Occupational Employment and Wages, 2002

31-9091 Dental Assistants

Assist dentist, set up patient and equipment, and keep records.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
State profile for this occupation
Metropolitan area profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
268,220	2.2 %	$13.42	$27,910	1.4 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$8.45	$10.35	$13.10	$16.20	$19.41
Annual Wage (2)	$17,570	$21,520	$27,240	$33,690	$40,370

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Offices of dentists	251,830	$13.43	$27,940	1	9
Offices of physicians	3,290	$12.28	$25,550	2	17
Federal government (OES designation)	2,580	$14.20	$29,540	3	3
Colleges and universities	1,810	$12.83	$26,680	4	14
General medical and surgical hospitals	1,750	$13.56	$28,200	5	7

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Scientific research and development services	30	$14.74	$30,670	20	1
Employment services	1,360	$14.53	$30,230	6	2
Federal government (OES designation)	2,580	$14.20	$29,540	3	3
Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals	150	$13.95	$29,010	14	4
Other hospitals	90	$13.90	$28,900	15	5

State profile for this occupation: Top

States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
Washington	9,510	$15.93	$33,140	0.371%	422
Oregon	5,260	$14.61	$30,380	0.339%	388
Utah	3,470	$9.93	$20,650	0.332%	518
California	40,270	$15.52	$32,290	0.278%	443
Illinois	15,720	$11.03	$22,940	0.271%	580

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
District of Columbia	500	$18.90	$39,320	0.084%	242
Colorado	4,910	$16.55	$34,420	0.231%	331
Connecticut	3,300	$16.16	$33,620	0.201%	370
Nevada	1,780	$15.98	$33,230	0.168%	333
Massachusetts	5,130	$15.95	$33,170	0.160%	417

Metropolitan area profile for this occupation: Top

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Olympia, WA PMSA	420	$16.67	$34,670	0.493%
Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa, CA PMSA	880	$14.54	$30,240	0.473%
Orange County, CA PMSA	6,610	$11.51	$23,950	0.469%
Tacoma, WA PMSA	1,050	$14.32	$29,780	0.449%
Pocatello, ID MSA	140	$10.99	$22,860	0.446%

Top paying Metropolitan areas for this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Boulder-Longmont, CO PMSA	380	$23.54	$48,970	0.239%
Oakland, CA PMSA	3,940	$19.75	$41,080	0.393%
Santa Rosa, CA PMSA	730	$19.57	$40,710	0.374%
Colorado Springs, CO MSA	620	$19.13	$39,790	0.265%
Barnstable-Yarmouth, MA MSA	140	$18.54	$38,560	0.209%

About 2002 National, State, and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

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These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in every State and the District of Columbia. The top five employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable Excel files(XLS).

Percentile wage estimates show the percentage of workers in an occupation that earn less than a given wage and the percentage that earn more. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.

(1) Data for detailed occupations does not sum to the totals because the totals include data for occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

All Healthcare Support Occupations

2002 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

List of Occupations in SOC Code Number Order

List of Occupations in Alphabetical Order

Download 2002 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates in Zipped Excel files

Technical notes

 

Last Modified Date: November 26, 2003