May 2022 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported dental assistant employment in the United States at more than 363,800.  The four-state Southwestern U.S. accounted for roughly 48,000 of those dental assistant jobs.  BLS data revealed the Southwestern U.S. to be a rather weak one for dental assistant pay, as no states in the region registered a mean annual wage level for dental assistants that was better than the profession's national average of $44,710.  Moreover, three states in the region ranked among the fifteen worst states in the nation for dental assistant mean annual wage levels. A deeper dive into May 2022 BLS data reveals the following details about dental assistant pay in the Southwestern U.S.:

Dental Assistant Pay in the Southwestern U.S.

State	# Employed	Mean Annual Wage	Wage Rank*
AZ	9,040	$44,610	23rd
NM	2,040	$39,610	41st
OK	4,650	$40,770	38th
TX	32,360	$39,170	43rd
U.S.	363,880	$44,710	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on September 20, 2023