Dental Assistant Salary in Texas: What Dental Assistants Earn in 2026
25th percentile
$37,360
Median (50th)
$45,430
75th percentile
$48,280
National median
$48,070
BLS OEWS (SOC 31-9091), May 2025
What does a dental assistant make in Texas?
The median dental assistant in Texas earns $45,430 a year ($21.84 an hour), which is $2,640 below the national median of $48,070, and more than in nearby New Mexico ($44,400) and Louisiana ($44,090) but less than in Oklahoma ($45,740). The mean is $44,830.
That ranks 41st of the 49 states plus DC where BLS publishes a dental assistant median.
Entry-level vs top earners in Texas
The middle half of Texas dental assistants earn $37,360 to $48,280. The lowest-paid tenth earn under $35,400, $1,730 below the national 10th percentile. The top tenth earn over $57,640, $4,610 below the national 90th percentile.
How far the pay goes in Texas
The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts Texas's 2024 price level at 97.1 (U.S. = 100): prices overall run 2.9% below the national average, and housing (index 96.5) runs 3.5% below.
Converted to national average prices, the $45,430 median is worth about $46,810 — $1,260 below the national median of $48,070.
How many dental assistants work in Texas
BLS counts about 33,230 dental assistant jobs in Texas, 8.6% of the 387,790 nationwide, or 2.362 per 1,000 jobs in the state. Dental assistants hold a 5% smaller share of local jobs than nationally (location quotient 0.95).
Dental Assistant Salary by City in Texas
Across the 25 Texas metro areas where BLS publishes a dental assistant median, pay runs from $37,230 in McAllen to $48,500 in Austin, a spread of $11,270.
All dental roles by metro: Abilene · Amarillo · Brownsville · Corpus Christi · Dallas · El Paso · Houston · Lubbock · McAllen · San Antonio · Tyler · Victoria
Who's hiring dental assistants in Texas now
DentistryHires has 437 open dental assistant listings in Texas from 130 employers, the most of them in San Antonio (39).
305 post hourly pay, from $11 to $45 an hour. These are employers' posted ranges, not survey figures.
Dental Assistant Regulatory Context in Texas
Dental assistant practice in Texas is regulated by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners.
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 Texas Compares
Other dental salaries in Texas
- Dentist salary in Texas: median $162,360, $116,930 above the dental assistant median
- Dental Hygienist salary in Texas: median $99,240, $53,810 above the dental assistant median
- Dental Lab Technician salary in Texas: median $46,330, $900 above the dental assistant median
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.