Massachusetts·Office and Administrative Support Occupations·SOC 43-6011

Best Executive Secretary programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing routine administrative functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving.

5 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 15 people a year. The job pays a median of $82,650 in Massachusetts across about 14,820 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledExecutive AssistantExecutive SecretaryAdministrative AssistantAdministrative SecretarySchedulerStaff AssistantOffice AssistantProtocol Officer
Graduates / yr
15
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$82,650
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
14,820
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
23%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (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 Massachusetts page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
114
93.3%
4$25,993$9,500
21
6.7%
1$25,993$9,500

Top 5 schools in Massachusetts

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Quinsigamond Community College
Worcester, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
6Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary22%
2Bristol Community College
Fall River, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
3Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary22%
3Cape Cod Community College
West Barnstable, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
3Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary22%
4North Shore Community College
Danvers, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
2Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary18%
5Springfield Technical Community College
Springfield, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
1Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General32%

All 5 schools in Massachusetts

Every school in Massachusetts 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.

All schools in Massachusetts that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Quinsigamond Community CollegeWorcesterPublic61
Bristol Community CollegeFall RiverPublic31
Cape Cod Community CollegeWest BarnstablePublic31
North Shore Community CollegeDanversPublic21
Springfield Technical Community CollegeSpringfieldPublic11

What executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants earn in Massachusetts

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Massachusetts
$82,650
Mean annual
$87,060
Jobs in state
14,820
What the range looks like
10th pct$59,320Median$82,65090th pct$123,930
Versus the national median
+7.9%

U.S. median $76,590. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.38×

Concentrated here: Massachusetts employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$85,260median
11,290 jobs
Barnstable Town, MA
$79,810median
310 jobs
Worcester, MA
$75,350median
1,310 jobs
Pittsfield, MA
$72,790median
150 jobs
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
$72,050median
240 jobs
Springfield, MA
$71,060median
590 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-1.6%
Decline
Openings per year
50,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-7,900
502,800 → 494,900
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent

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 Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants page.

How to become a Executive Secretary

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionSpeakingWritingCritical ThinkingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Massachusetts

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 2 majors mapped to Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0401Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General
  • 52.0402Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary

Common questions

Answers for people weighing executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants programs in Massachusetts.

What degree do you need to become an Executive 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 Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary, which awarded 14 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 93.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Executive Secretary?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Business Operations Support and Assistant Services. Together they graduate about 15 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $82,650 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.9% above the U.S. median of $76,590. 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 executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants growing?+

BLS projects a -1.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 50,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Massachusetts?+

5 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Executive Assistant, Executive Secretary, Administrative Assistant, Administrative Secretary among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 43-6011.

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in other statesCaliforniaIdahoTexasAlabamaMinnesotaKentuckyGeorgiaLouisiana

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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