Best Medical Secretary programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures.
94 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,350 people a year. The job pays a median of $54,490 in California across about 115,050 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.0714In California → | 952 | 40.5% | 18 | $30,774 | $17,375 |
| 2 | CIP 51.0716In California → | 832 | 35.4% | 47 | $30,774 | $17,375 |
| 3 | CIP 51.0710In California → | 565 | 24.0% | 33 | $30,774 | $17,375 |
| 4 | CIP 51.0711In California → | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | $30,774 | $17,375 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 39 of the 94 schools in this state.
All 94 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrington College - Sacramento | Sacramento | Private for-profit | 464 | 2 |
| American Career College - Ontario | Ontario | Private for-profit | 206 | 1 |
| Santa Monica College | Santa Monica | Public | 96 | 1 |
| Downey Adult School | Downey | Public | 93 | 1 |
| Hacienda La Puente Adult Education | La Puente | Public | 73 | 2 |
| MiraCosta College | Oceanside | Public | 62 | 1 |
| MTI College | Sacramento | Private for-profit | 53 | 3 |
| Ventura College | Ventura | Public | 53 | 1 |
| UEI College - Chula Vista | Chula Vista | Private for-profit | 49 | 1 |
| Asher College | Sacramento | Private for-profit | 48 | 1 |
| Institute for Business and Technology | San Jose | Private for-profit | 44 | 1 |
| Cerro Coso Community College | Ridgecrest | Public | 43 | 1 |
| Glendale Community College | Glendale | Public | 42 | 1 |
| Vista Adult School | Vista | Public | 40 | 2 |
| Platt College - Ontario | Ontario | Private for-profit | 39 | 1 |
What medical secretaries and administrative assistants earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $45,930. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants page.
How to become a Medical Secretary
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 7 majors mapped to Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.8201Veterinary Administrative Services, General
- 01.8204Veterinary Administrative/Executive Assistant and Veterinary Secretary
- 51.0710Medical Office Assistant/Specialist
- 51.0711Medical/Health Management and Clinical Assistant/Specialist
- 51.0712Medical Reception/Receptionist
- 51.0714Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller
- 51.0716Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary
Common questions
Answers for people weighing medical secretaries and administrative assistants programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Medical Secretary?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller, which awarded 952 degrees in California in 2024-25, 40.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Medical Secretary?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Health and Medical Administrative Services. Together they graduate about 2,350 people a year in California.
How much do medical secretaries and administrative assistants earn in California?+
The median is $54,490 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 18.6% above the U.S. median of $45,930. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for medical secretaries and administrative assistants growing?+
BLS projects a +4.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 85,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
94 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 4 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do medical secretaries and administrative assistants work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Unit Clerk, Medical Secretary, Medical Receptionist, Unit Support Representative among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 43-6013.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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