Dental Assistants in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,252
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$8,408
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,325
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$46,660
Kept after tax
$38,252
Worth in national money
$42,325
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Nebraska pays dental assistants a middle wage of $46,660, 37 of 50 states and about 2.93% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Nebraska, this sits in the middle: 350 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,660 the take-home is $38,252; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,325 would nationally. The average lands at $46,430, below the middle of the range.
- Nebraska's $46,660 median for dental assistants places it 37 of 50 states, about 2.93% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Dental assistants ranks 350 of 488 occupations in Nebraska 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.
- Post-tax income for dental assistants in Nebraska, on $46,660, is $38,252 — equivalent to $42,325 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $46,430 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dental Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,430 |
| This salary | $46,660 |
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 Nebraska | $38,252 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,671 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,501 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $44,893 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,815 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,660 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,810 and the ninetieth is $57,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,252 take-home in Nebraska comes from $46,660. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 350 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nebraska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,325, the adjusted value of that $46,660 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 350 of 488 in the state.
- The Nebraska median of $46,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,810 to $57,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $38,252, from $46,660, assumes a single Nebraska filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 350 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nebraska, so $42,325 — the adjusted value of that $46,660 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 350 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,810 at the bottom tenth to $57,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $42,325.
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 Nebraska adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,252 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,810 to $57,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $42,325 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 $38,252 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.