Medical Assistant Salary in Athens, GA: Median $74,794 in 2026
Athens (GA) · COL index 91 · Unemployment 3.7% · Metro pop 210,000 · Rank #193 of 283 for Medical Assistant salary
A Medical Assistant in Athens earns an estimated median of $74,794 per year. That figure starts from the Georgia state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($79,310) and scales it by Athens's composite cost-of-living index of 91 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $36,949; the 90th percentile reaches $149,674. After federal, Georgia state, and FICA taxes, a single-filer Medical Assistant takes home approximately $57,784/year — about $4,815/month or $2,222 every other week.
Compared to the national Medical Assistant median of $42,000, Athens pays +78.1%. Relative to the Athens median household income of $42,500, a Medical Assistantsalary runs +76.0%. Local unemployment is 3.7%[3], with an estimated 72 annual Medical Assistant openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (764,200).
Medical Assistant Snapshot — Athens (2026)
Every row cites a primary public dataset. Rent + home values use Zillow where the metro is in the ZHVI/ZORI coverage set; otherwise ACS + census tract fallbacks.
| Metric | Athens | National | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Assistant median salary | $74,794 | $42,000 | [1] |
| 10th percentile | $36,949 | $35,960 | [1] |
| 90th percentile | $149,674 | $57,840 | [1] |
| Annual take-home (single filer) | $57,784 | — | [8][10] |
| Median home value (ZHVI) | $365,866 | — | [5] |
| Median rent (ZORI) | $1,758/mo | — | [5] |
| HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR) | $1,625/mo | — | [6] |
| Median household income (ACS) | $62,897 | — | [7] |
| Cost-of-living index | 91.0 | 100.0 | [4] |
| Unemployment rate | 3.7% | — | [3] |
How Medical Assistant Salaries Work in Athens
City-level wages aren't published directly by BLS for most SOC codes. We build them by anchoring to the Georgia state-level OEWS median ($79,310) and scaling by Athens's composite cost-of-living index (91)[1][4]. That index combines Census ACS rent, Zillow ZHVI, BLS CPI, and AdvisorSmith / ApartmentAdvisor inputs to produce one number per metro. When BLS publishes a separate metro-level wage (MSA-level OEWS), that takes priority — a handful of large metros including New York, LA, Chicago, and DC have this coverage.
On top of the gross wage, the standard US payroll stack applies: federal income tax using 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction[8], FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45%)[9], and Georgia state income tax at a 4.5% effective rate ($3,385/yr on the $74,794 median)[10].
Athens also sits inside a larger metro labor market where commute patterns, remote-work policies, and adjacent-metro wages compete. A tight labor market (unemployment below 4%) gives candidates pricing power in negotiations. Median household income in the metro is $62,897, which frames what "a good Medical Assistant salary" means locally: a $$74,794 wage pays about 119% of the median household income on a single earner.
The deterministic identity: take_home = gross − federal − state − FICA − pre_tax. All math runs client-side; nothing is sent to our servers.
Cost of Living Breakdown — Athens
Estimated annual expense shares on a $57,784 take-home, using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey baseline shares scaled to Athens's COL index of 91. Housing uses the actual median rent.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares[1], scaled by Athens's COL index of 91[4]. Housing uses actual median rent of $1,100/month.
Salary vs Housing Affordability in Athens
Renting
Buying
At $4,815/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $1,445/mo. Athens's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,758/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,625/mo), making rent very affordable on a median Medical Assistant salary. For homebuyers, the 3.7× price-to-income ratio is comfortable — a median {p.title} salary supports the median home in {city.name} well inside standard lender DTI caps.
How Athens Stacks Up for Medical Assistants
Against 283 major US cities: Athens ranks #193 for nominal Medical Assistant salary, #119 for rent affordability, and #96 for overall purchasing power. High cost of living absorbs much of Athens's nominal wage premium. Medical Assistants here often trade pay for lifestyle, proximity to employers, or family roots — consider nearby metros on a salary-to-COL basis.
Nearby Cities — Medical Assistant Salary Comparison
Athens's closest metros, scaled by each city's cost-of-living index. Useful for relocation decisions where commute or remote-work policies allow a neighboring metro trade-off.
| City | Est. salary | COL | Rent | vs GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens, GA ★ | $74,794 | 91 | $1,100 | — |
| Atlanta, GA | $47,460 | 113 | $1,576 | -36.5% |
| Augusta, GA | $36,960 | 88 | $850 | -50.6% |
| Savannah, GA | $42,000 | 100 | $1,598 | -43.8% |
| Columbus, GA | $35,700 | 85 | $900 | -52.3% |
| Macon, GA | $34,440 | 82 | $850 | -54.0% |
Medical Assistant Job Market in Athens
Athens has an estimated 72 annual Medical Assistantopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 764,200 national Medical Assistants[1]. The 3.7% unemployment rate[3] signals a competitive labor market where skilled professionals can push for top-of-band offers.
About the profession: Medical assistants support physicians and other healthcare providers with clinical and administrative tasks in offices, clinics, and hospitals. Typical entry requirement: postsecondary non-degree award. Projected growth through 2034: 14%[2].
Career Progression & Related Professions in Athens
Early-career Medical Assistants in Athens start around $36,949, reach the city median ($74,794) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($149,674) at senior / specialized levels.
Related healthcare professions in Athens
Calculators for Medical Assistants in Athens
Other professions in Athens
Frequently Asked Questions — Medical Assistant in Athens
How much does a Medical Assistant make in Athens, GA?
The estimated median salary for a Medical Assistant in Athens is $74,794/year, scaled from the BLS OEWS Georgia state median ($79,310) by Athens's composite cost-of-living index of 91 (US = 100). After federal, Georgia state, and FICA taxes, take-home is approximately $57,784/year or $4,815/month.
Can a Medical Assistant afford to live in Athens?
On $4,815/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $1,445/month. Athens's Zillow ZORI median rent is $1,758/mo, HUD's 2BR Fair Market Rent is $1,625/mo. The rent-to-income ratio works out to 17.6%, making housing very affordable for a Medical Assistant at the local median. Home-buyers face 3.7× price-to-income, needing roughly 3.7 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.
How much tax does a Medical Assistant pay in Athens?
On $74,794 gross, a Medical Assistant in Athens pays approximately $7,903 in federal income tax (10.6% effective), $3,385 in Georgia state income tax (4.5% effective), and $5,722 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 22.7%. Some Georgia cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.
How does Athens rank for Medical Assistant salaries vs other cities?
Athens ranks #193 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal Medical Assistant salary, #119 for rent affordability (rent-to-income), and #96 for purchasing power (salary ÷ COL). The high-purchasing-power cities tend to be mid-size metros with strong local employers and moderate housing costs; the low-ranked cities trade high nominal pay for steep rents.
What is the cost-of-living breakdown for a Medical Assistant in Athens?
On $57,784 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Athens looks like: housing $13,200/yr (22.8%); food $6,560/yr; transportation $5,570/yr; healthcare $3,936/yr; utilities $2,759/yr; savings + discretionary $25,759/yr. Numbers use BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares scaled to Athens's COL index of 91 and the city's actual median rent.
What's the Medical Assistant job market like in Athens?
Athens's unemployment rate is 3.7% across the metro of 210,000. Estimated annual Medical Assistant openings: ~72 (extrapolated from 764,200 nationally employed and the metro's population share). The tight labor market favors candidates in salary negotiations.
Do Athens employers pay above or below the Georgia median for Medical Assistants?
Yes — Athens's estimated Medical Assistant median of $74,794 is 78.1% above the national median. Higher nominal pay in this city partially offsets the higher cost of living; the real picture depends on housing costs and state taxes.
Methodology — How we compute this page
Wage estimate. The Athens median is derived from the Georgia state-level BLS OEWS median ($79,310), scaled by Athens's composite cost-of-living index of 91. When BLS publishes a direct MSA-level wage for the occupation, that takes priority over the scaled state median. Percentile bands inherit the same scale factor.
Housing + rent. Median home value uses Zillow ZHVI; median rent prefers Zillow ZORI and falls back to Census ACS median gross rent. HUD Fair Market Rents (50th-percentile 2BR) are shown where HUD publishes the metro. Price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios use the estimated Medical Assistantmedian (not the city's overall median household income) — to reflect the specific role-vs-city affordability picture.
Tax math. Federal tax uses 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction. FICA is Social Security 6.2% up to the $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45% (+ 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000). State tax uses Georgia's 2026 brackets from the state DoR (mirrored via Tax Foundation where the DoR's publication is paywalled or split). Local income taxes (e.g. NYC, Portland-OR supplemental, OH municipal) are NOT included — check your municipal authority for specifics.
Cost of living. The 91index is the composite used by CalcFi's /data/cities.ts, which merges Census ACS, BLS CPI shelter, Zillow ZORI, and commercial COL estimators. The COL-adjusted salary on this page assumes the statewide RPP = 96.5(BEA) approximates the state's purchasing power; cities are then scaled relative to that.
Refresh cadence. BLS OEWS releases annually (typically March); BEA RPP releases annually in December; IRS brackets adjust in October; Zillow ZHVI/ZORI updates monthly; HUD FMR publishes annually in August for the upcoming fiscal year. The dateModified shown above auto-bumps to the most recent retrievedAt on any sourced value the page consumes.
Known limits. Metro-level OEWS coverage is partial — only ~50 large MSAs have separately published occupation wages; the rest inherit state-level estimates scaled by COL. Rent and home data may trail the real-time market by 1–3 months (Zillow) or 8–12 months (ACS). Rankings are capped to the city set in our dataset (283 metros), not every incorporated US city.
Sources
Every number on this page cites a primary public dataset. Last reviewed (auto-bumped on the next ISR refresh after an ETL run).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — state-level occupational wages — www.bls.gov/oes. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- BLS Employment Projections — 2024–34 occupational growth rates — www.bls.gov/emp. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics — metro-level unemployment rate — www.bls.gov/lau. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities (state + metro) — www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Zillow Research — ZHVI (home value index) + ZORI (observed rent index) — www.zillow.com/research/data. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- HUD Fair Market Rents — 50th-percentile 2-bedroom FY — www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, metro level — www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Internal Revenue Service — Federal individual income tax brackets and standard deductions — www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-17. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Social Security Administration — OASDI / Medicare contribution and wage-base rules — www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Georgia Department of Revenue — 2026 individual income tax brackets (accessed via Tax Foundation mirror) — taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
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