Purpose
Our marketing compares the fully loaded monthly cost of a US W-2 administrative hire ($5,170/mo) against RemoteTeam's flat managed fee ($3,250/mo). This document sources every line in that comparison so the claim is auditable rather than asserted. Where a figure is an estimate rather than a cited statistic, it is labeled as such.
Headline finding: the published $5,170/mo figure is defensible and conservative. Independently rebuilding it from primary sources produces roughly $5,330/mo — slightly higher than what we advertise. We understate the local-hire cost, not overstate it.
The comparison, line by line
Reference role: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants — the role our Starter and Professional plans most commonly fill.
| Cost component | As published | Independently sourced (2025–26) | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $4,000/mo | ~$3,955/mo ($47,460/yr) | BLS OES median, May 2024 | Accurate — within 1% of BLS median. |
| Employer payroll taxes | $320/mo | ~$340–400/mo | IRS/SSA FICA + FUTA/SUTA | FICA alone = 7.65% ($306). Site is conservative. |
| Health insurance (employer share) | $500/mo | ~$657/mo ($7,885/yr) | KFF 2025 survey | Employer pays ~84% of the $9,325 single premium. Understated by ~$155/mo. |
| Recruiting & onboarding | $200/mo | ~$228/mo | SHRM 2025 ($5,475 / ~2 yr) | Amortization assumption stated below. |
| HR & admin overhead | $150/mo | ~$150/mo (est.) | Internal assumption | Softest line — no single public benchmark. |
| Total | $5,170/mo | $5,330/mo | Independent rebuild lands ~3% higher. | |
Corroboration: BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (2025) shows benefits equal ~29.7% of total private-sector compensation. Applied to a ~$48k salary, that alone implies ~$1,180/mo in benefits and taxes on top of pay — consistent with the loaded total above.
Line-by-line detail
1. Base salary — $4,000/mo
- Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), Secretaries and Administrative Assistants. Median annual wage $47,460 (May 2024 release).
- Calculation: $47,460 ÷ 12 = $3,955/mo, rounded to $4,000.
- Note: entry-level (<2 yrs) runs $30k–40k; 5+ yrs runs $50k+. Median is the fair midpoint for a comparable hire.
2. Employer payroll taxes — $320/mo
- Source: IRS / Social Security Administration statutory rates.
- Calculation: Employer FICA = 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65% → $306/mo on $4,000. Add FUTA (0.6% on first $7,000) and state unemployment (SUTA, varies by state and experience rating).
- Note: the published $320 covers essentially FICA only. A fuller figure with FUTA/SUTA is ~$340–400/mo. We keep the conservative number.
3. Health insurance (employer share) — $500/mo
- Source: KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey. Average single-coverage premium $9,325/yr; workers contribute ~16% ($1,440), so employers pay ~84% ≈ $7,885/yr ($657/mo).
- Note: the published $500/mo is a conservative estimate reflecting that not every employer offers coverage and not every employee enrolls. The true employer cost when coverage is provided is meaningfully higher.
4. Recruiting & onboarding — $200/mo
- Source: SHRM 2025 benchmarking — average cost per hire (non-executive) $5,475.
- Calculation / assumption: amortized over an assumed ~2-year average tenure → $5,475 ÷ 24 ≈ $228/mo. Over a 1-year tenure it would be ~$456/mo. The published $200/mo sits at the conservative end.
5. HR & admin overhead — $150/mo estimate
- Basis: allocated internal cost of HR administration, payroll processing, compliance, and management time attributable to one employee.
- Caveat: there is no single authoritative public benchmark for this line, so it is an internal estimate and should be presented as an assumption, not a statistic. It is also the smallest line, so it has limited effect on the total.
The RemoteTeam side — $3,250/mo
- What it is: a single, flat monthly fee for a dedicated, fully managed Remote Professional (full-time).
- What it includes: recruitment, vetting, employment, payroll, HR, compliance, onboarding, dedicated account management, quality assurance, and the replacement guarantee.
- What is NOT added on top: no US employer payroll taxes, no benefits, no recruiting fees, no HR overhead. Those costs sit with RemoteTeam, not the client.
Net comparison
| Fully loaded US hire | RemoteTeam Remote Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| As published | $5,170/mo | $3,250/mo |
| Monthly saving (published) | — | $1,920/mo |
| Annual saving (published) | — | $23,040/yr |
| Independently sourced | $5,330/mo | $3,250/mo |
| Monthly saving (sourced) | — | ~$2,080/mo |
| Annual saving (sourced) | — | ~$25,000/yr |
Other calculator modes
The hire calculator also models part-time ($2,445/mo), field ($8,000/mo), and bilingual ($6,500/mo) scenarios using proportional or role-specific assumptions. Those figures are estimates for comparison toggles; this page documents the primary full-time administrative benchmark in full.
Caveats & honest framing
- These are national-average estimates, not a quote for a specific role, seniority, state, or industry. Salary, SUTA, and insurance vary materially by location and employee.
- The comparison is US W-2 employee cost vs. RemoteTeam's managed fee — not a comparison against other offshore/VA providers. It answers "local hire vs. managed remote," which is our actual positioning.
- Where a figure is an estimate (HR overhead), it is labeled as such rather than presented as a statistic.
- We intentionally err conservative on the local-hire side so the comparison survives scrutiny.
Sources
- BLS OES — Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
- KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)
- SHRM — The Real Costs of Recruitment
- IRS — Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- IRS — Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax
Figures reflect the most recent releases available as of July 2026. Update this document when BLS, KFF, or SHRM publish new data. © 2026 E-JAM Group, LLC · RemoteTeam.net