Earnings and salaries

Dental assistants are currently listed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics as a health care support profession, and therefore do not earn the same salary as dentists. Their average salary in the United States was $43,470 annually, or $16.9 an hour, in 2010.[10] Salary ranges vary widely between state and metropolitan areas. The lowest-paid state in West Virginia pays its lowest-paid household aides about $18,490 annually, while the highest-paid state, Alaska, pays its senior workers about $56,760 annually. The lowest-paid dental assistants in Santa Fe, NM, earn about $17,950 per year, while the highest paid in San Francisco, CA is about $59,370 per year.