Medical Assistant Salary in San Diego, CA (2026)

What medical assistant pay in San Diego really looks like

San Diego pays above the national market for medical assistants. The local median of about $23.76 an hour ($49,420 a year) is $3,730 (8%) over the U.S. median of $45,690 — a premium worth anchoring to when you negotiate. An offer benchmarked to nationwide averages will read low here, so it is worth citing the local BLS figure directly rather than the U.S. number.

The local range is moderate — $47,690 at the 25th percentile to $60,480 at the 75th (BLS). Half of San Diego Medical Assistants earn inside that band, so it is a realistic target window: an offer near $60,480 is genuinely strong for the metro, while anything under $47,690 is worth pushing back on with the BLS figures in hand.

This is a substantial local market: BLS estimates roughly 9,370 medical assistant jobs across the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro area (a count of metro employment, not a survey of reported salaries). A deep employer base is good news for pay — it means more openings to compare side by side, more turnover creating vacancies, and more leverage to hold out for an employer at the top of the local range instead of settling for the first offer that lands.

Right now, Jobeezy is tracking 24 open medical assistant jobs in San Diego against the BLS $49,420 benchmark — the live listings and the employers hiring are below, so you can see which openings actually clear the metro median before you apply.

Put it together and the picture for San Diego is concrete: a metro median of $49,420 with most medical assistants landing between $47,690 and $60,480. The practical move is to aim for the upper half of that band. Jobeezy fit-scores local medical assistant openings, surfaces the employers posting toward $60,480, and applies for you — so your time goes to the jobs that clear the San Diego median, not the ones that sit under it.

How we know this — San Diego sources

Wage figures for Medical Assistant in San Diego, CA are the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 estimate for the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro area (MSA code 41740) (SOC 31-9092), released 2026-07-23. Suppressed cells are shown as an em dash, never a zero.

Reviewed by Dalton Metzler · Jobeezy Compensation Data

How we source & label these figures →

Medical Assistant pay in San Diego, CA — common questions

How much does a Medical Assistant make in San Diego, CA?

The median Medical Assistant salary in San Diego, CA is $23.76/hour ($49,420/year) ($3,730 (8%) above the national median), with a typical range of $47,690–$60,480 (25th–75th percentile). Figures are BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-07-23.

Is San Diego a strong pay market for Medical Assistants?

At a $49,420 median, San Diego is $3,730 (8%) above the national median. The U.S. median is $45,690. Jobeezy shows you which local employers actually pay at the top of that band before you apply.

How can I earn more as a Medical Assistant in San Diego?

Target employers paying toward the $60,480 (75th-percentile) mark and anchor your negotiation to the BLS band. Jobeezy fit-scores Medical Assistant openings in San Diego and auto-applies, so you reach more high-paying employers fast.

How many Medical Assistants work in San Diego?

BLS estimates roughly 9,370 medical assistant jobs across San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA (May 2025 metro employment — a count of jobs, not of salaries reported).