Dental assistants held about 388,600 U.S. jobs in 2025, with employment projected to reach about 417,400 by 2035. The occupation combines patient contact, clinical preparation, recordkeeping, infection-control procedures, and precise hands-on work. These dental assistant statistics show the size of the field, its pay range, where jobs are concentrated, and what employers and workers can expect from the role.
Dental assistant statistics at a glance
- Employment in 2025: About 388,600 jobs.
- Projected employment in 2035: About 417,400 jobs.
- Projected increase, 2025–2035: 28,800 jobs, or 7.4%.
- Average annual openings, 2025–2035: About 53,000.
- Median annual wage, May 2025: $48,070.
- Median hourly wage, May 2025: $23.11.
- Largest listed state workforce, May 2023: California, with 56,870 dental assistants.
The employment and projection figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Dental Assistants Occupational Outlook Handbook and its occupational projections and worker characteristics table. Projections are forecasts, not observed counts.
Contents: Employment and demand · Pay · States and metros · Preparation and tasks · Work setting · Requirements
Employment and projected demand
The BLS counted about 388,600 dental-assistant jobs in 2025. Its projections table places the occupation at about 417,400 jobs in 2035, a forecast gain of 28,800 positions between 2025 and 2035. That is projected growth of 7.4% over the period.
The BLS also projects about 53,000 dental-assistant openings per year on average from 2025 through 2035. An opening measure can include opportunities created by employment growth as well as openings associated with workers leaving or changing occupations, so it is not the same as the projected net increase.
Dental assistants accounted for 0.2% of total U.S. employment in 2025 in the BLS projections table. The table projects the same 0.2% share in 2035 and lists dental assistants as 0.1% of annual U.S. job openings over 2025–2035.
Separate BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) estimates counted 370,690 dental assistants in May 2023 and 375,430 in May 2024. These figures differ from the projection-table employment series because they are separate statistical estimates and measurement programs. BLS OEWS figures are employer-reported occupational estimates and exclude self-employed workers.
Pay and industry earnings
In May 2025, the median annual wage for dental assistants was $48,070, while the median hourly wage was $23.11. The median divides the reported workers into two equal groups: half earned more and half earned less. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $37,130 annually, and the highest-paid 10% earned more than $62,250.
The BLS reported these May 2025 median annual wages by selected industry:
| Industry | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| Government | $55,270 |
| Offices of dentists | $48,000 |
| Offices of physicians | $47,310 |
Industry comparisons describe medians within the listed sectors; they do not establish that changing sectors will produce a particular wage for an individual. The BLS wage figures should also be read with the OEWS scope note: annual OEWS wages are full-time equivalents based on 2,080 hours where applicable.
The May 2023 BLS OEWS profile reported a national mean wage of $22.77 per hour and a national median wage of $22.38 per hour. Mean and median are different measures, so the two figures should not be treated as interchangeable. Among the industries listed in that May 2023 profile, management of companies and enterprises had the highest dental-assistant mean annual wage, at $57,270.
States and metropolitan areas
Dental assistant employment is distributed unevenly across the country. In the May 2023 BLS OEWS state data, California had the highest employment level among states shown, with 56,870 dental assistants. Texas had 34,490, Florida had 25,370, New York had 17,840, and Illinois had 14,370.
The largest workforce counts reflect the scale of the states’ labor markets and should not be confused with the highest concentration relative to all local employment. BLS reported Utah as having the highest listed state location quotient for dental assistants in May 2023, at 1.53. A location quotient describes occupational concentration relative to the national pattern, rather than total job count.
Wage levels also vary by location. Minnesota had the highest listed state annual mean wage in the May 2023 BLS profile, at $62,760. That is a mean wage for the state and period, not a guaranteed salary or a national median.
At the metropolitan level, the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim area employed 22,080 dental assistants in May 2023. Metro employment counts and state employment counts can overlap conceptually because metropolitan areas are geographic labor markets located within states; they should not be added together as separate national totals.
All state, metropolitan, and May 2023 wage figures in this section come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023 profile. The estimates are employer-reported and exclude self-employed workers.
Education, preparation, and tasks
O*NET’s Dental Assistants profile rates several clinical and administrative activities as highly important. Preparing patients, sterilizing or disinfecting instruments, setting up trays, preparing materials, or assisting during procedures received 95 importance points. Recording treatment information in patient records received 94 points.
Emergency readiness also appears prominently: assisting the dentist in medical or dental emergencies received 92 points. Ordering and monitoring dental supplies and equipment inventory received 90 points. Exposing dental diagnostic x-rays and providing dentist-prescribed postoperative instructions each received 90 points.
Patient education and assessment are part of the role as well. Instructing patients in oral hygiene and plaque-control programs received 84 importance points. Taking and recording medical and dental histories and vital signs received 83 points. These ratings describe the O*NET profile’s importance scale; they are not percentages of time spent on each activity.
O*NET respondents reported different minimum education requirements for a new dental-assistant hire. A postsecondary certificate was selected by 46% of respondents, a high school diploma or equivalent by 29%, and some college without a degree by 17%. These are respondent percentages, not a universal legal requirement or a prediction that every employer uses the same standard.
ONET classifies dental assistants in Job Zone Three, labeled “medium preparation needed,” with a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 6.0 to less than 7.0. The ONET page is a 2026 profile, but its live page does not display a separate underlying survey year for each task, work-context, education, or classification item. Accordingly, these figures are labeled by the profile rather than presented as 2026 measurements.
Work setting and interaction
Dental assisting is a close-contact, team-oriented occupation. O*NET reports that 81% of dental assistants have constant contact with others, while 88% work very close to other people, near touching. Working with or contributing to a team is extremely important for 65% of dental assistants.
Communication is frequent. O*NET reports that 66% of dental assistants have telephone conversations every day. The role also involves protective procedures and exposure controls: 88% wear common protective or safety equipment every day, and 84% are exposed to radiation every day according to the profile.
Precision is another defining feature. Being extremely exact or highly accurate is important for 56% of dental assistants in the O*NET estimate. In addition, 83% use their hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools, or controls continually or almost continually.
O*NET reports regular, established schedules for 100% of dental assistants. That statistic describes the profile’s schedule category; it does not specify the number of weekly hours, the length of individual shifts, or whether every practice follows identical hours.
Physical, cognitive, and environmental requirements
BLS Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) data provide a separate view of job requirements. In 2024, 87.5% of dental-assistant workers required on-the-job training, while 23.8% required prior work experience. These measures describe job requirements in surveyed establishments, not the percentage of workers who personally completed a particular training route.
The 2024 ORS profile also reported several physical demands. The share of dental-assistant workers who occasionally reached overhead was 22.4%; 34.2% occasionally worked in low postures; and 45.5% occasionally performed fine manipulation. These categories indicate that physical demands can be part of the occupation even though the supplied estimates do not quantify how long each activity lasted.
Environmental exposure was measured separately. In 2024, 11.7% of dental-assistant workers worked around hazardous contaminants, and 3.5% encountered moving mechanical parts. Fewer than 5% worked outdoors. The outdoor figure is reported as a threshold rather than a more precise percentage, so it should remain in that form.
The BLS Occupational Requirements in the United States—2024 estimates are preliminary, establishment-based job-requirement estimates collected from August 2023 through July 2024. They should not be treated as a time series or compared as though they were annual counts of workers. Together with the employment, wage, O*NET task, and work-context figures above, they describe an occupation requiring patient interaction, clinical precision, safety awareness, hands-on control, and structured preparation.