Dental Assistant
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Dental Assistant occupation series (code 0681).
The verdict
Dental Assistant is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 3,408 employees (0.2% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. At an average salary of $61,530 it pays below the federal average, and headcount edged up from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- +0.4%
- Pay change
- -0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 10.2 yrs
- Rank in family
- #18 of 45
FedScope read on Dental Assistant (dense series)
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved up versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. As for pay, the latest move was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change.
Dental Assistant sits inside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family (code 06), which contains 45 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Dental Assistant postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. The Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family totals 339,162 employees, and Dental Assistant accounts for 1.0% of them. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (11th percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Dental Assistant pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$61,530
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-47.6%
Where Dental Assistant ranks on lean federal pay
Dental Assistant earns more on average than 16% of federal occupation series (86 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Dental Assistant sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Dental Assistant.
Related Occupations in Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 106,218 | $132,267 | 10.2 yrs |
| Medical Support Assistance | 39,856 | $58,279 | 8.2 yrs |
| Medical Officer | 34,687 | $301,569 | 11.6 yrs |
| General Health Science | 17,434 | $133,765 | 11.9 yrs |
| Practical Nurse | 16,755 | $75,898 | 10.4 yrs |
| Pharmacist | 14,529 | $167,390 | 11.1 yrs |
| Nursing Assistant | 14,498 | $55,851 | 7.8 yrs |
| Health Aid and Technician | 12,490 | $61,276 | 10.8 yrs |
| Health System Specialist | 7,966 | $110,534 | 15.9 yrs |
| Pharmacy Technician | 7,658 | $70,794 | 9.5 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Dental Assistant outside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (3,408 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($61,530 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Dental Assistant pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Dental Assistant postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.