According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were just under 347,200 dental assistants employed in the U.S. as of May 2021. The overwhelming majority of dental assistants work in dental offices, with small numbers found employed by employment agencies, physician offices, and outpatient care centers. While dental assistants must possess some technical understanding, many of their duties can be administrative in nature and don't require the kind of advanced skills or training required by many other healthcare occupations. Dental assistants, on average, earn lower salaries than workers in most other occupations. As of May 2021, the BLS estimated that the national mean salary for dental assistants was $42,510 per year. Pay for the profession varies considerably depending upon the region in which a practitioner works, with dental assistants in some regions making 50% more than what their professional peers made elsewhere. As of May 2021, BLS data reveals the following about dental assistant pay in the top 20 metropolitan markets in the United States:

Dental Assistant Pay in the Top 20 Metropolitan Markets

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		21,340	$45,410
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		15,740	$43,340
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		9,800	$43,630
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		11,110	$39,120
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		7,780	$37,430
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		5,800	$49,210
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		4,970	$46,540
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		7,600	$39,420
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		6,030	$41,520
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		6,400	$52,330
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		6,870	$42,810
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		5,980	$55,150
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		4,700	$41,160
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		5,360	$39,260
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		5,530	$48,360
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		3,460	$55,020
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		4,370	$44,030
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		2,830	$42,330
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		4,050	$45,780
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		2,280	$42,210
	National		347,170	$42,510

Report Period:  May 2021
Top 20 U.S. Metro areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on October 10, 2022