Dental Assistant salary in Pennsylvania: $47,930 median.
Pay for dental assistants across Pennsylvania at every point of the range, against the U.S., the states it borders and the state's metro areas.
Dental Assistants in Pennsylvania earned a median annual wage of $47,930 in May 2025, compared with $48,070 nationally, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey (SOC 31-9091). That is about the same as the U.S. median; the middle half of Pennsylvania workers in this occupation earned between $45,620 and $56,840.
- Pennsylvania median
- $47,930
- $23.05 an hour
- U.S. median
- $48,070
- about the same in Pennsylvania
- Rank among states
- 25 of 50
- states with a published median
- Employed in Pennsylvania
- 12,080
- location quotient 0.80
Advice For a pay conversation in Pennsylvania, the state median ($47,930) is the sourced middle of the market; the 25th–75th percentile band ($45,620–$56,840) is where half of the state's workers in this occupation fall. Experience, employer, metro and specialty move individual offers within and beyond that band.
Pennsylvania vs the U.S. at every point of the range
Data Annual wages at five points of the pay distribution, SOC 31-9091, BLS May 2025.
| Point in the pay range | Pennsylvania | United States | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $38,040 | $37,130 | +2% |
| 25th percentile | $45,620 | $44,340 | +3% |
| Median | $47,930 | $48,070 | about the same |
| 75th percentile | $56,840 | $58,090 | -2% |
| 90th percentile | $61,430 | $62,250 | -1% |
Data The local range is shifted unevenly: the bottom and top move in opposite directions from the national range (+2% at the 10th percentile, -1% at the 90th). Locally, the 90th-percentile wage is 1.61 times the 10th-percentile wage, versus 1.68 times nationally, so pay is about as spread out as it is nationally.
How common the job is in Pennsylvania
Data BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of state employment divided by its share of U.S. employment.
Data The BLS location quotient for this occupation in Pennsylvania is 0.80, so it is less concentrated than nationally (1.00 = the same share as nationally). That is about 2.0 jobs per 1,000 jobs in the state.
Pennsylvania vs the states it borders
Data Same occupation, same BLS release. A higher median elsewhere is not a job offer; cost of living differs.
| State | Median annual wage | vs Pennsylvania | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | $49,390 | +3% | 9,990 |
| Maryland | $48,620 | +1% | 6,560 |
| New York | $48,110 | about the same | 19,800 |
| Ohio | $47,970 | about the same | 12,150 |
| Pennsylvania | $47,930 | 12,080 | |
| Delaware | $47,600 | -1% | 990 |
| West Virginia | $37,960 | -21% | 1,290 |
Where in Pennsylvania it pays most
Data Metropolitan statistical areas that include part of the state and pass TryHired's reliability rule (500+ jobs, employment PRSE ≤ 20%, mean-wage PRSE ≤ 10%, a published median and a non-degenerate wage distribution). Each is the whole BLS metro area, not a city.
Where dental assistants earn the highest medians
Data Highest state medians among the 50 of the 50 states and DC with a published median, BLS May 2025. Pennsylvania ranks 25.
See every state on the national Dental Assistant salary page.
More for Dental Assistants
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How this page is built
BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates for Pennsylvania and national estimates for SOC 31-9091 (Dental Assistants). The pay ladder compares the same five published percentiles; the difference column is the local value minus the U.S. value, divided by the U.S. value. Ranks compare published state medians across the 50 states and DC. Employment counts people working in the occupation (excluding the self-employed), not job openings. BLS publishes sampling error for these estimates: the employment estimate has a relative standard error of 5.6%. Lower is more precise; BLS does not publish a standard error for the median itself. Searches this page answers include “dental assistant salary pennsylvania”, “pennsylvania dental assistant salary”, “dental assistant salary in pennsylvania” (Ahrefs, U.S.).
- Cost of living: wages are not adjusted for local prices.
- Pay at a specific employer, in one city, or for self-employed workers.
- Local outlook: BLS projections are national.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 state and national estimates (2018 SOC), public domain.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
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