Medical assistant salary

Medical assistant salary by percentile

A medical assistant at the national median earns $45,690 a year; the middle half of the 817,870 people in the job earn $38,470 to $49,180.^{[onet_ma][oews][oews_api]} The table adds the hourly equivalent and the take-home pay of a single filer after 2026 federal income tax and FICA.^[irs][ssa]

*Single filer, 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare; before state tax.

The striking thing about medical assistant pay is how compressed it is. The whole 10th-to-90th range spans only $23,260, compared with $51,000 for surgical technologists.^[onet_surg] A $50,000 offer already sits at about the 76th percentile nationally. In practice that means where you work matters more than how long you have worked: moving from a low-paying to a high-paying state changes pay more than a decade of experience does.

Medical assistant hourly pay

Medical assistant hourly pay is $21.97 at the median, $17.33 at the 10th percentile and $28.51 at the 90th.^[onet_ma] Most medical assistants are paid by the hour, so the annual figures above assume 40 paid hours a week for 52 weeks, the conversion BLS uses.^[oews_faq] Clinics that close early or run four-day weeks often schedule 32 to 36 hours; at the median rate a 32-hour week works out to $36,552 a year. Overtime (time and a half after 40 hours for hourly employees) is not counted in the BLS wage.^[dol_ot]

Medical assistant salary by state

Washington pays medical assistants the most, at a median of $59,290, followed by Alaska ($52,560) and District of Columbia ($51,050); Mississippi pays the least at $35,360.^[onet_ma] 9 of the 51 jurisdictions have no state income tax on wages, which adds a few percent to take-home pay; the calculator locks the state rate at zero there. California has its own page with every metro area, medical assistant salary in California, and so does Texas, where pay is below the national median: medical assistant salary in Texas.

Highest-paying metro areas for medical assistants

The top-paying metro area for medical assistants is Vallejo, CA at a $77,410 median, and 6 of the top 10 are in California.^[onet_ma] Choose a state in the calculator to load every metro and nonmetro area for it.

Certified medical assistant salary

BLS does not publish a separate certified medical assistant salary: certified and uncertified, clinical and administrative medical assistants are all counted in one occupation (SOC 31-9092); O*NET's reported titles for it include "Certified Medical Assistant (CMA)", "Clinical Medical Assistant" and "Registered Medical Assistant (RMA)".^[sum_ma] Certification still matters for getting hired, because many employers ask for a CMA (AAMA), CCMA or RMA credential. The exams, fees and eligibility routes are compared on medical assistant certification, and the training path is on how to become a medical assistant. Front-desk staff who do no clinical work are a separate BLS occupation; see medical administrative assistant salary.

Medical assistant vs related careers

Medical assistants earn almost exactly what phlebotomists earn ($45,230 median) and less than medical billers and coders ($51,140).^{[onet_phleb][onet_coder]} Vet techs are close behind at a $47,380 median (see veterinary technician salary), and the biggest jump among short programs is to surgical technology, where the median is $64,650. Each career's own pay page breaks the numbers down by state: phlebotomist salary, medical billing and coding salary and surgical tech salary.