Dental Assistant salary
What a dental assistant actually earns, from 220 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-22.
Switch the market above to see dental assistant pay in the 3 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A dental assistant earns a blended US median near 52,207 dollars, with the typical middle running from 47,000 dollars to 58,240 dollars. The official trend has moved up about 18 percent since 2019. Demand is rated high, and 0% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is dental hygienist, at 62 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open dental assistant roles
Live openings, freshest first. Apply at the source.
- Dentalassistentin, Dentalsekretärin 40-60% at Zahnpraxis SensitivReinach BL, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland1d agoApply
- Dentalassistentin (50–90 %) at Zahnarztpraxis Dr. med. dent. Akram SaydaliReinach AG, Aargau, Switzerland1d agoApply
- Assistant(e) dentaire 100% H/F at JobupSt. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland3d agoApply
- Supervisory Dental Assistant at Veterans Health AdministrationBay Pines, Florida$56k–$73k5d agoApply
- Dental Nurse - Sedation Qualified at PortmandentexBrentwood, GB5d agoUnlock
- Dental Nurse - Hertford at PortmandentexHertford, GB5d agoUnlock
By country
- United States$47,000$52,207$58,240
- Canada$40,134$43,107$47,561
- United Kingdom$37,107$38,961$44,788
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a dental assistant profile already covers.
- 99 open pharmacist roles$149,831 median · +$97,624 · 39% readiness
- 10 open health informatics specialist roles$102,857 median · +$50,650 · 30% readiness
- 20 open dental hygienist roles$82,216 median · +$30,009 · 62% readiness
- 59 open dietitian roles$80,220 median · +$28,013 · 27% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for a dental assistant.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Dental Hygienist salary$82,216 median
- Medical Scribe salary$45,089 median
- Medical Assistant salary$51,475 median
Quick answers
How much does a dental assistant make?
The blended US median is about 52,207 dollars, with a typical range from 47,000 dollars to 58,240 dollars.
Is dental assistant a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 0% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a dental assistant move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is dental hygienist, at 62 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 31-9091. Live corpus 220 observations, 2026-09-22. Definitions in the glossary.