Medical Support Assistance

What the Numbers Say About Medical Support Assistance

Federal agencies employ 40,723 people in the Medical Support Assistance occupation (OPM code 679), accounting for 1.8% of the total federal civilian workforce of 2,289,472 for the March 2025 reporting window. Headcount in this occupation moved down by -2.2% versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

The average salary for Medical Support Assistance is $56,126 per year, placing it 48.9% below the overall federal civilian average of $109,869. Salaries moved up by 2.7% from the prior period, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce. Average length of service in this role is 7 years, a comparatively short average tenure, which can reflect faster turnover, a competitive private-sector alternative, or a newer program still building up its workforce.

Medical Support Assistance sits inside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family (code 6), which contains 45 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Medical Support Assistance postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Within the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, Medical Support Assistance is one of the top 45 occupations by headcount (#2), accounting for 11.4% of the family's combined 356,984 employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (4th percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.