Dental Assistants in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,712
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$12,358
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,138
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$60,070
Kept after tax
$47,712
Worth in national money
$49,138
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for dental assistants. The middle earner takes $60,070, which ranks 3 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 24.96% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Maine, this sits in the middle: 241 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $60,070, tax leaves $47,712, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $49,138 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $57,140.
- Maine ranks 3 of 50 states publishing a median for dental assistants, at $60,070 — about 24.96% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Dental assistants ranks 241 of 484 occupations in Maine by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for dental assistants — median $60,070 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $47,712 retained, $49,138 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $57,140 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Dental Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,660 |
| This salary | $60,070 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Maine | $47,712 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,446 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,775 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $56,667 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,356 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of dental assistants in Maine earn under $60,070 and half over. The published range runs $47,290 at the tenth percentile to $62,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $47,712, from $60,070, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 241 of 484 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,138 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 241.
- Figures are distribution medians for dental assistants in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,290 to $62,660; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,712 from $60,070. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 241 of 484 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,138, worked from $60,070, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 241 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $57,140 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,290 and the top tenth $62,660, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $49,138 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,712 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Maine is $57,140. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,290 to $62,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $49,138 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,712 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.