Secretary / Administrative Assistant

Government secretaries and administrative assistants provide clerical and administrative support to offices, managing schedules, handling correspondence, organizing files, coordinating meetings, and performing data entry and office management tasks.

About the Role

Secretaries and administrative assistants keep offices running by handling the organizational tasks that other staff depend on. They manage calendars for one or more executives, schedule meetings across multiple time zones, answer and route phone calls, and draft or edit correspondence such as emails, memos, and letters. Much of their day involves working with office software for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, along with maintaining both digital and physical filing systems so that documents can be retrieved quickly when needed.

A Day in the Life

• 8:00 AM Review inbox and voicemails — Scan overnight emails and phone messages, flag anything urgent for the supervisor, and sort remaining items by priority.
• 8:30 AM Answer and route calls — Handle incoming phone calls, take detailed messages, and transfer callers to the appropriate person or department.
• 10:00 AM Prepare meeting materials — Format agendas, assemble briefing packets, reserve a conference room, and make sure the projector and video setup are working.
• 11:30 AM Process and file documents — Enter data into spreadsheets or databases, scan and file reports, and double-check entries for accuracy before archiving.
• 12:30 PM Lunch break — Step out for lunch and review the afternoon calendar on the way back.
• 1:30 PM Coordinate schedules and travel — Update calendars for the team, book flights and hotels for an upcoming business trip, and send appointment confirmations.
• 3:00 PM Greet visitors — Welcome visitors at the front desk, sign them in, and direct them to the correct office or conference room.
• 4:30 PM Wrap up and plan ahead — File the day's paperwork, place an order for office supplies, and prepare a priority list for the next morning.

Tools & Technologies

• Database Systems: Apache Cassandra, Apache Hadoop, Apache Hive, Teradata Database, Apache Pig
• Graphics & Design: Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Flickr
• Project Management: Confluence, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Teams, Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
• Databases & Data Tools: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, Airtable, FileMaker Pro
• Web Development: Apache Tomcat, HTML, Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), Drupal
• Operating Systems: macOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris

Pay

Median salary: $46,000 per year.

• 10th percentile: $32,000
• 25th percentile: $38,000
• 50th percentile (Median): $46,000
• 75th percentile: $56,000
• 90th percentile: $64,000

Most professionals earn between $38,000 and $56,000.

Pay by State

• District of Columbia: $56,000 ($38,000 - $80,000)
• Connecticut: $56,000 ($39,000 - $79,000)
• Washington: $55,000 ($42,000 - $70,000)
• Massachusetts: $54,000 ($39,000 - $76,000)
• California: $53,000 ($38,000 - $76,000)
• Rhode Island: $52,000 ($38,000 - $66,000)
• Hawaii: $51,000 ($38,000 - $68,000)
• Oregon: $50,000 ($36,000 - $70,000)
• Minnesota: $50,000 ($37,000 - $64,000)
• New Jersey: $50,000 ($35,000 - $68,000)
• New York: $49,000 ($37,000 - $65,000)
• Illinois: $48,000 ($33,000 - $75,000)
• Vermont: $48,000 ($37,000 - $61,000)
• Colorado: $47,000 ($36,000 - $64,000)
• Maine: $47,000 ($36,000 - $60,000)
• Maryland: $47,000 ($35,000 - $63,000)
• Delaware: $47,000 ($34,000 - $62,000)
• Wisconsin: $47,000 ($36,000 - $61,000)
• Alaska: $46,000 ($33,000 - $63,000)
• New Hampshire: $46,000 ($34,000 - $62,000)
• Virginia: $46,000 ($31,000 - $65,000)
• Arizona: $46,000 ($35,000 - $64,000)
• Nevada: $46,000 ($34,000 - $62,000)
• North Dakota: $45,000 ($31,000 - $59,000)
• Ohio: $45,000 ($31,000 - $62,000)
• Utah: $45,000 ($30,000 - $61,000)
• Michigan: $45,000 ($33,000 - $62,000)
• Pennsylvania: $45,000 ($31,000 - $60,000)
• Nebraska: $45,000 ($34,000 - $59,000)
• Iowa: $44,000 ($31,000 - $60,000)
• Florida: $44,000 ($31,000 - $61,000)
• Wyoming: $43,000 ($33,000 - $60,000)
• Tennessee: $43,000 ($29,000 - $61,000)
• Texas: $43,000 ($29,000 - $61,000)
• North Carolina: $43,000 ($28,000 - $60,000)
• New Mexico: $43,000 ($32,000 - $58,000)
• Montana: $42,000 ($32,000 - $56,000)
• South Carolina: $42,000 ($29,000 - $58,000)
• Kentucky: $42,000 ($29,000 - $58,000)
• Indiana: $41,000 ($31,000 - $58,000)
• Idaho: $41,000 ($29,000 - $58,000)
• Missouri: $40,000 ($29,000 - $59,000)
• Alabama: $40,000 ($28,000 - $58,000)
• South Dakota: $40,000 ($32,000 - $49,000)
• Georgia: $39,000 ($25,000 - $59,000)
• Kansas: $39,000 ($28,000 - $54,000)
• West Virginia: $39,000 ($29,000 - $57,000)
• Oklahoma: $39,000 ($25,000 - $55,