What Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants earn in Benton County, MS
According to the latest federal wage data for the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metropolitan area, the median pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Benton County, MS is $39,940 a year, or $19.20 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $33,268 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Benton County, MS.
The mean wage is $43,290, which is 8.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,180 people working in this occupation across the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Benton County, MS has roughly 7,589 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,050 a year ($16.37 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $58,110 or more ($27.94 an hour). That is a gap of $24,060 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,650 at the 25th percentile and $46,960 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 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: $19.20 an hour or $39,940 a year at the median for Benton County, MS. Before any deductions, that is $3,328 a month, $1,536 every two weeks and $768 each week. After taxes the same job pays $15.99 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants this way: "Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations"; "Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff"; "Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff"; "Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff".
Job outlook for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 979,000 jobs in 2025 to 1,026,100 in 2035, a change of +4.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 89,200 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $45,930 for this occupation; the Benton County, MS median of $39,940 is 13.0% below it.
How pay in Benton County, MS compares
Compared with the Mississippi average
A worker in this occupation in Benton County, MS earns $1,535 more than the Mississippi average of $38,405, a premium of 4.0%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,535 before tax and roughly $1,279 after tax. Within Mississippi, Benton County, MS already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $45,555 across the contiguous United States. At $39,940, Benton County, MS pays $5,615 less, which is 12.3% 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 Benton County, MS
Among the 502 occupations with published wages in Benton County, MS, Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants ranks number 393 by median pay, ahead of about 22% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $102,510 a year, which is $62,570 more than the median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants.
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 Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants earning the Benton County, MS median of $39,940, they add up to $6,672. The result is $33,268 of take-home pay a year ($2,772 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $24,190. 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 $2,664, an effective 6.7% 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 $2,476 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $579. FICA totals $3,055, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Mississippi
Mississippi income tax on this salary is $952 a year, or 2.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 36% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $79 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 Benton County, MS
IRS Statistics of Income data for Benton County, MS show an average adjusted gross income of $46,840 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 8.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 3.8%, compared with the 6.7% 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 Benton County, MS
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Benton County, MS: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,268 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Benton County, MS, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $827 a month ($9,924 a year), and at $905 for two bedrooms. For Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 29.8% of take-home pay and 24.9% 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 8.6% of gross pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Benton County, MS. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Mississippi residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,415 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $612, for $2,028 in total. Gasoline in Mississippi averages $2.90 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,342.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $16,730 a year in Benton County, MS. Subtract that from $33,268 of take-home pay and $16,538 remains, which is $1,378 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 41.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Benton County, MS
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Benton County, MS: 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 Benton County, MS, set beside the Mississippi and national medians.
Property taxes in Benton County, MS
Homeowners in Benton County, MS pay a median of $720 a year in real estate taxes, 41% below the Mississippi median of $1,215 and 77% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $105,100, the median tax bill is 0.69% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants median of $39,940, a tax bill of that size would equal 1.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Benton County, MS
Renters in Benton County, MS pay a median gross rent of $731 a month in the Census survey, 23% below the Mississippi median of $954. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $827 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 $105,100, 38% below the Mississippi median of $169,800. Median household income is $46,016, 18% below the Mississippi median of $56,447, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 21.6% of that income.
Commuting in Benton County, MS
Workers in Benton County, MS who travel to a workplace spend an average of 34.1 minutes each way, 33% above the Mississippi average of 25.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 1.9% of workers in Benton County, MS work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants afford to live in Benton County, MS?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $39,940 that ceiling is $999 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $827 is $172 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $15.90 an hour; the median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $19.20, which is 21% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.99 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $905 a month means $453 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,494 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $21,032.
How fast you can save
At $1,378 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 8 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 16 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants pay in Benton County, MS
How much do Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants make per hour in Benton County, MS?
The median is $19.20 per hour, based on $39,940 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.37 at the 10th percentile to $27.94 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants take home after taxes in Benton County, MS?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $39,940 becomes $33,268 a year. That is $2,772 a month, $1,280 every two weeks or $640 a week.
How much tax do Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants pay in Benton County, MS?
Total taxes are $6,672 a year, an effective rate of 16.7%: $2,664 federal income tax, $3,055 FICA and $952 Mississippi income tax.
Do Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants earn more in Benton County, MS than elsewhere in Mississippi?
Yes. The local median of $39,940 is +4.0% versus the Mississippi average of $38,405, a difference of $1,535 a year.
Can Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Benton County, MS?
A one-bedroom costs $827 a month against take-home pay of $2,772, which is 29.8% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $999 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Benton County, MS?
About $1,378 a month ($16,538 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $16,730 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Benton County, MS at the 30% guideline?
$15.90 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $9,924 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $19.20.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Memphis, TN-MS-AR 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 Mississippi 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.