Dental Assistants in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,873
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$8,647
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,756
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$47,520
Kept after tax
$38,873
Worth in national money
$41,756
State rank
30
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays dental assistants around $47,520 at the midpoint, 30 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 358 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,520 the take-home is $38,873; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,756 would nationally. The average comes to $49,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For dental assistants the Wisconsin median is $47,520, ranking 30 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Dental assistants ranks 358 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin, on $47,520, is $38,873 — equivalent to $41,756 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 $49,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dental Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,840 |
| This salary | $47,520 |
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 Wisconsin | $38,873 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,362 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$220 |
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 | $45,667 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$266 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,520 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,500 and the ninetieth is $58,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,873 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $47,520. 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 358 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,756 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 358.
- The Wisconsin median of $47,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,500 to $58,840. 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 $38,873, from $47,520, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 358 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,756, worked from $47,520, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 358 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $39,500 at the bottom tenth to $58,840 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $41,756 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Wisconsin's own levy, $38,873 remains.
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.
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 Wisconsin is $49,150. 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 ($39,500 to $58,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $41,756 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 $38,873 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.