What Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants earn in Delaware County, PA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $79,490: the median annual pay for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in Delaware County, PA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $38.22 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $81,040, which is 1.9% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,150 people working in this occupation across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Delaware County, PA has roughly 579,222 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $57,480 a year ($27.63 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $102,690 or more ($49.37 an hour). That is a gap of $45,210 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $67,380 at the 25th percentile and $93,830 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $38.22 an hour or $79,490 a year at the median for Delaware County, PA. Before any deductions, that is $6,624 a month, $3,057 every two weeks and $1,529 each week. After taxes the same job pays $29.82 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants this way: "Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing routine administrative functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Manage and maintain executives' schedules"; "Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software"; "Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution"; "Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email".
Job outlook for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to stay flat from 489,300 jobs in 2025 to 489,200 in 2035, a change of 0%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 43,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 8.8% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $76,590 for this occupation; the Delaware County, PA median of $79,490 is 3.8% above it.
How pay in Delaware County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
A worker in this occupation in Delaware County, PA earns $6,079 more than the Pennsylvania average of $73,411, a premium of 8.3%. Over a year that premium is worth $6,079 before tax and roughly $4,744 after tax. Within Pennsylvania, Delaware County, PA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is $76,021 across the contiguous United States. At $79,490, Delaware County, PA pays $3,469 more, which is 4.6% 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 Delaware County, PA
Among the 636 occupations with published wages in Delaware County, PA, Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants ranks number 197 by median pay, ahead of about 69% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,470 a year, which is $93,980 more than the median for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants earning the Delaware County, PA median of $79,490, they add up to $17,458. The result is $62,032 of take-home pay a year ($5,169 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $22 goes to taxes and $78 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 22.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $63,740. 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 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $8,937, an effective 11.2% of gross pay, well below the 22% 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 $4,928 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,153. FICA totals $6,081, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $2,440 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 27% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $203 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 Delaware County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Delaware County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $115,702 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.3% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 9.5%, compared with the 11.2% 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 Delaware County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Delaware County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $62,032 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Delaware County, PA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,558 a month ($18,696 a year), and at $1,860 for two bedrooms. For Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 30.1% of take-home pay and 23.5% 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 4.3% of gross pay for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in Delaware County, PA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Pennsylvania residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,877 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $535, for $2,412 in total. Gasoline in Pennsylvania averages $3.40 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,573.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,117 a year in Delaware County, PA. Subtract that from $62,032 of take-home pay and $35,915 remains, which is $2,993 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 45.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Delaware County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Delaware County, PA: 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 Delaware County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Delaware County, PA
Homeowners in Delaware County, PA pay a median of $6,124 a year in real estate taxes, 85% above the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 96% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $332,200, the median tax bill is 1.84% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants median of $79,490, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Delaware County, PA
Renters in Delaware County, PA pay a median gross rent of $1,372 a month in the Census survey, 13% above the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,558 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 $332,200, 31% above the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $89,546, 15% above the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.9% of that income.
Commuting in Delaware County, PA
Workers in Delaware County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.1 minutes each way, 7% above the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 18.0% of workers in Delaware County, PA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants afford to live in Delaware County, PA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $79,490 that ceiling is $1,987 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,558 is $429 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.96 an hour; the median for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is $38.22, which is 28% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $29.82 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 12.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,860 a month means $930 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,536 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $43,451.
How fast you can save
At $2,993 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 4 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 8 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants pay in Delaware County, PA
How much do Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants make per hour in Delaware County, PA?
The median is $38.22 per hour, based on $79,490 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $27.63 at the 10th percentile to $49.37 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants take home after taxes in Delaware County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $79,490 becomes $62,032 a year. That is $5,169 a month, $2,386 every two weeks or $1,193 a week.
How much tax do Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants pay in Delaware County, PA?
Total taxes are $17,458 a year, an effective rate of 22.0%: $8,937 federal income tax, $6,081 FICA and $2,440 Pennsylvania income tax.
Do Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants earn more in Delaware County, PA than elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
Yes. The local median of $79,490 is +8.3% versus the Pennsylvania average of $73,411, a difference of $6,079 a year.
Can Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Delaware County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,558 a month against take-home pay of $5,169, which is 30.1% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,987 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in Delaware County, PA?
About $2,993 a month ($35,915 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,117 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Delaware County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$29.96 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,696 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is $38.22.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 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 Pennsylvania 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.