Dental Assistant Salary in Illinois: What Dental Assistants Earn in 2026
25th percentile
$40,390
Median (50th)
$48,610
75th percentile
$56,860
National median
$48,070
BLS OEWS (SOC 31-9091), May 2025
What does a dental assistant make in Illinois?
The median dental assistant in Illinois earns $48,610 a year ($23.37 an hour), which is $540 above the national median of $48,070, and more than in nearby Iowa ($48,430) and Kentucky ($47,730) but less than in Indiana ($48,670). The mean is $48,990.
That ranks 20th of the 49 states plus DC where BLS publishes a dental assistant median.
Entry-level vs top earners in Illinois
The middle half of Illinois dental assistants earn $40,390 to $56,860. The lowest-paid tenth earn under $37,360, $230 above the national 10th percentile. The top tenth earn over $59,910, $2,340 below the national 90th percentile.
How far the pay goes in Illinois
The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts Illinois's 2024 price level at 100.0 (U.S. = 100): prices overall run level with the national average, and housing (index 93.9) runs 6.1% below.
Converted to national average prices, the $48,610 median is worth about $48,630 — $560 above the national median of $48,070.
How many dental assistants work in Illinois
BLS counts about 13,740 dental assistant jobs in Illinois, 3.5% of the 387,790 nationwide, or 2.252 per 1,000 jobs in the state. Dental assistants hold a 10% smaller share of local jobs than nationally (location quotient 0.90).
Dental Assistant Salary by City in Illinois
Across the 8 Illinois metro areas where BLS publishes a dental assistant median, pay runs from $45,390 in Springfield to $48,950 in Chicago, a spread of $3,560.
All dental roles by metro: Bloomington · Champaign · Chicago · Kankakee · Peoria · Rockford · Springfield
Who's hiring dental assistants in Illinois now
DentistryHires has 137 open dental assistant listings in Illinois from 62 employers, the most of them in Chicago (22).
118 post hourly pay, from $15 to $33 an hour. These are employers' posted ranges, not survey figures.
Dental Assistant Regulatory Context in Illinois
Dental assistant practice in Illinois is regulated by the Illinois Board of Dentistry.
Scope of practice — what a dental assistant may do, and under what level of supervision — is set by state law and changes over time, so verify current rules with the board before relying on them.
How Illinois Compares
Other dental salaries in Illinois
- Dentist salary in Illinois: median $156,110, $107,500 above the dental assistant median
- Dental Hygienist salary in Illinois: median $96,670, $48,060 above the dental assistant median
- Dental Lab Technician salary in Illinois: median $51,380, $2,770 above the dental assistant median
- Orthodontist salary in Illinois: median $343,100
- Oral Surgeon salary in Illinois: median $70,220
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national estimates, all industries); U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024. Price-adjusted pay divides the median by the price level. Listing counts and posted pay are live DentistryHires listings, refreshed hourly. A dash means BLS did not publish that figure; nothing is estimated.