The median annual salary for medical assistants as of May 2007 was $27,430, though numbers vary depending on experience, skill level and location.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2007, the states with the highest average salaries for medical assistants are:

A more complete list of states and their average annual salaries can be found at Medical Assistant Salaries by State.

Salaries in Other Industries

Medical assistants can work in other industries besides health care. Insurance agencies, government organizations and tax and payroll agencies employ medical assistants to oversee certain administrative tasks. In some cases, these medical assistants earn more than those in health care.

The top paying industries for medical assistants are:

Medical Assistant Employment

Employment in the health care industry is growing rapidly due to technological advancements and the growth and aging of the population.

The number of medical assistant positions in the United States is expected to reach 565,000 by the year 2016, making it one of the fastest-growing professions in the country. Currently, most medical assistants -- almost 75% -- work in doctors' offices (including specialists), with the remainder working in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities.

In this increasingly competitive field, several qualifications will make a medical assistant more attractive to employers:

• Formal training
• Hands-on experience
• Professional certification
• The ability to handle both administrative and clinical tasks

Here you can find out more about what medical assistants do, or find more about medical assistant education on the training page.

Thanks to a larger aging population, advances in technology and a focus on preventative care, health care is the most rapidly expanding industry in the US. Here is a projection of the fastest-growing health care jobs between 2006 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here is a breakdown of the employment numbers for some of the top health care jobs in the US.

The table includes the number of employees working in the US for each health care occupation, as well as the percentage of the US health care workforce those employees made up. Figures are current as of 2007.

Medical assistants are employed in a wide variety of settings. Most are employed by hospitals, doctors' offices and specialty practices (such as chiropractic offices, podietrists' clinics and pediatricians' offices), where they perform a host of administrative and clinical duties. Click to see what medical assistants do.

Here are some statistics on medical assistant careers, to give you an idea of what to expect upon entering your medical assistant training program.

As these figures show, the medical assisting field is largely female, and they can be employed in most medical settings. The number of employed medical assistants is predicted by the US Labor Bureau to increase faster than nearly all other professions in the next several years.