Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,536
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$9,174
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,805
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$47,710
Kept after tax
$38,536
Worth in national money
$35,805
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $47,710, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 3.88% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 493 occupations New York publishes, this job lands at 391. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $47,710, tax leaves $38,536 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $35,805 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $49,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- For medical secretaries and administrative assistants, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $47,710, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 3.88% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within New York, this work ranks 391 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $38,536 remains from the New York median of $47,710 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $35,805 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $49,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,160 |
| This salary | $47,710 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in New York | $38,536 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,515 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,888 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $45,247 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,121 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of medical secretaries and administrative assistants in New York earn under $47,710 and half over. The published range runs $38,430 at the tenth percentile to $61,160 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $38,536, worked from $47,710. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 391 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,805 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 391.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical secretaries and administrative assistants in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,430 to $61,160; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The New York take-home of $38,536, on $47,710 for work ranking 391 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 391 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,805, worked from $47,710, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New York address, on work sitting at 391 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,430 at the bottom tenth to $61,160 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $35,805 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New York's own levy, $38,536 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in New York is $49,540. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,430 to $61,160) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $35,805 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $38,536 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.