Compared with the local labor market
Administrative Assistant pay vs. the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area
Across all employers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, the median wage for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive — about 50,190 people — is $50,440. Inspector General pays a median base salary of $51,324 for this role, 2% above that figure — about the 52nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Inspector General sits in the local pay range
$34,300
$42,260
$50,440
$62,970
$78,820
Inspector General median · $51,324
The bar is the range of annual wages for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive across every employer in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Inspector General’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive — about 1,706,790 people — is $47,540. Inspector General’s median base salary is 8% above that national figure, about the 59th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$33,280
$38,830
$47,540
$58,000
$66,350
Inspector General median · $51,324
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Inspector General is $68,798, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.