California / Dentist
Role across California
Dentist
Diagnose and treat patients, direct clinical care, and supervise other medical staff.
7 people hold the Dentist role across 1 department in California, with a median total compensation of $228,238. Among 11 jurisdictions where this role is reported, California ranks #2 by median pay.
- Employees
- 7
- Median pay
- $228,238
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #2 of 11
Compared with the local labor market
Dentist pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Dentists, General — about 16,770 people — is $165,950. California pays a median base salary of $245,916 for this role, 48% above that figure — about the 83rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where California sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Dentists, General across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows California’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Dentists, General — about 124,390 people — is $170,950. California’s median base salary is 44% above that national figure, about the 78th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the California range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 5 of 7 people in this role paid at least $25,000in 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 California is $228,238, 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 jurisdictions
Dentist pay in other jurisdictions
Where Dentists are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Dentistroles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.