Dental Hygienist Salary in Texas: What Dental Hygienists Earn in 2026
25th percentile
$85,280
Median (50th)
$99,240
75th percentile
$107,320
National median
$98,100
BLS OEWS (SOC 29-1292), May 2025
What does a dental hygienist make in Texas?
The median dental hygienist in Texas earns $99,240 a year ($47.71 an hour), which is $1,140 above the national median of $98,100, and more than in nearby Oklahoma ($97,580), New Mexico ($95,940) and Arkansas ($86,760). The mean is $96,240.
That ranks 17th of the 49 states plus DC where BLS publishes a dental hygienist median.
Entry-level vs top earners in Texas
The middle half of Texas dental hygienists earn $85,280 to $107,320. The lowest-paid tenth earn under $71,530, $3,350 below the national 10th percentile. The top tenth earn over $117,890, $8,160 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 $99,240 median is worth about $102,250 — $4,150 above the national median of $98,100.
How many dental hygienists work in Texas
BLS counts about 16,380 dental hygienist jobs in Texas, 7.4% of the 222,740 nationwide, or 1.164 per 1,000 jobs in the state. Dental hygienists hold a 19% smaller share of local jobs than nationally (location quotient 0.81).
Dental Hygienist Salary by City in Texas
Across the 23 Texas metro areas where BLS publishes a dental hygienist median, pay runs from $81,920 in Longview to $105,480 in Austin, a spread of $23,560.
All dental roles by metro: Abilene · Amarillo · Brownsville · Corpus Christi · Dallas · El Paso · Houston · Lubbock · McAllen · San Antonio · Tyler · Victoria
Who's hiring dental hygienists in Texas now
DentistryHires has 166 open dental hygienist listings in Texas from 73 employers, the most of them in Austin (12).
113 post hourly pay, from $32 to $70 an hour; 6 post a salary from $50,460 to $180,000 a year. These are employers' posted ranges, not survey figures.
Dental Hygienist Regulatory Context in Texas
Dental hygienist practice in Texas is regulated by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners.
Scope of practice — what a dental hygienist 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, $63,120 above the dental hygienist median
- Dental Assistant salary in Texas: median $45,430, $53,810 below the dental hygienist median
- Dental Lab Technician salary in Texas: median $46,330, $52,910 below the dental hygienist 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.