Medical Assistant Salary: What to Expect

You've likely made the decision to become a medical assistant for many reasons. Medical assistants provide crucial work to help both doctors and patients by organizing paperwork, scheduling appointments, assisting with lab work, and prepping patients for medical procedures.

This is important and rewarding work, but like every career, it will likely also matter to you how much money you'll be making, and if there is room for advancement.

What Determines a Medical Assistant’s Salary?

How much money you earn as a medical assistant will depend on several factors, mainly:

• The geographic location you will be working in
• The level of education, certifications, or licensure you've received
• The amount of experience you have

Location

A large factor when it comes to your salary as a medical assistant is the area in which you will be working and the level of demand for medical assistants that exists there. Chances are that your state will have plenty of demand for medical assistants, but it will depend if your particular area has more demand than the national level of demand. Every region also has a different cost of living, which can be reflected in medical assistant salaries. For example, a medical assistant in a big city is likely to earn more than one in a rural or remote area due to the cost of living.

Education, Certifications, and Licensure

In the United States, there are no regulations that require medical students to become certified or licensed. However, more opportunities are likely to be awarded to you if you undergo formal training via a certificate or associate’s degree program and choose to become officially certified. Employers will be more likely to hire educated medical assistants, and you will be able to leverage a higher salary compared to medical assistants with less or no education.

Experience

As with any job, you're more likely to have higher pay with more experience. This is especially true of the medical assistant profession, which is in high demand. Medical assistants who have already been employed for several years can expect to make more than those who are just beginning their careers.

Employers

Lastly, you will see a difference in salaries among medical assistants depending on the type of work you will be assisting with. The more difficult the work, the more likely it will be that you'll be paid a higher salary for the work you assist with. There is also variation in pay depending on the type of employer. A major hospital system may have a higher pay grade and better benefits than a small clinic. This is why it’s a good idea to research any employer you are considering taking a medical assistant position with to get a sense of what kind of salary they may offer.

Medical Assistant Salaries By the Numbers

Now that you're familiar with the various reasons you may make more or less as a medical assistant, you may be interested in seeing some correlating statistics and numbers.

Location

As you've learned location has a lot to do with how much you'll make as a medical assistant. On a national level, medical assistants can expect to make an average annual wage of $40,700, or $19.57 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, there are many states where the pay will be much higher or much lower depending on the level of demand for medical assistants. A few of the higher-paying states include:

• Washington (average annual salary: $50,350)
• District of Columbia (average annual salary: $50,020)
• Alaska (average annual salary: $49,400)
• California (average annual salary: $47,850)
• Minnesota (average annual salary: $47,330)

Employers

You'll find that some employers pay a lot more than others, and as mentioned in the earlier sections, this will likely depend on how challenging the level of work is. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest-paid medical assistant employers include:

• Insurance carriers (average annual salary: $51,410)
• Management, scientific, and technical consulting services (average annual salary: $51,150)
• Junior colleges (average annual salary: $50,680)
• Scientific research and development services ($49,930)

Medical Assistant Salary Table by State and Metro Area