- Dental assistants typically earn salaries just above the base cost of living in each state, but they make slightly less in four states — Hawaii, Louisiana, New York and Utah.
- Dental assistants typically bring in less money each year than the average household income in each state.
- Dental assistants make roughly between $9 to $17 more than the minimum wage in each state.
- The mean hourly wage for dental assistants is $20.44.
- The mean annual salary for dental assistants is $42,510.
- Percentile annual wage estimates for dental assistants:
- 90th percentile: $59,540
- 75th percentile: $47,580
- 50th percentile: $38,660
- 25th percentile: $37,000
- 10th percentile: $29,580
- Top paying industries for dental assistants:
- State government, excluding schools and hospitals
- Specialty hospitals, except psychiatric and substance abuse
- Home healthcare services
- General medical and surgical hospitals
- Federal executive branch
- Top paying states for dental assistants:
- Minnesota
- Massachusetts
- Alaska
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
- Top paying metropolitan areas for dental assistants:
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
- Santa Rosa, Calif.
- Rochester, Minn.
- Barnstable, Mass.
- Boston-Cambridge, Mass-Nashua, N.H.
- Bismarck, N.D.
- Fairbanks, Alaska
- Portsmouth, N.H.-Maine
- Top paying nonmetropolitan areas for dental assistants:
- Alaska nonmetropolitan area
- Northeast Minnesota
- Massachusetts nonmetropolitan area
- Southeast Minnesota
- Northwest Minnesota
- How much dental assistants make in the five best states for dental health:
- Connecticut: $46,130
- District of Columbia: $45,950
- Massachusetts: $51,210
- Hawaii: $37,860
- New Jersey: $43,980
- Here is what dental assistants make in the five worst states for dental health:
- Arkansas: $34,930
- West Virginia: $36,830
- Louisiana: $33,560
- Mississippi: $36,170
- Texas: $38,370
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