What Medical Assistants earn in Hernando County, FL
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $44,480: the median annual pay for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $21.38 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $43,360, which is 2.5% below the median, which suggests many workers sit near the top of the pay scale. The survey counts about 9,310 people working in this occupation across the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Hernando County, FL has roughly 207,018 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Medical Assistants in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $36,860 a year ($17.72 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $49,490 or more ($23.79 an hour). That is a gap of $12,630 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $38,150 at the 25th percentile and $46,780 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL is $21.38. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $44,480, and the same salary is $3,707 a month before taxes or about $1,711 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $18.21 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Medical Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Medical Assistants this way: "Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height"; "Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician"; "Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records"; "Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician".
Job outlook for Medical Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 833,900 jobs in 2025 to 941,500 in 2035, a change of +12.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 109,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $45,690 for this occupation; the Hernando County, FL median of $44,480 is 2.6% below it.
How pay in Hernando County, FL compares
Compared with the Florida average
Hernando County, FL pays above the state benchmark. The Florida employment-weighted average for Medical Assistants is $43,258; the local median of $44,480 beats it by $1,222, or 2.8%. Within Florida, the highest median we track for this job is $44,930 in Miami-Dade County, FL.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Medical Assistants is $45,253 across the contiguous United States. At $44,480, Hernando County, FL pays $773 less, which is 1.7% below 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 Hernando County, FL
Among the 544 occupations with published wages in Hernando County, FL, Medical Assistants ranks number 401 by median pay, ahead of about 26% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Financial Managers at $157,480 a year, which is $113,000 more than the median for Medical Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $44,480 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,612 a year, which leaves $37,868, or $3,156 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $28,730. 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 $3,209, an effective 7.2% 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 $2,758 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $645. FICA totals $3,403, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Florida
There is no state income tax on wages in Florida, which means Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL keep the full $37,868 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $2,224 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $185 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Hernando County, FL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Hernando County, FL show an average adjusted gross income of $62,443 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 7.2% 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 Hernando County, FL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Hernando County, FL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $37,868 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Hernando County, FL is $1,648 a month, or $19,776 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,917 a month. For Medical Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 52.2% of take-home pay and 44.5% 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 7.7% of gross pay for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Florida residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,494 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $1,005, for $2,498 in total. Gasoline in Florida averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,427.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $27,138 a year, 72% of take-home pay. That leaves $10,731 a year, or $894 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 24.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Hernando County, FL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Hernando County, FL: 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 Hernando County, FL, set beside the Florida and national medians.
Property taxes in Hernando County, FL
Homeowners in Hernando County, FL pay a median of $1,858 a year in real estate taxes, 32% below the Florida median of $2,730 and 40% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $276,000, the median tax bill is 0.67% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical Assistants median of $44,480, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Hernando County, FL
Renters in Hernando County, FL pay a median gross rent of $1,298 a month in the Census survey, 22% below the Florida median of $1,669. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,648 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 $276,000, 23% below the Florida median of $359,000. Median household income is $66,058, 11% below the Florida median of $74,568, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 29.9% of that income.
Commuting in Hernando County, FL
Workers in Hernando County, FL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.4 minutes each way, 12% above the Florida average of 28.0. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.4% of workers in Hernando County, FL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical Assistants afford to live in Hernando County, FL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $44,480 that ceiling is $1,112 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,648 is $536 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.69 an hour; the median for Medical Assistants is $21.38, which is 33% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $18.21 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,917 a month means $959 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,274 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $19,005.
How fast you can save
At $894 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 12 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 24 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical Assistants pay in Hernando County, FL
What is the hourly wage for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL?
The median is $21.38 per hour, based on $44,480 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.72 at the 10th percentile to $23.79 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $44,480 becomes $37,868 a year. That is $3,156 a month, $1,456 every two weeks or $728 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL?
Total taxes are $6,612 a year, an effective rate of 14.9%: $3,209 federal income tax, $3,403 FICA and no Florida income tax.
Is pay for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL above the Florida average?
Yes. The local median of $44,480 is +2.8% versus the Florida average of $43,258, a difference of $1,222 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Medical Assistants salary in Hernando County, FL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,648 a month against take-home pay of $3,156, which is 52.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,112 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Medical Assistants in Hernando County, FL?
About $894 a month ($10,731 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,138 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Hernando County, FL at the 30% guideline?
$31.69 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,776 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical Assistants is $21.38.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 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 Florida 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.