There were approximately 120,700 general dentists working in the U.S. as of May 2022 according to reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Most general dentists are employed in dental offices, with smaller numbers found working in physician offices, outpatient care centers, hospitals, and state government entities. Like many other highly-educated health professionals with advanced technical skills, general dentists earn higher salaries than workers in most other occupations. According to BLS estimates, as of May 2022, the national mean wage for general dentists was $172,290 annually. Pay for general dentists varies widely from region to region, with practitioners in some regions making 50% or more of what their counterparts earn elsewhere. This variation is easily seen in BLS data from May 2022, which shows the following about general dentist pay in the top 20 metropolitan markets in the U.S.:

General Dentist Pay in the Top 20 Metropolitan Markets

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		6,750	$185,130
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		7,570	n/a
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		n/a	$140,480
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		3,470	$159,030
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		2,580	$154,490
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		4,210	$177,640
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		2,510	$194,200
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		2,450	$166,960
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		2,140	n/a
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		2,340	$185,280
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		1,280	$181,730
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		1,600	$204,020
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		1,740	$159,930
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		1,640	$182,310
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		1,450	$175,630
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		1,510	$195,290
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		1,190	$146,360
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		840	$162,200
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		1,550	$152,190
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		1,570	$162,720
	National		120,740	$172,290

Report Period:  May 2022
Top 20 U.S. Metro Areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on May 7, 2023