---
title: "Executive Secretary and Executive Administrative Assistant"
description: "Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Executive Secretary and Executive Administrative Assistant

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-6011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-6011.00

Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing routine administrative functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff.

Also advertised as: Administrative Aide; Administrative Assistant; Administrative Associate; Administrative Coordinator; Administrative Secretary; Administrative Specialist; Executive Administrative Assistant; Executive Assistant.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $76,590 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $36.82/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $50,560 to $109,850, with the middle half between $61,390 and $94,390
- **Total US employment:** 459,910
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -1.6% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 50,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 25/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 459,910 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $50,560 |
| 25th | $61,390 |
| 50th (median) | $76,590 |
| 75th | $94,390 |
| 90th | $109,850 |
| Mean (average) | $79,140 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $90,850 | $82,665 | 4,560 |
| NJ | $89,520 | $82,276 | 11,690 |
| CA | $89,000 | $80,383 | 59,640 |
| MA | $82,650 | $78,151 | 14,820 |
| CT | $82,520 | $79,645 | 6,490 |
| HI | $80,710 | $73,405 | 1,440 |
| NY | $80,640 | $74,721 | 88,890 |
| VA | $80,330 | $79,453 | 10,360 |
| WA | $79,250 | $74,056 | 11,560 |
| DE | $78,920 | $79,072 | 1,320 |
| MD | $78,540 | $74,829 | 13,960 |
| MN | $78,470 | $79,567 | 7,970 |
| RI | $77,820 | $76,085 | 950 |
| OR | $75,480 | $73,026 | 6,000 |
| PA | $75,270 | $77,143 | 12,910 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 502,800 in the 2024–2034 base year to 494,900 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 7,900 jobs, or -1.6%. Declining: -1.6% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 50,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** Less than 5 years.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 33.8% |
| High School Diploma | 24.2% |
| Some College Courses | 20.9% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 11.9% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 3.4% |
| First Professional Degree | 2.9% |

## What the work involves

- Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.
- Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.
- Perform general office duties, such as ordering supplies, maintaining records management database systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work.
- Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.
- Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.
- Prepare agendas and make arrangements, such as coordinating catering for luncheons, for committee, board, and other meetings.
- File and retrieve corporate documents, records, and reports.
- Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Service Orientation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Administrative — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Personnel and Human Resources — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Enterprising (E), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 6.41 |
| E — Enterprising | 5.51 |
| S — Social | 3.94 |
| I — Investigative | 1.94 |
| A — Artistic | 1.35 |
| R — Realistic | 1.32 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 84.4 |
| ESTJ | 79.1 |
| ISFJ | 70.4 |
| ENFJ | 66.4 |
| ENTJ | 61.7 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Secretary and Administrative Assistant, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive](https://nuecareer.com/careers/secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $47,540
- [Administrative Services Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/administrative-services-manager) — median $114,130
- [Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/legal-secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $55,570
- [Office Clerk, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/office-clerk-general) — median $45,010
- [First-Line Supervisor of Office and Administrative Support Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-office-and-administrative-support-workers) — median $69,500
- [Human Resources Assistant, Except Payroll and Timekeeping](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-assistant) — median $50,610
- [Correspondence Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/correspondence-clerk) — median $46,800
- [Medical Secretary and Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $45,930
- [Receptionist and Information Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/receptionist-and-information-clerk) — median $38,010
- [Paralegal](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paralegal) — median $62,890

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant