What Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants earn in Fauquier County, VA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, the median pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA is $48,280 a year, or $23.21 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $38,945 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Fauquier County, VA.
The mean wage is $50,970, which is 5.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 18,960 people working in this occupation across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Fauquier County, VA has roughly 74,577 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $39,710 a year ($19.09 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $61,750 or more ($29.69 an hour). That is a gap of $22,040 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $46,710 at the 25th percentile and $57,680 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA is $23.21. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $48,280, and the same salary is $4,023 a month before taxes or about $1,857 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $18.72 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 Fauquier County, VA median of $48,280 is 5.1% above it.
How pay in Fauquier County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
Fauquier County, VA pays above the state benchmark. The Virginia employment-weighted average for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $45,695; the local median of $48,280 beats it by $2,585, or 5.7%. Within Virginia, Fauquier County, VA 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 $48,280, Fauquier County, VA pays $2,725 more, which is 6.0% 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 Fauquier County, VA
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Fauquier County, VA, Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants ranks number 482 by median pay, ahead of about 22% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $195,190 a year, which is $146,910 more than the median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $48,280 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 $9,335 a year, which leaves $38,945, or $3,245 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $32,530. 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 $3,665, an effective 7.6% 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 $2,993 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $700. FICA totals $3,693, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,976 a year, or 4.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 54% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $165 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 Fauquier County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Fauquier County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $125,982 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.7%, compared with the 7.6% 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 Fauquier County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Fauquier County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $38,945 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Fauquier County, VA is $2,204 a month, or $26,448 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,438 a month. For Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 67.9% of take-home pay and 54.8% 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 7.1% of gross pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $33,432 a year, 86% of take-home pay. That leaves $5,513 a year, or $459 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 11.4% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Fauquier County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Fauquier County, VA: 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 Fauquier County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Fauquier County, VA
Homeowners in Fauquier County, VA pay a median of $4,320 a year in real estate taxes, 55% above the Virginia median of $2,790 and 39% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $573,700, the median tax bill is 0.75% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants median of $48,280, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Fauquier County, VA
Renters in Fauquier County, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,613 a month in the Census survey, 2% above the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,204 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 $573,700, 50% above the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $130,189, 40% above the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.3% of that income.
Commuting in Fauquier County, VA
Workers in Fauquier County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 35.8 minutes each way, 31% above the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 6.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 16.9% of workers in Fauquier County, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants afford to live in Fauquier County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $48,280 that ceiling is $1,207 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,204 is $997 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.38 an hour; the median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $23.21, which is 45% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $18.72 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 27.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,438 a month means $1,219 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $11,820 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $17,333.
How fast you can save
At $459 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 22 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 44 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants pay in Fauquier County, VA
What is the hourly wage for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA?
The median is $23.21 per hour, based on $48,280 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $19.09 at the 10th percentile to $29.69 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $48,280 becomes $38,945 a year. That is $3,245 a month, $1,498 every two weeks or $749 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA?
Total taxes are $9,335 a year, an effective rate of 19.3%: $3,665 federal income tax, $3,693 FICA and $1,976 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA above the Virginia average?
Yes. The local median of $48,280 is +5.7% versus the Virginia average of $45,695, a difference of $2,585 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants salary in Fauquier County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,204 a month against take-home pay of $3,245, which is 67.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,207 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Fauquier County, VA?
About $459 a month ($5,513 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $33,432 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Fauquier County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$42.38 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,448 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is $23.21.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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 Virginia 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.