More than half of medical assistants in the U.S. work in physician offices, but large numbers are also found working in hospitals, outpatient care centers, offices of other types of healthcare practitioners, and assisted living facilities. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that, as of May 2021, more than 727,700 medical assistants were employed in the United States. According to BLS data from May 2021, the annual mean wage for medical assistants was $38,190. From region to region there was wide variation in medical assistant mean annual wages, with medical assistants in some regions of the country earning 50% or more than their counterparts elsewhere. This variation is readily visible in BLS data from May 2021, which shows the following about medical assistant pay in the top 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S.:

Medical Assistant Pay in the Top 20 Metropolitan Areas

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		36,500	$42,390
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		30,700	$41,390
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		16,720	$38,910
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		19,170	$36,690
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		15,660	$36,920
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		12,900	$42,620
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		13,360	$39,450
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		15,310	$37,950
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		15,810	$36,870
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		9,640	$45,280
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		14,480	$38,630
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		13,670	$54,930
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		9,580	$39,120
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		10,580	$35,970
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		9,720	$50,820
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		6,980	$45,440
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		8,060	$41,960
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		10,310	$34,780
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		5,100	$41,870
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		6,430	$39,340
	National		727,760	$38,190

Report Period:  May 2021
Top 20 U.S. Metro areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on September 26, 2022