Compared with the local labor market
Dental Assistant pay vs. the United States
Across all employers in the United States, the median wage for Dental Assistants — about 387,790 people — is $48,070. Department of Veterans Affairs pays a median base salary of $57,191 for this role, 19% above that figure — about the 73rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Veterans Affairs sits in the local pay range
$37,130
$44,340
$48,070
$58,090
$62,250
Department of Veterans Affairs median · $57,191
The bar is the range of annual wages for Dental Assistants across every employer in the United States, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Veterans Affairs’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
Computed over the 1,918 of 1,922 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Veterans Affairs is $57,191, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
This role across U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)
Dental Assistant is held in 4 U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense) departments. In Department of Veterans Affairs, the median of $57,191 ranks #2 of 4.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Dental Assistant role in other U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)departments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
Dental Assistant beyond U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)
This role is reported in 12 jurisdictions. In U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense), the median of $55,883 ranks #5 of 12. See Dental Assistant across all of U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense) →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Dental Assistant roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.