What Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive earn in Sacramento County, CA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metropolitan area, the median pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Sacramento County, CA is $55,020 a year, or $26.45 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $44,940 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Sacramento County, CA.
The mean wage is $56,290, which is 2.3% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 8,450 people working in this occupation across the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Sacramento County, CA has roughly 1,594,006 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $39,300 a year ($18.89 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $76,110 or more ($36.59 an hour). That is a gap of $36,810 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $46,690 at the 25th percentile and $63,710 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $26.45 an hour or $55,020 a year at the median for Sacramento County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $4,585 a month, $2,116 every two weeks and $1,058 each week. After taxes the same job pays $21.61 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive this way: "Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals"; "Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs"; "Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies"; "Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters".
Job outlook for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 1,889,800 jobs in 2025 to 1,775,700 in 2035, a change of -6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 163,900 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 8.7% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $47,540 for this occupation; the Sacramento County, CA median of $55,020 is 15.7% above it.
How pay in Sacramento County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
Pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Sacramento County, CA is in line with the statewide figure: $55,020 locally against an employment-weighted California average of $55,286, a difference of only $266 (0.5%). Within California, the highest median we track for this job is $62,940 in Santa Clara County, CA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $47,842 across the contiguous United States. At $55,020, Sacramento County, CA pays $7,178 more, which is 15.0% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Sacramento County, CA
Among the 573 occupations with published wages in Sacramento County, CA, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive ranks number 392 by median pay, ahead of about 32% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $171,460 a year, which is $116,440 more than the median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive earning the Sacramento County, CA median of $55,020, they add up to $10,080. The result is $44,940 of take-home pay a year ($3,745 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $39,270. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $4,474, an effective 8.1% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,411 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $798. FICA totals $4,209, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $1,397 a year, or 2.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 31% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $116 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Sacramento County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Sacramento County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $85,973 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.8% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.2%, compared with the 8.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Sacramento County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Sacramento County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $44,940 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Sacramento County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,793 a month ($21,516 a year), and at $2,201 for two bedrooms. For Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive, a one-bedroom absorbs 47.9% of take-home pay and 39.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 6.2% of gross pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Sacramento County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $31,127 a year in Sacramento County, CA. Subtract that from $44,940 of take-home pay and $13,812 remains, which is $1,151 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 25.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Sacramento County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Sacramento County, CA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Sacramento County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Sacramento County, CA
Homeowners in Sacramento County, CA pay a median of $3,921 a year in real estate taxes, 23% below the California median of $5,124 and 26% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $534,200, the median tax bill is 0.73% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive median of $55,020, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Sacramento County, CA
Renters in Sacramento County, CA pay a median gross rent of $1,790 a month in the Census survey, 12% below the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,793 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $534,200, 27% below the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $92,175, 7% below the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.3% of that income.
Commuting in Sacramento County, CA
Workers in Sacramento County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 27.3 minutes each way, 5% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 19.1% of workers in Sacramento County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive afford to live in Sacramento County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $55,020 that ceiling is $1,376 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,793 is $418 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $34.48 an hour; the median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $26.45, which is 23% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $21.61 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,201 a month means $1,101 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,310 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $22,122.
How fast you can save
At $1,151 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 9 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 18 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive pay in Sacramento County, CA
How much do Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive make per hour in Sacramento County, CA?
The median is $26.45 per hour, based on $55,020 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.89 at the 10th percentile to $36.59 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive take home after taxes in Sacramento County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $55,020 becomes $44,940 a year. That is $3,745 a month, $1,728 every two weeks or $864 a week.
How much tax do Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive pay in Sacramento County, CA?
Total taxes are $10,080 a year, an effective rate of 18.3%: $4,474 federal income tax, $4,209 FICA and $1,397 California income tax.
Do Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive earn more in Sacramento County, CA than elsewhere in California?
It is about the same. The local median of $55,020 is within 0.5% of the California average of $55,286.
Can Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive afford a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,793 a month against take-home pay of $3,745, which is 47.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,376 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Sacramento County, CA?
About $1,151 a month ($13,812 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $31,127 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Sacramento County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$34.48 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,516 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $26.45.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the California rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.