Across the 29 states we track, California gives Executive Assistants the strongest cost-of-living-adjusted pay: about $78,000 real pay on a median of $85,900. North Carolina follows at about $74,500 real pay, then District of Columbia at about $74,100. The table ranks every state by real pay, so a high nominal salary in an expensive state cannot masquerade as a raise.
Executive Assistant Salary by State (2026): Real Pay Ranked
California ranks first for Executive Assistant real pay: about $78,000 after cost of living. Median and real pay for all 29 states, ranked.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS) & BEA Regional Price Parities · Updated October 2026
States ranked
29
Metros counted
45
National average
$73,680
Executive Assistant pay by state, ranked by real pay
| State | Median pay | Real pay (COL-adjusted) | Metro(s) counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. California | $85,900 | $78,000 | Los Angeles-Long Beach, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco-Oakland, Fresno, Sacramento |
| 2. North Carolina | $72,900 | $74,500 | Charlotte, Raleigh |
| 3. District of Columbia | $80,700 | $74,100 | Washington |
| 4. Minnesota | $76,700 | $73,200 | Minneapolis |
| 5. New York | $82,100 | $72,900 | New York |
| 6. Washington | $80,700 | $72,600 | Seattle |
| 7. Georgia | $72,200 | $72,100 | Atlanta |
| 8. New Mexico | $68,800 | $72,000 | Albuquerque |
| 9. Pennsylvania | $73,800 | $71,900 | Philadelphia |
| 10. Maryland | $74,100 | $70,900 | Baltimore |
| 11. Massachusetts | $75,400 | $69,600 | Boston |
| 12. Ohio | $66,300 | $69,400 | Columbus |
| 13. Illinois | $71,200 | $68,700 | Chicago |
| 14. Missouri | $62,900 | $68,000 | Kansas City |
| 15. Texas | $66,300 | $67,700 | Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, El Paso |
| 16. Nebraska | $62,200 | $67,700 | Omaha |
| 17. Wisconsin | $65,400 | $67,500 | Milwaukee |
| 18. Michigan | $67,600 | $67,400 | Detroit |
| 19. Tennessee | $63,300 | $67,100 | Nashville, Memphis |
| 20. Oregon | $69,800 | $66,200 | Portland |
| 21. Oklahoma | $59,300 | $66,000 | Oklahoma City, Tulsa |
| 22. Kansas | $58,600 | $65,900 | Wichita |
| 23. Arizona | $65,100 | $65,000 | Phoenix-Mesa, Tucson |
| 24. Nevada | $63,000 | $62,900 | Las Vegas |
| 25. Colorado | $64,000 | $62,000 | Denver, Colorado Springs |
| 26. Indiana | $58,700 | $61,300 | Indianapolis |
| 27. Florida | $64,400 | $60,300 | Jacksonville, Miami |
| 28. Kentucky | $54,800 | $58,900 | Louisville |
| 29. Louisiana | $51,800 | $55,900 | New Orleans |
Method: each state aggregates the BLS OEWS metro medians we track for Executive Assistant in that state - an employment-weighted mean where every counted metro publishes employment (27 of 29 states), otherwise a simple mean (2 states). Real pay = state median divided by (state RPP / 100), where the state RPP is the mean BEA Regional Price Parity of its counted metros; figures are rounded to the nearest $100. Twin cities sharing one metro estimate (for example Phoenix-Mesa) are counted once. Arlington, TX and Cleveland, OH metros lack a cost-of-living index in our dataset and are excluded from their state's figures. States without a tracked metro are omitted rather than estimated.
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Frequently Asked Questions
On cost-of-living-adjusted pay, California leads at about $78,000 real pay (median $85,900), ahead of North Carolina at about $74,500.
We aggregate the BLS median wages of the metros we track in each state (an employment-weighted mean where employment data exists, otherwise a simple average), then divide by the mean Regional Price Parity of those metros to get real pay.
The full city-level table with 10th-90th percentiles and every metro's cost-of-living index is on the Executive Assistant salary hub at /salary/executive-assistant/.