Average Salary

• The mean annual wage of human service assistants in 2009 was $29,880, or $14.37 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Professionals in the lowest-paid 10th percentile earned $18,300 a year, or $8.80 an hour; the median 50th percentile salary was reported at $27,940 per year, or $13.44 per hour; while the top-paid 10 percent made at least $44,760 annually, or $21.52 hourly.
  
  

Salary by Largest Employers

• The bureau reports that organizations providing individual and family services were the top employers in terms of numbers of working human service assistants and paid an annual mean wage of $28,340. Local and state governments paid anywhere from $34,130 to $35,810 a year. Residential mental health and substance abuse institutions paid an average of $24,770, while vocational rehabilitation organizations paid $26,110 a year on average.
  
  

Salary by Highest-Paying Employers

• Insurance agencies and brokerages paid the top salary to human service assistants in 2009 at $46,480 a year on average, according to the bureau. The federal government was number two in terms of pay, with an annual mean wage of $42,740. Companies providing office administration services and scientific research and development firms paid anywhere from $39,370 to $40,020 a year. Insurance carriers were last on the list of top-five-paying employers with an average annual salary of $36,560.
  
  

Salary by Location

• According to the bureau, Connecticut paid the highest average salary to human service assistants in 2009, at $41,430 a year. California was next with an average of $35,650 a year. Alaska had the second-biggest concentration of human service assistants per 1,000 workers and paid the third-highest salary of $34,020. Massachusetts and Hawaii had average salaries ranging from $33,560 to $33,850 per year.
  
  Danbury, Connecticut, was the highest-paying city for human service assistants, with an annual mean wage of $52,000. Fairbanks, Alaska, was number two in terms of pay, at $45,680. Two cities in Massachusetts -- Peabody and Barnstable Town -- made it to the list of top-five-paying metropolitan areas with average annual salaries of $43,680 and $43,050, respectively.