Dental Assistants
United States. Estimated employment 387,790, with pages for 22 metro areas below.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 31-9091
Fig. 1 — The wage rule
Where you sit in the distribution
Drag the marker, or type a figure
$48,070 · 50th
$37,13010th
$44,34025th
$48,07050th
$58,09075th
$62,25090th
That is the median — half of dental assistants in the US earn more.
Table 1 — By metro area
Where it pays
Every published Dental Assistants page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.
| Metro area | Median | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | $74,600 | 2,870 |
| San Francisco, CA | $64,390 | 7,530 |
| Santa Rosa, CA | $60,590 | 680 |
| Napa, CA | $60,270 | 230 |
| Vallejo, CA | $59,000 | 630 |
| Oxnard, CA | $58,930 | 1,250 |
| Sacramento, CA | $58,580 | 3,100 |
| Santa Cruz, CA | $58,580 | 370 |
| Kiryas Joel, NY | $49,120 | 620 |
| Chicago, IL | $48,950 | 10,490 |
| Rochester, NY | $48,780 | 1,020 |
| New York, NY | $48,430 | 20,870 |
| Albany, NY | $48,220 | 970 |
| Ithaca, NY | $48,170 | 100 |
| Kingston, NY | $47,940 | 130 |
| Buffalo, NY | $47,610 | 1,230 |
| Peoria, IL | $47,280 | 300 |
| Champaign, IL | $47,120 | 180 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $46,900 | 21,090 |
| Bloomington, IL | $46,390 | 140 |
| Rockford, IL | $45,970 | 530 |
| Springfield, IL | $45,390 | 360 |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Employment
- 387,790 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 31-9091, Dental Assistants. Mapped to our taxonomy as dental-assistants.
Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.