Medical assistant salary in North Dakota

The median is not what everyone takes home. What you earn shifts with your employer, your town and your years on the job. The same wage survey lays out this spread for North Dakota.

The "middle half" covers the half of workers sitting in the middle of the pay scale, which means most of the state's medical assistants bring in somewhere from $39,090 up to $54,620. The mean, the straight average of all pay, comes to $46,870 annually.

Location matters for your paycheck. Of the metro areas in North Dakota, Bismarck offers the highest median at $48,980, while Minot sits at the bottom with $43,370.

Fargo stands out for job numbers, with roughly 290 medical assistants employed across its metro area. If you are hunting for openings, that is the state's easiest market to search.

They are, and the growth outpaces the nation. The state's labor agency projects medical assistant positions will rise from 660 positions in 2024 to 750 by 2034. That is a 14.9% jump, compared with 12.5% nationwide, according to Projections Central. For projected growth, North Dakota ranks 26 of 51.

Each year should bring around 90 openings, once you count both brand-new roles and people moving on from the work. The occupation remains a small one in the state: roughly 600 medical assistants, or 1.4 per 1,000 jobs, which puts North Dakota last of 51 for how widespread the role is.

When you are choosing between entry points into health care, this is how the state's medians stack up, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Registered nurses top the list at $80,730 a year, with licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses next at $62,300. Phlebotomists come in at $47,430, just ahead of medical assistants at $45,980, and nursing assistants sit close behind at $45,820.

In North Dakota, medical assistants make roughly what phlebotomists and nursing assistants make. Nursing pays better, though it calls for more training time.

Programs tend to be quick. Across the 378 career schools that report completion times, the median program length is 9 months, and 257 of those schools wrap up in 7 to 9 months, per federal college data. Career schools charge a median of $17,257 for a full program. By contrast, a full-time year at a public college runs a median of $4,346 for tuition and fees for local students.

It pays to pick an accredited program. Accreditation means an outside organization, either CAAHEP or ABHES, has reviewed the program against fixed standards. For North Dakota, the site shows 1 school reporting medical assistant graduates, and none of them runs a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program, per College Navigator.

With so few accredited choices inside the state, studying online deserves a serious look. Nationwide, 30 programs are available fully through distance education, and 14 of those hold accreditation.

Coursework takes place online, though the externship always happens face to face. An externship is hands-on, supervised practice inside an actual clinic or doctor's office, giving you real experience with patients ahead of graduation.