Medical Support Assistance
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Medical Support Assistance occupation series (code 0679), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
With 39,856 employees (2.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Medical Support Assistance ranks as a major federal occupation within the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, and headcount edged down from the prior period. Its average salary of $58,279 pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -0.1%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 8.2 yrs
- Rank in family
- #2 of 45
FedScope read on Medical Support Assistance (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved down 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.
Medical Support Assistance sits inside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family (code 06), which contains 45 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Medical Support Assistance postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. Medical Support Assistance makes up 11.8% of the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family's 339,162 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (7th percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Medical Support Assistance pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$58,279
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-50.3%
Where Medical Support Assistance ranks on lean federal pay
Medical Support Assistance earns more on average than 12% of federal occupation series (66 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Medical Support Assistance sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Medical Support Assistance.
Related Occupations in Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 106,218 | $132,267 | 10.2 yrs |
| Medical Officer | 34,687 | $301,569 | 11.6 yrs |
| General Health Science | 17,434 | $133,765 | 11.9 yrs |
| Practical Nurse | 16,755 | $75,898 | 10.4 yrs |
| Pharmacist | 14,529 | $167,390 | 11.1 yrs |
| Nursing Assistant | 14,498 | $55,851 | 7.8 yrs |
| Health Aid and Technician | 12,490 | $61,276 | 10.8 yrs |
| Health System Specialist | 7,966 | $110,534 | 15.9 yrs |
| Pharmacy Technician | 7,658 | $70,794 | 9.5 yrs |
| Medical Technologist | 6,123 | $117,456 | 12.2 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Medical Support Assistance outside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (39,856 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($58,279 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Medical Support Assistance pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Medical Support Assistance postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.