Dentistry Practice Management · Free tool
Dental Team Pay Benchmarks
Dental assistant, hygienist, front desk — what does the market actually pay?
Salary sites show you a number with no source. This shows you what the government's wage survey actually publishes — including the Offices-of-Dentists breakout most sites never surface — and then helps you price your own market from real postings.
Dentistry Practice Management · generated July 30, 2026
What the market pays: dental assistant
BLS OEWS May 2025 · annual wages
Dental Assistants (SOC 31-9091)
| Scope | Median | Middle half (25th–75th) | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621200), national | $48,000 | not published | $50,060 |
| National, all industries | $48,070 | $44,340–$58,090 | $50,200 |
| California, all industries | $50,110 | $46,270–$60,670 | $54,710 |
Sources: national · dental industry · California (BLS OEWS May 2025, read 2026-07-22)
Now price YOUR market
National medians don't hire anyone — the posting across town does. Pull 2–4 current local postings for this role and enter what they offer. If a posting is hourly, multiply by 2,080 (the same convention BLS uses).
Enter at least two postings to see your local range against the BLS figures.
Every published figure here is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey, May 2025 vintage, read from the linked BLS pages on 2026-07-22 — nothing is estimated, blended, or filled in. 'Offices of Dentists' is OEWS industry 621200 (equivalent to NAICS 621210). Where a cell says 'not published,' BLS didn't publish that cut and we won't invent it. BLS caveats that apply: OEWS excludes self-employed workers — practice-owner dentists are not in these figures. Annual wages are calculated by BLS as hourly × 2,080 hours. California figures are all-industry (OEWS does not publish state × industry × occupation crosses in these tables); the dental-industry figures are national. BLS publishes NO 'dental office manager' occupation (confirmed against the complete May 2025 occupation roster). The two nearest proxies are SOC 43-1011 and SOC 11-9111, both with Offices-of-Dentists industry breakouts. The local-postings worksheet is your own entries only.
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- Dental Job-Ad Writer — A posting-ready job ad for any dental role, written from your practice's actual selling points.
About this tool
Government-published wage data (BLS OEWS) for the roles a dental practice hires — with source links, survey vintage, and the honest caveats — plus a worksheet for pricing your local market from real job postings. No made-up salary ranges; every figure is cited or yours. Free, no signup.
Everything runs in your browser. Your answers are never uploaded unless you explicitly choose to email yourself the result. Figures the tool computes come from the numbers you enter — modeled what-ifs, not promises. See our methodology and privacy principles.
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