Dental Hygienists salary in North Carolina

Dental Hygienists in North Carolina earned a median of $89,720 in 2024, about 4.7% below the US median of $94,162. That gap is real but not large. Of all the states where this occupation pays less than the national figure, North Carolina sits near the middle of the pack.

The spread between low and high earners is narrower here than in many professional occupations. The 10th percentile came in at $76,860 and the 90th at $99,570, a difference of roughly $22,700. That compressed range suggests wages in this role do not vary as much by experience or workplace type as they do in fields like software or medicine. A new hygienist and a veteran one earn more similar pay here than you might expect.

North Carolina's cost of living runs about 5% below the national average, which changes the picture somewhat. In purchasing-power terms, that $89,720 median buys roughly as much as $94,400 would in a state at the national baseline. On that basis, the gap with the US median nearly disappears.

Interestingly, the mean annual wage of $87,770 sits below the median of $89,720. That is the opposite of what we see in most professional occupations, where a small group of high earners pulls the average above the midpoint. Here, the bottom of the range pulls the average down slightly, which reinforces how compressed the wage distribution is.

BLS projects employment for Dental Hygienists to grow 7% between 2024 and 2034, a rate they classify as faster than average. North Carolina's 7,030 employed hygienists in 2024 represent a meaningful share of this workforce at the state level.