There are 204, 990 practicing dental hygienists in the USA. The average wage? $25/hour which translates to a yearly salary of just about $73, 000. The state with the highest wages for dental hygienists is Alaska where the average per hour wage is $49.47. In Alaska, dental hygienists may opt to practice under collaborative agreements with dentists. These agreements free up the dental hygienist and no direct supervision by a dentist is necessary.
The state with the second highest dental hygiene salaries is California. Dental hygienists there make an average of $45/hour. (This is not surprising considering that California is the only state in which dental hygienists are self-regulated. Recently California dental hygienists opted to terminate their charter relationship with the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and create their own professional organization, the California Dental Hygienists’ Association. California has long led the way in expanding scopes of practice for dental hygienists.)
California, Texas, New York, Florida and Michigan lead the way with the most employment opportunities for dental hygienists.
All this information is available online through an easy-to-understand webpage maintained by the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.