Filipino Virtual Assistant Salary Report 2026: What 586 Applicants Ask For

The median Filipino virtual assistant asks for $714 per month (about PHP 40,000) for full-time remote work in 2026. That figure comes from 586 real job applications submitted to Armasourcing between October 2025 and May 2026, not from surveys or scraped job boards. This report breaks down what Filipino VAs actually ask for by role, experience level, education, and location, and what offers really close at.

Key Takeaways

• Median asking salary: $714 per month (PHP 40,000). The middle 50 percent of applicants ask between $536 and $893.
• 61 percent ask less than $800 per month. Only 17 percent ask $1,000 or more.
• Experience barely moves the ask. Applicants with 7+ years ask a median of $802, only 16 percent more than the $689 asked by those with 0 to 1 years.
• Admin and executive assistants ask the most ($850 median); lead generation roles ask the least ($536).
• Hourly askers want a median of $6.00 per hour. About 1 in 10 applicants quotes an hourly rate; 70 percent quote in Philippine pesos.
• 88 percent hold a college degree or higher, including 5 percent with a master’s degree.

Where this data comes from

Every number in this report is first-party data: 773 unique applications submitted directly to Armasourcing, a Philippine virtual assistant agency, between October 2025 and May 2026. Of those, 630 stated a salary expectation, and 586 remained after removing 44 entries with obvious data-entry errors. We normalized every figure to US dollars per month, converting peso amounts at PHP 56 to the dollar and hourly rates at 160 working hours per month. Nobody was surveyed and nothing was scraped: these are the numbers real applicants typed into a job application when asked what they wanted to earn.

The headline numbers: what Filipino VAs ask for in 2026

The distribution has a clear center of gravity: $600 to $800 per month is the single largest band, holding 29 percent of all applicants, and more than half of all applicants (54 percent) fall between $400 and $800. The tail is short: fewer than 2 percent ask above $2,000.

Experience barely moves the ask

The most surprising finding in the data: years of experience have almost no effect on what Filipino VAs ask for until they pass the 7-year mark, and even then the premium is modest.

An applicant with 7 or more years of experience asks a median of $802, just 16 percent above the $689 median of applicants with less than 2 years. Between 2 and 6 years the median is essentially flat. For employers this is the quiet arbitrage in the market: seniority is dramatically underpriced relative to Western labor markets, where a decade of experience can double a salary.

What different VA roles ask for

Role families with at least 5 salaried applicants, ranked by median ask. Administrative and executive assistant roles command the highest expectations at $850, followed by bookkeeping and accounting at $800. Lead generation and sales support sit at the bottom at $536. Treat the smaller samples (bookkeeping, creative, lead generation) as directional rather than definitive.

Hourly vs monthly: how Filipino VAs quote their rate

Filipino VAs overwhelmingly think in monthly pesos: 70 percent of applicants quoted a monthly peso figure, 21 percent quoted a monthly dollar or Australian dollar figure, and only 10 percent quoted an hourly rate. Among the hourly askers, the median works out to $6.00 per hour, with most falling between $4 and $8. If you are used to hiring on Upwork, where posted Filipino VA rates often run $8 to $15 per hour, direct applications price meaningfully lower because no marketplace fee is baked in.

Education and location: who is applying

The Filipino VA talent pool is highly educated: of applicants who stated their education, 83 percent hold a university degree, 5 percent hold a master’s degree, and 12 percent list high school as their highest attainment. This tracks with what makes the Philippines the world’s dominant outsourcing destination for English-language work, which we cover in our guide to Philippine VA companies.

Location is the other surprise. Among applicants who named their city, Cebu is the single most represented metro, ahead of Metro Manila, with Davao close behind. The talent has spread far beyond the capital: provincial hubs offer VAs big-city skills with a lower cost of living, which shows up in their asking salaries.

Asked vs accepted: what offers actually close at

Asking salary is only half the market. In our own managed placements, accepted offers typically land between $400 per month for entry-level, single-skill roles and $800 per month for experienced, multi-skill roles, in line with the middle of the asking distribution. On top of the VA’s salary, a managed service adds recruiting, replacement guarantees, quality management, and payroll, which is why all-in managed pricing starts around $800 per month. For the full employer-side math, see our virtual assistant cost breakdown and the US vs Philippines staffing comparison.

What this means if you are hiring

• Budget $700 to $900 per month for a strong full-time Filipino VA hired directly, or from $800 all-in through a managed service. Offers under $500 will still attract applicants, but you are shopping the bottom quartile.
• Do not overpay for years of experience alone. The market prices a 7-year veteran only 16 percent above a newcomer. Screen for skills and English, not tenure.
• Specialist skills cost less than you think. Even the priciest family in our data, executive assistants, asks $850 per month, roughly a quarter of the fully loaded cost of the same hire in the US, UK, or Australia.
• Look beyond Manila. Cebu, Davao, and provincial hubs now supply much of the talent, often at friendlier rates.

If you want the broader context on pay structures, benefits, and how agencies price, our virtual assistant salary guide covers the employer side in depth.

Citing this report

You are welcome to cite any statistic, chart, or table in this report with attribution and a link to this page. Suggested citation: “Armasourcing Filipino VA Salary Report 2026, based on 586 applications received October 2025 to May 2026.” For press inquiries or the underlying aggregate tables, contact us through the contact page.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Filipino virtual assistant cost per month in 2026?

Based on 586 applications, the median Filipino VA asks for $714 per month for full-time work, and the middle 50 percent ask between $536 and $893. All-in managed services, which add recruiting, replacement, and quality management, start around $800 per month.

What is the average Filipino VA salary in pesos?

The median asking salary in our 2026 data is about PHP 40,000 per month for full-time remote work. The middle half of applicants ask between roughly PHP 30,000 and PHP 50,000.

How much do Filipino VAs charge per hour?

Among applicants who quoted hourly rates, the median is $6.00 per hour, with most between $4 and $8. Only about 1 in 10 Filipino VA applicants quotes hourly; most think in monthly salaries.

Do experienced Filipino VAs cost much more?

No. In our data, applicants with 7 or more years of experience ask a median of $802 per month, only 16 percent more than applicants with less than 2 years, who ask $689. Between 2 and 6 years of experience the median ask is essentially flat.

Where does this salary data come from?

From 586 real job applications submitted directly to Armasourcing between October 2025 and May 2026, after removing entries with data errors. Peso figures were converted at PHP 56 per US dollar and hourly rates at 160 hours per month. It is first-party application data, not a survey and not scraped job listings.