) · Administrative Support Assistant (ASA) · Administrative Support Specialist

    Career pathway

    From your interests to secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive

    Interests that fit the work, the career, majors that lead there and colleges whose graduates in those majors earn the most. Hover or focus a step to follow one path.

    1. Interests

    2. This career

      • Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive$47,540 median pay

    3. Majors

    4. Colleges

    College Scorecard program outcomes

    Colleges with strong outcomes

    Programs that lead to this career, ranked by what their graduates earn four years after finishing. Earnings are for graduates who received federal aid.

    1. 1
      Bellevue University-Nebraska

      Bellevue, NE · Business Operations Support and Assistant Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $67,452
      4 yrs after
      $83,581
      Median debt
      $19,499
    2. 2Valdosta State University logo
      Valdosta State University

      Valdosta, GA · Business Operations Support and Assistant Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $42,670
      4 yrs after
      $60,715
      Median debt
      $25,991

    Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data, 2025. Programs with few graduates are not listed.

    NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk

    Majors that lead here

    Related programs by four-digit CIP code. They are common routes in, not the only ones.

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Certifications

    Core certifications employers recognise for this work.

    Search all certifications on CareerOneStop

    Training

    Programs of study that prepare people for this work.

    • Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General
    • Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary

    Find training near you on CareerOneStop

    Licenses by state

    2 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Your plan

    Build my pathway plan

    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

    All careers

    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.