Do EA jobs need a degree? What 700 job ads and 5,000 EAs tell us

You find the perfect EA role. Right level, right salary, right commute. Then you hit the line that says "Bachelor's degree required" and close the tab.

Plenty of EAs do exactly that. So we wanted to know two things. How often do job ads actually ask for a degree? And does having one make any difference to the people already doing the job?

To find out, we read 706 EA and admin job ads posted on EAHQ between June and September 2026. Then we checked them against the 2026 EA Salary Survey, which covers over 5,000 EAs and admin professionals in the UK, US, Australia and Canada.

The short answer: most ads don't ask, most EAs don't have one, and outside the US it makes no difference to pay.

What the ads actually say

Only 5.7% of ads flatly require a degree. Almost three quarters never mention one at all.

3 in 4 ads never mention a degree

Even when a degree does come up, it's usually softer than it looks. Of the 187 ads that mention one, 147 either accept experience instead or only say it's "preferred".

And here's the telling bit. Just one ad out of 706 said a degree wasn't needed. Employers who don't care about degrees don't say so. They just stay quiet, which leaves candidates guessing.

Where degrees come up

Where you are makes the biggest difference. About 4 in 10 US EA ads mention a degree. In Australia it's closer to 1 in 16.

US EA ads mention degrees most

In every country, a flat "degree required" is rare. The gap between countries comes almost entirely from softer wording like "preferred" or "or equivalent experience".

The role matters too. Chief of Staff ads are the most likely to ask, and a quarter of them require a degree outright. Personal Assistant ads almost never mention one: 2 out of 46.

Chief of Staff ads ask most, PA least

One note on Canada. Many Canadian ads ask for "post-secondary education", which a college diploma or CEGEP covers. We've only counted ads that name a degree.

Who's actually doing the job

Outside the US, most EAs don't have a degree. That includes most Senior EAs, and most of the best-paid people in the profession.

Most EAs outside the US have no degree

In Australia, 74% of EAs have no degree. In the UK, two thirds of the top 10% of earners don't have one. More than a quarter of those UK top earners have no qualification beyond school at all.

The most common qualification outside the US isn't a degree. It's vocational or college level: a diploma, TAFE, CEGEP or further education. That covers 42% of UK respondents, 50% in Australia and 57% in Canada.

The US is different. 57% of US EAs have a degree, and two thirds of the top earners do.

Does it pay?

Outside the US, no. Once you compare EAs with the same experience, a degree makes no measurable difference to salary in the UK, Australia or Canada.

Only the US shows a degree premium

If you look at the raw figures in Australia and Canada, graduates actually earn less. Don't read that as a degree penalty. Graduates in those countries are younger and less experienced on average, and experience is what drives pay.

In the US, there's a real premium of around 6%. It held in both the 2025 and 2026 surveys. But it's biggest in the middle of a career and has all but gone by the time you reach 26 years' experience.

In the US, the premium fades by 26 years

It also depends on the role. US Administrative Assistants with a degree earn around 13% more than those without, even after allowing for experience and industry. For US Senior EAs, the gap is zero: $111,659 with a degree, $112,000 without.

Then there's the cost of getting the degree. US graduates who borrowed left college owing $29,560 on average (College Board). Paid back over 10 years at around 6.4% interest, that's roughly $335 a month, or $4,000 a year.

Take an EA earning $80,000. A 6% premium adds about $4,800 a year before tax. So for the first decade, loan repayments swallow most of the extra pay. By the time the loan is cleared, the premium is already shrinking. Not every graduate borrows, but for those who do, the US premium is thinner than it looks.

Outside the US, there's no premium to offset. A UK graduate repays 9% of everything they earn above the threshold, and as an EA gets nothing extra in salary for it.

So does the degree earn its place?

Sometimes. Put the two datasets side by side and something interesting happens. Employers ask for degrees most in the places where degrees actually count for something.

The US has the most degree-heavy ads, the most graduates, and the only real pay premium. Chief of Staff is the most degree-heavy role in the ads, and 76% of US Chiefs of Staff have one. In Australia and the UK, ads rarely ask, few EAs have one, and it makes no difference to pay.

So employers aren't wildly out of step. The mismatch is at the edges. When a UK or Australian ad asks for a degree, it's asking for something most of the profession's best-paid people don't have.

There's one more thing worth saying. Younger EAs are far more likely to have a degree: 74% of US respondents aged 23 to 32, against 37% of those aged 58 to 62. The experienced EAs without degrees prove the job doesn't need one. But the next generation increasingly has one anyway.

What to do with this

If you're job hunting: read the wording. "Preferred" and "or equivalent experience" are not a no. They made up nearly 8 in 10 of the ads that mentioned a degree. If you've got the experience, apply.

If you're in the US and early in your career, a degree does carry weight, particularly in admin assistant roles. By senior EA level, your track record is doing the work.

If you're hiring: ask yourself what the degree is standing in for. If it's judgement, discretion or the ability to run an executive's world, experience shows that better. So if you want the best candidates, ask for experience instead. "Five years supporting a C-suite executive" tells you far more than a degree title does. It also opens the door to the people who, outside the US, make up most of this profession's top earners.

And if a degree genuinely doesn't matter to you, say so. One ad in 706 did. It's a simple way to widen your pool.

About the data

Job ads: 706 EA and admin roles posted on EAHQ between 8 June and 28 September 2026, after removing duplicates. We read what each ad says about degrees. That tells you what employers write, not how they actually hire. UK figures are based on 282 ads where the full text was readable.

Survey: the 2026 EA Salary Survey, with 5,141 respondents across the UK, US, Australia and Canada. Salary comparisons use full-time respondents only. People chose to take part, and everything is self-reported.

A few other things to bear in mind. "Degree" means a Bachelor's or higher. The survey has no seniority question, so seniority comes from job title. And some groups, such as Chiefs of Staff outside the US, are too small to report on.