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Dental industry statistics 2026
How many dental practices there are in the US, what they take in, how many dentists work and what they earn, and how many Americans see a dentist each year. Official numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, BLS and CDC, each with its source and year.
Updated October 27, 2026 · NAICS 621210 (Offices of Dentists) · SOC 29-1020 (Dentists)
Key numbers
- $160.32 billion
revenue of dental offices with paid employees.
- 135,665
dental office locations with paid employees.
- 161,400
jobs as dentists.
- $176,110
median annual pay for dentists.
- 66.7%
of adults had a dental exam or cleaning in the past year.
Dental practices in numbers
The Census Bureau counts dental practices as offices of dentists. Most practices are small, with fewer than ten people on staff, and the number of locations barely changed from 2022 to 2023.
- 135,665
dental office locations with paid employees, compared with 136,140 in 2022.
- 1,028,889
people worked at dental offices in mid-March, compared with 1,031,957 a year earlier.
- $62.47 billion
in annual payroll at dental offices.
- 99,218
of the 135,665 locations (73.1%) had fewer than 10 employees.
- $160.32 billion
revenue of dental offices with paid employees, run by 121,011 firms with 136,650 locations.
- 54,452
dental offices without paid employees, with $4.69 billion in receipts.
Dentist jobs and pay
Most dentists work in dental offices, and many own their practice. General dentists make up the large majority; specialists such as orthodontists and oral surgeons are a small share.
- 161,400
jobs as dentists, 141,900 of them general dentists, 7,100 orthodontists and 5,600 oral and maxillofacial surgeons.
- $176,110
median annual pay ($84.67 per hour). The lowest 10% earned less than $89,100, the highest 10% more than $337,210.
- 78%
of dentists work in offices of dentists; 12% are self-employed, 2% work in government, 2% in outpatient care centers and 2% in offices of physicians.
- Offices of dentists78%
- Self-employed12%
- Government2%
- Outpatient care centers2%
- Offices of physicians2%
- $60,718
payroll per employee at dental offices, across all staff.
How many Americans see a dentist
Most adults and most children see a dentist at least once a year, but a large share still has untreated tooth decay.
- 66.7%
of adults age 18 and older had a dental exam or cleaning in the past year.
- 86.9%
of children ages 2 to 17 had a dental visit in the past year.
- 25.9%
of adults ages 20 to 44 had untreated tooth decay, and 25.3% of adults ages 45 to 64.
- 13.2%
of adults age 65 and older had lost all their teeth.
These are survey estimates from national health surveys run by the CDC.
Job outlook for dentists
BLS expects dentist jobs to grow faster than the average for all occupations over the next decade.
- 6%
projected growth from 2025 to 2035, from 161,400 to 170,400 jobs (+9,000), faster than the average for all occupations.
- 4,800
openings for dentists projected each year, on average, over the decade.
How customers find a local business
These numbers come from consumer surveys, not from official statistics. They describe local customers in general, including patients looking for a dentist, and are labeled as surveys.
- 97%
of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
- 41%
of consumers “always” read reviews when browsing for businesses.
- 71%
is Google’s share as a review source, down from 83% in 2025.
- 45%
use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% the year before.
- 47%
won’t use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or more.
- 89%
expect business owners to respond to reviews; 74% only care about reviews written in the last three months.
- 54%
are most likely to visit a business’s website after reading positive reviews.
- 76%
of people who searched on a smartphone for something nearby visited a business within a day, and 28% of those searches led to a purchase.
The Google numbers are from 2016, so read them as a direction, not as today’s share.
How to cite this page
You are welcome to use these numbers in articles, reports and presentations. Please name the original agency, and link to this page as the place you found them.
StrideRank. “Dental Industry Statistics 2026: Practices, Pay & Patients.” Updated October 27, 2026. https://striderank.com/statistics/dental-industry<a href="https://striderank.com/statistics/dental-industry">Dental industry statistics 2026</a> (StrideRank)Click a box to select it, then copy.
Sources and method
All sources accessed October 27, 2026. Each number above links to its source by number.
How we built this page
- Only official or primary sources: federal agencies and the original publisher of a survey.
- Numbers StrideRank worked out from a source, such as shares, changes and pay per employee, are labeled “StrideRank calculation”.
- Survey results are labeled as surveys, with the publisher and year.
Left out on purpose
- Market-size figures from paid research firms and trade groups, because their methods cannot be checked.
- Dental spending from insurance surveys, because they count only insured patients.
- Official data
U.S. Census Bureau2022 Economic Census, Health Care and Social Assistance: Selected Statistics for the U.S. (EC2262BASIC)
Revenue and firms for employer establishments. Table also on data.census.gov as ECNBASIC2022.EC2262BASIC.
www2.census.gov(opens in a new tab) - Official data
U.S. Census BureauCounty Business Patterns 2023 (U.S. file, establishments with paid employees)
Employment as of mid-March; establishments with paid employees only.
census.gov(opens in a new tab) - Official data
U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOccupational Outlook Handbook: Dentists
SOC 29-1020, general dentists and specialists. Pay data from OEWS, May 2025; projections 2025–35.
bls.gov(opens in a new tab) - Official data
CDC, National Center for Health StatisticsFastStats: Oral and Dental Health
Adult dental visits from the early release of the 2025 National Health Interview Survey; tooth loss from NHANES 2017–March 2020.
cdc.gov(opens in a new tab) - Official data
U.S. Census BureauCounty Business Patterns 2022 (U.S. file)
www2.census.gov(opens in a new tab) - Official data
U.S. Census BureauNonemployer Statistics 2023 (businesses without paid employees)
census.gov(opens in a new tab) - Survey
BrightLocalLocal Consumer Review Survey 2026 (published February 11, 2026)
Industry survey: representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers via SurveyMonkey.
brightlocal.com(opens in a new tab) - Survey
Google / Think with GoogleHow Mobile Search Connects Consumers to Stores (Purchased Digital Diary, May 2016)
Survey of 1,000 smartphone users, of them 634 local searchers. Older data, dated 2016.
thinkwithgoogle.com(opens in a new tab)
Common questions
How many dental practices are there in the US?
In 2023 there were 135,665 dental office locations with paid employees (County Business Patterns, NAICS 621210), plus 54,452 dental offices without employees. 73.1% of the locations with employees had fewer than 10 employees.
How big is the dental industry?
Dental offices with paid employees had $160.32 billion in revenue in 2022, according to the 2022 Economic Census. They employed 1,028,889 people in 2023.
How much do dentists make?
The median annual pay for dentists was $176,110 in May 2025, according to BLS. The highest 10% earned more than $337,210.
What percentage of adults go to the dentist?
In 2025, 66.7% of adults age 18 and older had a dental exam or cleaning in the past year, according to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey.
Can I use these statistics?
Yes. Every number links to its original source, so you can check it and cite the agency directly. If this page helped you, a link back to it as the place you found the numbers is appreciated.
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