What Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive earn in Ramsey County, MN
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $54,080: the median annual pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $26.00 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $54,740, which is 1.2% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 19,180 people working in this occupation across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Ramsey County, MN has roughly 542,945 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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $39,380 a year ($18.93 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $70,390 or more ($33.84 an hour). That is a gap of $31,010 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $46,960 at the 25th percentile and $61,810 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 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 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN is $26.00. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $54,080, and the same salary is $4,507 a month before taxes or about $2,080 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $20.86 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Ramsey County, MN compares
Compared with the Minnesota average
Ramsey County, MN pays above the state benchmark. The Minnesota employment-weighted average for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $51,374; the local median of $54,080 beats it by $2,706, or 5.3%. Within Minnesota, Ramsey County, MN already has the highest median we track for this job.
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 $54,080, Ramsey County, MN pays $6,238 more, which is 13.0% 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 Ramsey County, MN
Among the 586 occupations with published wages in Ramsey County, MN, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive ranks number 417 by median pay, ahead of about 29% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Financial Managers at $165,620 a year, which is $111,540 more than the median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $54,080 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 $10,687 a year, which leaves $43,393, or $3,616 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $38,330. 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 $4,361, 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 $3,353 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $784. FICA totals $4,137, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Minnesota
Minnesota income tax on this salary is $2,189 a year, or 4.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 50% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $182 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 Ramsey County, MN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Ramsey County, MN show an average adjusted gross income of $85,996 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.3% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.6%, 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 Ramsey County, MN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Ramsey County, MN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $43,393 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Ramsey County, MN is $1,427 a month, or $17,124 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,734 a month. For Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive, a one-bedroom absorbs 39.5% of take-home pay and 31.7% 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 6.4% of gross pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Minnesota residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,632 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $409, for $2,041 in total. Gasoline in Minnesota averages $3.15 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,458.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $24,059 a year, 55% of take-home pay. That leaves $19,334 a year, or $1,611 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 35.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive afford to live in Ramsey County, MN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $54,080 that ceiling is $1,352 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,427 is $75 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $27.44 an hour; the median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $26.00, which is 5% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $20.86 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,734 a month means $867 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,720 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $26,054.
How fast you can save
At $1,611 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 7 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 14 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 Ramsey County, MN
What is the hourly wage for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN?
The median is $26.00 per hour, based on $54,080 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.93 at the 10th percentile to $33.84 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $54,080 becomes $43,393 a year. That is $3,616 a month, $1,669 every two weeks or $834 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN?
Total taxes are $10,687 a year, an effective rate of 19.8%: $4,361 federal income tax, $4,137 FICA and $2,189 Minnesota income tax.
Is pay for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN above the Minnesota average?
Yes. The local median of $54,080 is +5.3% versus the Minnesota average of $51,374, a difference of $2,706 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive salary in Ramsey County, MN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,427 a month against take-home pay of $3,616, which is 39.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,352 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Ramsey County, MN?
About $1,611 a month ($19,334 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,059 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Ramsey County, MN at the 30% guideline?
$27.44 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,124 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is $26.00.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 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 Minnesota 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.