Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Median salary

$45,930

Average salary

$46,800

Employment

961,610

Projected growth

4.2% growth

Annual openings

85,900

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

What Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Do

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.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
Self-employed: 0%

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 2 of 5

Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Experience: Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
Education: Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Job training: Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 4.4/5
English Languageimportance 4.3/5
Administrativeimportance 3.9/5
Medicine and Dentistryimportance 3.6/5
Personnel and Human Resourcesimportance 3.4/5
Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.4/5
Administration and Managementimportance 3.3/5
Economics and Accountingimportance 3.0/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

Telephone Conversations4.9/5
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.8/5
E-Mail4.8/5
Contact With Others4.7/5
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks4.6/5
Spend Time Sitting4.6/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers98% skill match
Telephone Operators97% skill match
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping97% skill match
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors97% skill match
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs97% skill match
Customer Service Representatives97% skill match
School Psychologists96% skill match
New Accounts Clerks96% skill match

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

Service Orientationimportance 3.6/5
Coordinationimportance 3.1/5
Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.1/5
Time Managementimportance 3.1/5
Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.0/5
Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 2.9/5
Management of Personnel Resourcesimportance 2.6/5
Persuasionimportance 2.1/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Other Software Used

Accounts payable software
Accounts receivable software
Addressing software
Allscripts Payerpath
Allscripts Professional PM
Amazing Charts
Billing software
CPSI CPSI System

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Cooperation
Integrity
Social Orientation
Empathy
Cautiousness

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

ConventionalHigh
SocialMedium
EnterprisingMedium
InvestigativeMedium
RealisticLow
ArtisticLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where medical secretaries and administrative assistants make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).