A remote executive assistant costs somewhere between $500 and $9,200 per month depending on who you hire, how you hire them, and what you're actually asking them to do. That's not a useful range, so let's make it useful.
The number that matters isn't the hourly rate or the monthly retainer. It's total cost of ownership — what you pay plus what it costs you in time, management overhead, re-hiring, and lost productivity when things break. A $15/hr VA who needs 5 hours a week of your management time at $200/hr isn't a $2,400/month assistant. It's a $6,400/month assistant.
Total Cost of Ownership
Don’t just look at the invoice. Add your management time, re-hiring, training ramp, and lost productivity when your assistant is offline. That’s your real monthly cost.
Quick Budget Check
Multiply your annual revenue by 3–5%. If your current assistant spend is below that but you’re still doing 10+ hours of admin a week, you’re under-invested and leaving money on the table.
