Dental assistants job market in Arkansas
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Arkansas industry employment changed 0.8 percentage points below the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Dental assistants in Arkansas.
Occupation pay
What Dental assistants earn in Arkansas
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$42,830Arkansas- Middle 50% of published wages
- $36,790 – $46,730
- U.S. median annual wage
- $48,070
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Arkansas
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Dental assistants, compared with the Arkansas median of $42,830.
Memphis, TN-MS-AR$48,200+12.5% vs. state
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR$47,050+9.9% vs. state
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR$45,140+5.4% vs. state
Texarkana, TX-AR$38,180−10.9% vs. state
Hot Springs, AR$37,440−12.6% vs. state
Fort Smith, AR-OK$37,160−13.2% vs. state
View 1 more published metro area
Jonesboro, AR$36,720−14.3% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Arkansas median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Arkansas’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 14,805 represented establishments, 97.22% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for dental assistants in Arkansas
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution
The largest positive weighted contribution to the industry employment-growth proxy in Arkansas comes from Private education and health services in January to March 2026. Its share of positive weighted contributions is 99.8%, and its own year-over-year employment change is +1.3%. Each leading industry group is weighted using this occupation's national industry mix, of which the groups examined cover 99.9%. This is a proxy comparison, not a count of occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is below the U.S. median
The OEWS May 2025 estimates put median annual pay for dental assistants at $42,830 in Arkansas and $48,070 nationally. The state median is 10.9% lower. Living costs are not included in this comparison, and individual workers' pay varies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSPay differs widely between metro areas
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR's median wage of $47,050 is 28.1% higher than Jonesboro, AR's $36,720 in OEWS May 2025. Those are the high and low published estimates among 5 metro areas associated with Arkansas on the same wage basis. The comparison does not account for living costs or job availability.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSMetro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.
Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Arkansas industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Arkansas · 2026 Q1+1.2%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+2.1%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Arkansas | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +3.1% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +3.0% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +3.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +2.3% | 99.97% |
| 2025 Q2 | +2.5% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +2.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +1.9% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +1.2% | 99.97% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Arkansas’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- +2.1%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Dental assistants Work
The occupation mix determines which Arkansas industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private education and health services | 97.2% | +1.3% | 14,805 | $1,064 |
| Professional and business services | 1.1% | +0.3% | 24,615 | $2,553 |
| Federal | 0.9% | -6.7% | 1,186 | $1,945 |
| State and local | 0.6% | -0.4% | 3,129 | $1,032 |
| Manufacturing | 0.0% | -2.3% | 2,705 | $1,261 |
| Financial activities | 0.0% | +0.8% | 10,756 | $1,882 |
Which industries are growing?
3 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Arkansas employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+1.3%
- Financial activities+0.8%
- Professional and business services+0.3%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Arkansas context
Current Arkansas Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Arkansas. They are not Dental assistants demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Arkansas
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 112.03 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 112.24 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 112.17 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 111.85 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 111.51 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 111.47 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 112.75 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 114.12 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 114.51 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 114.35 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 115.49 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 116.55 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 116.68 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 116.43 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Dental assistants in Arkansas FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Dental assistants in Arkansas?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Arkansas industries weighted to Dental assistants changed +1.2% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +2.1% nationwide.
Are wages for Dental assistants rising in Arkansas?
QCEW does not publish pay for Dental assistants in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +1.5% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Arkansas industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 99.97% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Dental assistants openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 99.97% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Dental assistants
- SOC code
- 31-9091
- State
- Arkansas
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +1.2%State data coverage 99.97%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- +2.1%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- -0.8 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +0.6%State data coverage 99.97%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +1.5%State data coverage 99.97%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/dental-assistants/arkansas#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.