25 Best States For Dental Hygienists

Lorde has dreams of clean teeth and they’re probably from the best states for dental hygienists.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a strong opinion about the dentist. A large majority of people hate it and would rather do anything else, and some others actually enjoy it. I used to enjoy it when I was a kid until I had to get a cavity filled and they shoved a needle in my mouth. After that, I have a weird relationship with it. Before the needle incident, they used to give you “laughing gas” to put you under so they could perform any dental work, but I guess they stopped doing it. My main qualm, though, isn’t with the needle, it’s with the chatting that happens during any kind of dental work. I can’t form a sentence with a sharp, metal stick in my mouth and I don’t really want to try. I used to just take a parent with me so they could talk to the dentist and I could avoid the uncomfortable interaction.

There’s a difference between some types of dentists, but today we’re focusing primarily on dental hygienists. They’re the ones performing your routine dental cleaning and not fitting you for braces or any of that jazz. They clean the teeth, make sure you don’t have gingivitis, and clean off all the plaque so you can start new and fresh with clean teeth. They’re also the ones who tell you all about the importance of flossing so you can do it for one day and then stop when you realize it’s making your gums bleed and you’re too lazy to do it every morning. Dental assistants will give you the same speech, and you can check out where it’s best for them to live on our list of the best states for dental assistants.

In order to create this list of best states for dental hygienists, we took a look at two pieces of data: the average yearly salary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the cost of living from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. The reason we used both of those pieces of information is because it’s important to take the cost of living into consideration to see how far your salary will actually stretch in different places. This is why we took the average of those two criteria to rank the states. The ones at the top are those that have the lowest cost of living and the highest salary, as that’s the ideal scenario.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best states for dental hygienists.

 

25. Minnesota

Cost of Living Index: 101.1

Annual Mean Salary: $71,330

Hourly Wage: $34.29

Number of Employees: 4,800

 

24. Delaware

Cost of Living Index: 102.6

Annual Mean Salary: $72,480

Hourly Wage: $34.86

Number of Employees: 640

 

23. Georgia

Cost of Living Index: 91.4

Annual Mean Salary: $65,300

Hourly Wage: $31.39

Number of Employees: 5,980

 

22. North Carolina

Cost of Living Index: 94.2

Annual Mean Salary: $67,700

Hourly Wage: $32.54

Number of Employees: 6,200

 

21. Kansas

Cost of Living Index: 90.4

Annual Mean Salary: $65,730

Hourly Wage: $31.60

Number of Employees: 2,380

 

20. Ohio

Cost of Living Index: 93.0

Annual Mean Salary: $67,670

Hourly Wage: $32.53

Number of Employees: 7,870

 

19. Tennessee

Cost of Living Index: 89.8

Annual Mean Salary: $65,390

Hourly Wage: $31.43

Number of Employees: 4,000

 

18. Nebraska

Cost of Living Index: 91.3

Annual Mean Salary: $66,490

Hourly Wage: $31.96

Number of Employees: 1,240

 

17. Utah

Cost of Living Index: 92.8

Annual Mean Salary: $68,570

Hourly Wage: $32.96

Number of Employees: 2,650

 

16. Arkansas

Cost of Living Index: 88.5

Annual Mean Salary: $65,450

Hourly Wage: $31.46

Number of Employees: 1,430

 

15. Wyoming

Cost of Living Index: 91.7

Annual Mean Salary: $68,810

Hourly Wage: $33.08

Number of Employees: 490

 

14. Iowa

Cost of Living Index: 91.7

Annual Mean Salary: $68,970

Hourly Wage: $33.15

Number of Employees: 2,470

 

13. Missouri

Cost of Living Index: 90.8

Annual Mean Salary: $68,990

Hourly Wage: $33.16

Number of Employees: 3,110

We’re halfway through our list of best states for dental hygienists, and if you are interested in the other half, click next.

 

12. Indiana

Cost of Living Index: 87.9

Annual Mean Salary: $67,230

Hourly Wage: $32.32

Number of Employees: 5,010

 

11. Illinois

Cost of Living Index: 95.5

Annual Mean Salary: $73,290

Hourly Wage: $35.23

Number of Employees: 8,250

 

10. Alaska

Cost of Living Index: 131.6

Annual Mean Salary: $102,890

Hourly Wage: $49.46

Number of Employees: 480

 

9. Colorado

Cost of Living Index: 102.1

Annual Mean Salary: $80,150

Hourly Wage: $38.53

Number of Employees: 4,580

 

8. Oklahoma

Cost of Living Index: 88.6

Annual Mean Salary: $70,390

Hourly Wage: $33.84

Number of Employees: 2,020

 

7. Texas

Cost of Living Index: 90.7

Annual Mean Salary: $72,980

Hourly Wage: $35.08

Number of Employees: 12,500

 

6. Idaho

Cost of Living Index: 89.6

Annual Mean Salary: $73,630

Hourly Wage: $35.39

Number of Employees: 1,510

 

5. Virginia

Cost of Living Index: 100.2

Annual Mean Salary: $82,690

Hourly Wage: $39.75

Number of Employees: 4,970

 

4. Nevada

Cost of Living Index: 104.5

Annual Mean Salary: $86,550

Hourly Wage: $41.61

Number of Employees: 1,920

 

3. Washington

Cost of Living Index: 107.1

Annual Mean Salary: $90,150

Hourly Wage: $43.34

Number of Employees: 5,800

 

2. Arizona

Cost of Living Index: 98.1

Annual Mean Salary: $84,130

Hourly Wage: $40.44

Number of Employees: 2,410

 

1. New Mexico

Cost of Living Index: 95.7

Annual Mean Salary: $91,080

Hourly Wage: $43.78

Number of Employees: 1,190

That concludes our list of the best states for dental hygienists. If you’re dedicated to keeping teeth so fresh and so clean, maybe one of these states on the list will become your new home to live and work.