Comparisons

• Of the estimated 294,020 dental assistants working in the United States in 2009, about 8,320 were employed in North Carolina, reports the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their average salary was $16.87 per hour, or $35,090 per year. That was about 3 percent higher than the average for this occupation nationally of $16.35 per hour.
  
  

Salary Range

• The middle 50 percent of North Carolina dental assistants were earning $14.31 to $19.72 per hour as of 2009, or $29,760 to $41,030 per year. The bottom 10 percent had wages of $11.74 per hour and less, and the top 10 percent $22.84 and higher. Nationwide, the middle 50 percent wage scale for dental assistants was $13.23 to $19.12 per hour.
  
  

High-Paying Areas

• The highest-paying area on average for dental assistants in North Carolina was Goldsboro, where their average pay was $19.48 per hour, or $40,510 per year. The average salary for dental assistants was also relatively high in the western central nonmetropolitan area of the state, at $18.31 per hour, in the Raleigh-Cary metro area at $18.63, Durham at $17.39, Burlington at $17.11, and the Greensboro-High Point area at $17.03 per hour.
  
  

Other Areas

• Other average salaries for North Carolina dental assistants were in the range of about $15 to $17 per hour. The pay range was about $15 to $15.90 per hour in the greater metro areas of Fayetteville, Jacksonville and Rocky Mount, as well as the northeastern and western nonmetropolitan areas. The average salary was about $16.20 to $16.90 per hour in the greater metro areas of Asheville, Charlotte, Greenville, Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.