Medical Assistant Pay in the Great Lakes Region

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released earlier this year put medical assistant (MA) employment in the U.S. at over 710,000 as of May 2020. Per BLS data, approximately 101,000 medical assistants were employed in the five-state Great Lakes region. In general, the region is a subpar one for medical assistant pay based on BLS data.  Although the average annual mean wage for medical assistants in Illinois and Wisconsin were above the national average, 65% of the region's MAs lived in states where the MA annual mean wage was more than 5% below the national average.  A closer examination of BLS data reveals the following about medical assistant pay in the Great Lakes region as of May 2020:

Medical Assistant Pay in the Great Lakes Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
IL	22,030	$37,190	20th
IN	16,790	$34,790	32nd
MI	22,750	$34,830	30th
OH	26,250	$34,270	36th
WI	13,250	$38,800	13th
U.S.	710,200	$36,930	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on May 15, 2021