City of Chicago / Department of Buildings / Senior Administrative Assistant
Job-title file
Provide administrative support — record-keeping, scheduling, correspondence, and customer service.
3 employees hold this title in Department of Buildings. Median total compensation for the role is $108,576, below the department median of $133,432.
Compared with the local labor market
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. Department of Buildings pays a median base salary of $108,576 for this role, 115% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
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 Department of Buildings’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. Department of Buildings’s median base salary is 128% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
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 Department of Buildings is $108,576, 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.
Compare departments
Senior Administrative Assistant is held in 26 City of Chicago departments. In Department of Buildings, the median of $108,576 ranks #4 of 26.
Median total compensation for the Senior Administrative Assistant role in other City of Chicagodepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 5 jurisdictions. In City of Chicago, the median of $77,640 ranks #2 of 5. See Senior Administrative Assistant across all of City of Chicago →
Median total compensation for comparable Senior Administrative Assistantroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Page 1
Senior Administrative Assistant/Department of Buildings
Source-specific fields
At Department of Buildings, Sandra Hernandez serves as a Senior Administrative Assistant. They work full-time. Their 2026 pay totaled $112,104.
Senior Administrative Assistant/Department of Buildings
Source-specific fields
Silvia Martinez works as a Senior Administrative Assistant for Department of Buildings. Their status is full-time. Silvia earned $108,576 in 2026.
Senior Administrative Assistant/Department of Buildings
Source-specific fields
Monique Montgomery works as a Senior Administrative Assistant for Department of Buildings. Their status is full-time. Monique earned $77,640 in 2026.