Medical Assistant Salary in Hawaii 2026,
$48,410 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $48,410 a year, or $23.28 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 6.0% above the national median of $45,690. The middle half falls between $45,290 and $55,940 and the full band runs $38,580 to $60,030. The hourly figure is the more useful benchmark, since part-time schedules are common in this occupation.

Maui. Kahului-Wailuku reports $51,200 against Urban Honolulu at $47,720, a premium of about thirty-five hundred dollars, with the statewide row at $48,410. Only those two metros are published, so the Big Island and Kauai are unrepresented — but the Maui figure is consistent with the pattern across this unit, where clinical roles away from Honolulu pay more because local recruitment is impossible.

No. Hawaii has no medical assisting board, no examination and no state scope of practice, so what a medical assistant may do is determined entirely by what the supervising physician delegates. Employers screen on national certification — the CMA from the AAMA, the RMA from AMT, the NCMA or the CCMA — plus a current BLS card. In the absence of a state scope, two jobs with the same title can involve genuinely different work at similar pay.

Yes, if they work twenty or more hours a week. Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act requires employers to provide health coverage at that threshold, and it is the only such requirement in the United States. For an occupation where part-time and reduced-hour schedules are common, that is a substantial component of total compensation and one that no wage figure on this page captures — it is arguably worth more than the 6.0% premium over the national median.

As an entry into clinical work it is reasonable: about 3,890 posts at 1.18 times national employment concentration, no licence to obtain, short training, and mandatory employer health coverage at twenty hours a week. The ceiling is the problem — $60,030 at the 90th percentile against the highest cost of living in the country. The sensible framing is that it is a good clinical starting point in this state and a difficult destination, and planning a further credential from the outset is the right approach.

Because medical assisting is precisely the kind of work where part-time and reduced-hour schedules are normal, and on the mainland those schedules typically come without employer health coverage. Hawaii is the only state that requires it at twenty hours a week, which means a Hawaii medical assistant working three days a week has coverage that an identically employed mainland colleague would have to buy. At a $48,410 median that is not a marginal benefit — it is a material share of what the job is worth, and it is entirely invisible in a wage comparison. Anyone comparing a Hawaii offer with a mainland one on gross salary alone is comparing the wrong numbers.

It blends part-time with full-time work, so the $23.28 hourly median is the cleaner comparison. Because Hawaii sets no scope of practice, two jobs with the same title can involve materially different duties depending on the supervising physician's delegation policy. Only two metros are published, leaving the Big Island and Kauai out. And a 6.0% premium over the national median in the most expensive state in the country is, in real terms, a discount rather than a premium — the Prepaid Health Care Act is what makes the arithmetic work.

National certification first, since Hawaii issues no licence and the CMA, RMA, NCMA or CCMA is the only portable credential available — and the gap between the $38,580 tenth percentile and the $45,290 twenty-fifth is largely that. Island second, worth about thirty-five hundred dollars in Maui's favour. Specialty practice and added clinical competence third, particularly phlebotomy and point-of-care testing. Lead assistant and clinical coordination fourth, which is what the $55,940 seventy-fifth percentile and $60,030 ninetieth describe. Beyond that the ceiling is real, and the next credential is the answer.