With dental hygiene now among the fastest growing professions in the usa the employment prospects for hygienists should be much better than average. However, many people are concerned the proliferation of dental hygiene training programs that have popped up to satisfy the elevated demand for this profession might flood the market with new graduates who could drive down the typical dental hygienist salary. With that in mind, let's take a glance at recent dental hygienist salary trends according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The most recent figures were recorded in May 2009, and demonstrated that there have been approximately 174,000 dental hygienists used in america. The mean average hourly wage was $32.63, and also the mean average annual wage was $67,860. The cheapest 10% earned less than $21.59 each hour, or $44,900 per year, and the highest 10% earned more than $44.64 each hour, or $92,860 each year. These average salary levels vary slightly with respect to the industry and also the State they work in.
Salary Variation by Industry
Dental hygienists can be found in a wide variety of institutions, even though great majority of these (around 96%) are employed in offices of dentists. They are able to be also present in physicians' offices, employment services, general medical and surgical hospitals, outpatients care centers, and office administrative services.
Although the mean average hourly wage doesn't vary greatly by institution, there are several clear patterns. Those used in general medical or surgical hospitals and physicians' offices are usually paid less than elsewhere, with a mean average hourly rate of just $27.68, and $29.68 respectively.
The best paid are the ones working in office administrative services, getting a mean average hourly rate of $32.80. However, those employed in offices of dentists, the most typical situation, only earn slightly less than those who work in office administrative services, in a mean average hourly rate of $32.77.
Salary Variation by State
The typical salary they are able to expect has a tendency to vary by State. Increased availability of jobs has the effect of driving down the average dental hygienist salary, because the States that have the greatest concentration aren't amongst people with the highest salaries. For example Michigan, which has 2.3 hygienists useful for every 1000 from the population only pays a mean average hourly wage of $28.67.
The states with the highest mean average hourly rate are Alaska, Washington, California, Nevada and Oregon, that have mean average hourly wages that range from $46.29 to $37.27 respectively. These States tend to employ around 1.6 hygienists for every 1000 of the population, although California and Nevada only employ around 1.2 per 1000. The metropolitan area that pays the greatest mean average hourly wage is Santa Rosa-Petaluma in California, where they can expect around $53.99 per hour.
These figures represent the average earnings of hygienists in the U.S. but recent graduates, who've just completed an affiliate degree in oral cleanliness and received their state license, can generally expect a lesser dental hygienist salary until they've gained some experience of the industry.
Author Resource:
Nick writes online articles for many years. Check out his new site about dental hygienist salary levels and rowing machines benefits
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")