Dental Hygienist Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 3,941 US job postings by 1,015 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for dental hygienists: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 3,941 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for dental hygienists in US job postings is $53.00 an hour (1,455 postings from 269 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $47.00 to $60.00 an hour.
- The skills that most set dental hygienist postings apart are root planing, scaling, prophylaxis.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Dental Hygienist job postings in the US, October 2026
- $53.00/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,455 postings)
- $47.00–$60.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- 3,941
- US job postings from 1,015 employers
- 1 year
- Median experience asked
How much does a dental hygienist make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $53.00 an hour, from 1,455 US job postings by 269 employers that state pay. That is about $109,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,455 US dental hygienist job postings: median $109,000 a year ($53.00 an hour), middle half $94,000 to $125,000.
- Median: $109,000 ($53.00/hr)
- 25th percentile: $94,000
- 75th percentile: $125,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.1% |
| $40K–$50K | 1.2% |
| $50K–$60K | 0.6% |
| $60K–$70K | 1.1% |
| $70K–$80K | 4.2% |
| $80K–$90K | 10.1% |
| $90K–$100K | 16.7% |
| $100K–$110K | 17.9% |
| $110K–$120K | 17.8% |
| $120K–$130K | 9.5% |
| $130K–$140K | 9.6% |
| $140K–$150K | 2.7% |
| $150K–$160K | 6.3% |
| $160K–$170K | 0.5% |
| $180K–$190K | 1.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $53.00 | $47.00–$60.00 | 740 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $109,000 | $94K–$125K | 1,455 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Dental Hygienists (29-1292) at $98,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a dental hygienist?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying dental hygienist jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Hygienist (general) | $52.50/hr | 1,441 | 263 |
Dental hygienist pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | $68.61/hr | $57.50–$74.00 | 124 | 5.2% |
| California | $57.50/hr | $52.50–$62.00 | 104 | 6.6% |
Skills employers ask for in dental hygienist job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 40% |
| Interpersonal skills | 17% |
| Scaling | 10% |
| Compassionate | 9% |
| Attention to detail | 9% |
| Customer service | 8% |
| Root planing | 8% |
| Prophylaxis | 8% |
| Patient education | 6% |
| Hipaa | 6% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set dental hygienists apart
- Root planing600.2× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Scaling161.8× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Prophylaxis490.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Root planning553.4× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Dental prophylaxis484.7× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Patient education41.6× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Compassionate3.2× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Hipaa5.7× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a dental hygienist job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a dental hygienist do?
Employers post these jobs as Registered Dental Hygienist, Hygienist, Part-Time Dental Hygienist, Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), Dental Hygenist and other titles.
The closest official occupation is Dental Hygienists (29-1292.00). Its most important tasks:
- Record and review patient medical histories.
- Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease.
- Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
- Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
- Provide clinical services or health education to improve and maintain the oral health of patients or the general public.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a dental hygienist?
Among 422 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. 1% say 0 years and 51% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 422 US dental hygienist job postings: median 1 year, and 51% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 49% |
| 2 yrs | 27% |
| 3-4 yrs | 14% |
| 5-7 yrs | 9% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 67%, Part-time 33% of the 679 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a dental hygienist: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Dental Hygienist | 749 (73.8%) |
| Registered Dental Hygienist | 196 (19.3%) |
| Hygienist | 53 (5.2%) |
| Part-Time Dental Hygienist | 18 (1.8%) |
| Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH) | 9 (0.9%) |
| Dental Hygenist | 9 (0.9%) |
| Part-time Registered Dental Hygienist | 8 (0.8%) |
| Dental Hygienist (Part-Time) | 6 (0.6%) |
| Part Time Dental Hygienist | 6 (0.6%) |
| Dental Hygienist (RDH) | 5 (0.5%) |
| Licensed Dental Hygienist | 5 (0.5%) |
| PRN Dental Hygienist | 4 (0.4%) |
| Dental Hygienist Part Time | 4 (0.4%) |
| Per Diem Dental Hygienist | 4 (0.4%) |
| Dental Hygiene Assistant | 4 (0.4%) |
| Part Time Hygienist | 4 (0.4%) |
| Future Opening: Dental Hygienist | 3 (0.3%) |
| Pediatric Dental Hygienist | 3 (0.3%) |
| Dentist | 3 (0.3%) |
| Dental Hygienists | 3 (0.3%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Dental hygienist job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hygienist | 203 | 53 | – | – | – |
Dental Hygienist compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Hygienist | $53.00/hr | 1 year | 3,941 | – |
| Dental Assistant | $24.00/hr | 1 year | 8,639 | 19 |
| Physical Therapist Assistant | $34.52/hr | 1 year | 12,964 | 14 |
| Physician Assistant | $150K | 2 years | 2,412 | 11 |
| Occupational Therapy Assistant | $35.00/hr | 1 year | 6,754 | 12 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Dental Assistant | 19 | $24.00/hr |
| Physical Therapist Assistant | 14 | $34.52/hr |
| Physician Assistant | 11 | $150K |
| Occupational Therapy Assistant | 12 | $35.00/hr |
| Nurse Midwife | 10 | – |
| Certified Nursing Assistant | 12 | $21.00/hr |
Applying for dental hygienist jobs?
- Dental hygienist resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find dental hygienist jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a dental hygienist make an hour?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 19 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 17 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.