An executive assistant supports your work: calendar, inbox, clients and meetings. A personal assistant supports your life outside work: home, family, errands and personal travel. Some owners need a bit of both, so define the scope before you pick a title. Figures are for the US, in US dollars.
The short answer
- Hire an executive assistant if most of what you want gone is business work: email, scheduling, meeting prep, follow-ups, travel for work.
- Hire a personal assistant if most of it is life admin: the house, family schedules, personal bills, appointments, gifts and holidays.
- Hire one person for both if the personal part is small and you agree on the split in writing.
Business tasks
These belong to an executive assistant:
- Calendar and meeting scheduling with clients, partners and your team.
- Inbox triage and routine replies.
- Meeting prep and follow-ups.
- Business travel.
- Expenses, invoices and simple bookkeeping entry.
- Confidential business documents.
- Being the first contact for people who want your time at work.
Personal tasks
These belong to a personal assistant:
- The family calendar: school events, doctors, activities.
- Home: repairs, deliveries, cleaners, contractors.
- Personal bills, renewals and subscriptions.
- Personal travel and holidays.
- Gifts, birthdays and events.
- Errands, if they work in person.
Where they overlap
The overlap is mostly your calendar and travel. You have one week, and both work and life sit in it.
- Calendar. A personal appointment blocks a client meeting. Whoever runs your calendar needs to see both, at least as busy time. Google Calendar lets you share at a level that shows private events only as busy.
- Travel. A work trip with a family weekend added at the end.
- Gatekeeping. Who gets through to you, from both sides.
If you have two assistants, give one of them ownership of the calendar. Two people booking into the same week without rules leads to clashes.
Signs you need personal help, not only business help
- You handle family schedules, home repairs or personal bills during working hours.
- Personal admin keeps landing in your business inbox.
- Your executive assistant already does personal tasks, and business work is slipping.
- You travel often and the house or family logistics fall apart while you are away.
If these sound familiar, either add a clear personal scope to your assistant's role, or hire separate personal help.
What each costs
Executive assistant. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook puts the median wage at $76,590 a year for May 2025. The middle half earn $61,390 to $94,390, per BLS data on O*NET.
Personal assistant. The BLS has no separate category for personal assistants. The nearest office role, general secretaries and administrative assistants, has a median wage of $47,540 a year, per BLS data on O*NET. No official data covers personal assistants to high earners. Pay depends on the hours, whether they work in person, travel with you, and how much they handle. Ask local staffing agencies for quotes.
Remote help for both. Virtual assistant agencies publish part-time plans, such as Time etc at $390 for 10 hours a month and Boldly at $2,600 for 40 hours a month, as of October 2026. Ask each one whether personal tasks are included.
Two tax points to check
These are general points only. Rules differ by state, so ask an accountant.
- Business or personal expense. The IRS Publication 334 says a business expense must be ordinary and necessary. When an expense is partly business and partly personal, you separate the two, and the personal part is generally not deductible. If your company pays one assistant for both, keep a record of the split.
- Household employee. If someone works in your home and you control what they do and how, they may be your household employee. For 2026, the IRS Topic 756 says you generally must withhold Social Security and Medicare if you pay one household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages. Federal unemployment tax applies if you pay more than $1,000 in a calendar quarter.
How to scope the role
- List every task you want gone for two weeks, work and personal.
- Mark each task business or personal.
- If one side is under a fifth of the list, hire for the larger side and add the small side as extras.
- Write the personal tasks into the role, with a time limit per week.
- Decide who pays: the business, you personally, or a split you can record.
- Decide who owns the calendar if there is more than one assistant.
- Set privacy rules: who can see family details, health appointments, finances.
A scope note to copy
Role: [Executive assistant / personal assistant / both]
Business tasks (about [x] hours a week)
- [Calendar, inbox, travel for work, meeting prep]
Personal tasks (about [x] hours a week, never more than [y])
- [Family calendar, home admin, personal travel]
Calendar owner: [Name]
Who pays: [Business for business hours, me for personal hours]
Privacy:
- Family and health details stay in [private folder or calendar]
- Never shared with my team or clients
Not included:
- [For example: childcare, driving, cooking]
Review this scope every [three months]
Next steps
To write the job, use how to write a job description. To decide what to hand over first, see how to delegate tasks. For keeping your own week in shape, read time management for business owners.