National Average Salary

• According to a May 2009 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average pay for a dental assistant in 2009 was $16.35 an hour, which is $34,000 a year. Salary tracking website PayScale found the average range of pay for dental assistants in May 2011 as being between $9.72 and $18.86 an hour, or between $20,270 and $40,413 a year. PayScale reports salaries for the middle 50 percent of respondents to their survey, between the 25th and 75th percentiles.
  
  

Highest Paying States

• The highest-paying area in the United States for dental assistants as of 2009 was the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, where the average pay was $21.94 an hour or $45,630 a year. Those in Alaska earned $20.99 an hour or $43,670 a year. In New Hampshire they earned $19.67 an hour or $40,910 a year, while in Minnesota the pay was $19.76 an hour, or $41,510 a year.
  
  

Low-Paying States

• The lowest-paying area for dental assistants at the time of the report by the bureau was Puerto Rico, as a territory of the United States, where assistants earned $7.89 an hour, or $16,410 a year. West Virginia was the lowest-paying state, at $11.92 an hour and $24,790 a year. Mississippi, at $12.86 an hour or $26,750 a year, and Louisiana, at $13.45 an hour or $27,980 a year, also showed average earnings below the national average.
  
  

Pay by Experience

• How much a dental assistant earns also depends on her experience. As of May 2011, the middle 50 percent of dental assistants with little or no experience earned between $9.15 and $12.08 an hour, according to PayScale. Those who had been in their field for five to nine years were making from $13.18 to $17.05 an hour, while veteran dental assistants with 20 or more years of experience were making between $15.40 and $20.00 an hour.