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

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,174
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$7,356
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,480
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$48,530
Kept after tax
$41,174
Worth in national money
$40,480
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,530, which ranks 16 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 2.08% above the national middle.
- Against 430 occupations Alaska publishes, this job lands at 329. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $48,530, tax leaves $41,174, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $40,480 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,510, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alaska ranks 16 of 51 states publishing a median for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, at $48,530 — about 2.08% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Alaska, this work ranks 329 of 430 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.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive — median $48,530 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,174 retained, $40,480 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,510 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,620 |
| This salary | $48,530 |
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 Alaska | $41,174 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,174 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,891 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $48,530 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,287 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Alaska earn under $48,530 and half over. The published range runs $35,360 at the tenth percentile to $64,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Alaska the take-home figure of $41,174, from $48,530, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 329 of 430 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,480, the adjusted value of that $48,530 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 329 of 430 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,360 to $64,620; 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.
- Take-home for Alaska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,174 from $48,530. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 329 of 430 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $40,480 — the adjusted value of that $48,530 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 329 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,360 at the tenth percentile, $64,620 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $40,480 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $41,174 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,360 to $64,620) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $40,480 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $41,174 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.