How Much Does an Executive Assistant Cost? 4 Options Compared

An in-house executive assistant in the US costs a median of $76,590 a year in salary alone, and more once benefits, taxes and recruiting are added. A freelance or agency EA costs less but bills by the hour and is often shared. A full-time remote EA through a staffing partner usually lands in between: one dedicated person at a fixed monthly fee.

This guide breaks down how much an executive assistant costs under each option, what is hidden in each price, and how to choose.

What an in-house executive assistant costs

The cleanest public number is the salary. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants at $76,590 as of May 2025. That is about $6,380 a month, or about $36.80 an hour for a 2,080-hour year. Pay is higher in big metros and for EAs who support a CEO or a board.

Salary is only the first line. On top of it you pay for:

• Benefits and payroll taxes. In the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026, benefits made up 30% of total compensation for private industry workers. If an EA's package follows that average, a $76,590 salary implies roughly $109,000 a year in total compensation.
• Recruiting. Job ads, screening, interviews and sometimes a recruiter's fee. Senior EAs are often placed by agencies that charge a share of first-year salary.
• Equipment and software. A laptop, a seat in every tool you use, and a password manager.
• Office space, if they work on site.
• Ramp time. A new EA needs a few weeks to learn your calendar rules, your contacts and how you like things done. You pay in full while they learn.

We cover the full list of hidden costs in the true cost of hiring an employee.

Executive assistant cost: 4 options compared

	In-house EA	Freelance EA	VA agency plan	Dedicated remote EA
How you pay	Salary plus benefits and taxes	Hourly rate	Monthly bundle of hours	One fixed monthly fee
Who the person works for	You	Several clients	Often a pool of assistants	You only
Hours	Your hours	Their availability	Within the plan	Your exact hours, full-time
Hidden costs	Benefits, recruiting, ramp, office	Rate rises, gaps when busy	Unused hours, overage fees	Your tool seats
Continuity	High	Depends on the freelancer	Assistant may change	High
Best for	On-site support, physical tasks	A few hours a week	Light, repeatable admin	A founder who needs a daily right hand

Freelance executive assistant

A freelancer bills by the hour, so you pay only for the time used. That works when you need a few hours a week for inbox clean-up or travel booking. The catch is availability: a good freelancer has other clients, and your urgent request competes with theirs. If they take a full-time job, you start again.

VA agency plans

Many virtual assistant companies sell a monthly bundle of hours, such as 20 or 40 hours a month. You get a predictable bill and a backup if your assistant is out. Read the terms closely: unused hours often expire, extra hours cost more, and some plans route your tasks to whoever is free. For an EA, that last point matters, because the value of the role comes from knowing your priorities. Our guide to virtual assistant pricing models explains these plans in more detail.

Dedicated full-time remote EA

A staffing partner recruits and vets an experienced EA, and that person works only for you, full-time, during your hours. You pay one fixed monthly fee. The partner handles contracts and payroll. You direct the work, the same as you would with an employee.

Executive assistant hourly rate: how to compare fairly

Comparing headline prices is misleading because each option counts hours differently. Use cost per productive hour instead:

1. Write down the hours you need. List what you would hand over in a typical week. If you are unsure, start with our list of what an executive assistant does.
2. Convert every quote to a monthly figure. For in-house, include benefits and taxes. For agency plans, include the overage rate you expect to hit.
3. Subtract unused or shared time. Expired hours in a bundle are money you paid for nothing.
4. Add ramp and replacement risk. Ask what happens if the person leaves or is not a fit, and how long a replacement takes.
5. Divide by the hours you actually get. The lowest cost per productive hour is the real winner.

A founder who needs 10 hours a week of travel and inbox work may be best served by a freelancer. A founder who needs someone watching the inbox and calendar all day will usually pay less per hour with a full-time hire.

Is an executive assistant worth the cost?

Ask what your own hour is worth. If you spend two hours a day on scheduling, email triage, expense reports and follow-ups, that is roughly a quarter of your working week spent on tasks someone else could do. An EA pays off when the time you get back goes into sales, hiring or product decisions that only you can make.

Signs the cost is justified:

• Meetings get double-booked or rescheduled because nobody owns the calendar.
• Important emails sit unanswered for days.
• You prepare your own board decks, travel and expense reports.
• Follow-ups after sales calls slip.

If your needs are mostly operational, such as data entry, research or customer support, a virtual assistant may be the better and cheaper fit. We compare the two in executive assistant vs virtual assistant.

What pushes executive assistant pricing up or down

Whichever model you pick, the same factors move the price:

• Seniority of the person they support. An EA who manages a CEO's board meetings and investor relations costs more than one who books travel for a team lead.
• Scope. Inbox and calendar only is cheaper than inbox, calendar, light bookkeeping, recruiting coordination and personal errands combined.
• Hours and time zone. Cover across your full working day, or early mornings and evenings, costs more than a few flexible hours.
• Tools. An EA who already knows your stack, such as Google Workspace, Notion, HubSpot or QuickBooks, ramps faster and is worth more.
• Location. A local, on-site EA in a large city costs the most. A remote EA can do most of the same work for less because you are not paying big-city salaries or office space.

Decide the scope first, then price it. Most overspending on EAs comes from hiring a senior profile for junior work, or the reverse.

Checklist: questions to ask before you sign

• Is the assistant dedicated to me, or shared across clients?
• Will they work my time zone and my exact hours?
• Who owns the documents, logins and notes they create?
• What happens to unused hours?
• How is a replacement handled, and how fast?
• Are recruiting, contracts and payroll included in the price?
• Which tools do I need to provide?

What a remote executive assistant costs through Zenstack

	Starting rate	Most roles	Full-time per month
Dedicated remote EA	$12/hour	$12–$23/hour	$1,920–$3,680
Comparable local hire (our estimate)		about $38/hour	about $6,080

Monthly figures assume 160 hours, or 40 hours a week. Our local estimate includes salary, payroll taxes, benefits and recruiting, and will vary by city.

A full-time remote executive assistant through Zenstack works only for you, during your hours, inside your inbox, calendar and tools. Every candidate has already been interviewed and vetted, and you meet a shortlist within 48 hours. Recruiting, contracts, payroll and weekly check-ins are included, and if the fit is wrong in the first 30 days we replace them at no extra cost.

See the full pricing breakdown, or tell us what you want off your plate and we will match you with an EA who has done that work before.