Employment

• Of the approximately 496,000 medical assistants working in the United States in 2009, about 7,610 were employed in South Carolina, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Approximately 1,970 medical assistants were working in the Charleston metropolitan area. The average pay in South Carolina for medical assistants was $13.66 per hour, or $28,410 per year. Medical assistants in Charleston had average salaries a bit lower than the statewide average, at $12.95 per hour, or $26,930 per year.
  
  

Salary Range

• The middle 50 percent of Charleston medical assistants were earning $10.88 to $14.85 per hour in 2009, or $22,620 to $30,890 per year. The bottom 10 percent were making $9.82 per hour and less, and the top 10 percent $17.14 and higher, or $35,640 per year and higher. The middle 50-percent range statewide for medical assistants was similar, at $11.25 to $15.25 per hour.
  
  

Comparisons

• The average pay for medical assistants in Charleston ranks in the middle of salary figures in the state, but closer to the lower end. The highest-paying area in South Carolina for medical assistants in 2009 was the lower Savannah non-metropolitan area, where the average salary was $16.38 per hour. The lowest-paying areas were Sumter, with an average pay rate of $10.74 per hour, and the Pee Dee non-metropolitan area at $11.29. The Charleston average salary for medical assistants was closest to that in the upper Savannah non-metropolitan area, at $12.74 per hour. Average salaries for medical assistants in other parts of South Carolina ranged from about $13.20 to $14.50 per hour.
  
  

Benefits

• An example of a Charleston-area employer of medical assistants, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, lists numerous openings for medical assistants in 2011. Although the organization does not disclose salary information, it does list benefits provided to employees. Benefits include health, dental, vision and prescription insurance, along with flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, critical illness coverage, pet insurance, prepaid legal services, a retirement savings plan, paid time off, paid holidays, extended illness time off, tuition reimbursement assistance, adoption reimbursement assistance and a subsidized child care center.