Dental assistants job market in North Carolina

Name: Dental assistants in North Carolina: occupation-weighted industry context
Creator: JobMarketHealth

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

North Carolina industry employment changed 1.8 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Dental assistants in North Carolina.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitation Evidence record

Occupation pay

What Dental assistants earn in North Carolina

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$50,380North Carolina

Middle 50% of published wages: $47,680 – $57,720
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 Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.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 North Carolina

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Dental assistants, compared with the North Carolina median of $50,380.

North Carolina median$50,380

Raleigh-Cary, NC$58,750+16.6% vs. state

Middle 50%$50,580 – $60,680Published employment1,850

Asheville, NC$56,680+12.5% vs. state

Middle 50%$48,630 – $59,850Published employment560

Durham-Chapel Hill, NC$51,670+2.6% vs. state

Middle 50%$49,390 – $59,180Published employment640

Wilmington, NC$51,110+1.4% vs. state

Middle 50%$47,120 – $57,690Published employment600

Burlington, NC$50,140−0.5% vs. state

Middle 50%$47,340 – $56,310Published employment150

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC$50,060−0.6% vs. state

Middle 50%$48,110 – $57,740Published employment3,540

View 9 more published metro areas

Winston-Salem, NC$50,060−0.6% vs. state

Middle 50%$48,370 – $55,250Published employment480

Greensboro-High Point, NC$49,800−1.2% vs. state

Middle 50%$46,030 – $55,110Published employment800

Fayetteville, NC$49,520−1.7% vs. state

Middle 50%$46,320 – $54,750Published employment460

Greenville, NC$49,420−1.9% vs. state

Middle 50%$40,090 – $53,930Published employment230

Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC$48,720−3.3% vs. state

Middle 50%$44,550 – $54,240Published employment320

Rocky Mount, NC$48,490−3.8% vs. state

Middle 50%$37,020 – $50,610Published employment80

Goldsboro, NC$48,210−4.3% vs. state

Middle 50%$44,910 – $51,400Published employment120

Jacksonville, NC$47,970−4.8% vs. state

Middle 50%$46,170 – $50,230Published employment170

Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC$46,670−7.4% vs. state

Middle 50%$39,020 – $54,980Published employment1,860

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the North Carolina 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 North Carolina’s weighted industry mix.

+3.9%Industry employmentNorth Carolina industry employmentU.S. +2.1%vs. +2.1% U.S.

+8.8%Establishments in weighted industriesNorth Carolina establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +6.9%vs. +6.9% U.S.

+2.7%Avg. weekly industry wageNorth Carolina avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +2.4% · not occupation payvs. +2.4% U.S. · not occupation pay

+1.8 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 42,768 represented establishments, 97.22% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for dental assistants in North Carolina

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

The OEWS May 2025 comparison for North Carolina shows a pay premium alongside a smaller employment estimate. Raleigh-Cary, NC's median annual pay of $58,750 is 17.4% higher than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC's $50,060, while their employment estimates are 1,850 and 3,540, respectively. Among 14 metros with both usable measures, the former has the highest median pay and the latter the largest employment estimate. These counts describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution

In January to March 2026, Private education and health services's year-over-year employment change of +4.1% accounts for 99.7% of the positive weighted contributions across the leading industry groups examined in North Carolina. This proxy weights each industry group by its share of the occupation's national industry mix; the examined groups cover 99.9% of the mix. The contribution share is not a count of occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

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

North Carolina 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.

Latest published values

North Carolina · 2026 Q1+3.9%
U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+2.1%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value

Quarterly North Carolina industry employment changes and coverage
Quarter	North Carolina	Coverage
2024 Q2	+4.7%	100%
2024 Q3	+4.1%	100%
2024 Q4	+3.6%	100%
2025 Q1	+3.3%	100%
2025 Q2	+3.3%	100%
2025 Q3	+3.5%	100%
2025 Q4	+3.2%	100%
2026 Q1	+3.9%	100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows North Carolina’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 North Carolina industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the North Carolina Dental assistants context
Industry group	Occupation mix	Employment change	Establishments	Avg. weekly industry wage
Private education and health services	97.2%	+4.1%	42,768	$1,288
Professional and business services	1.1%	+1.1%	90,970	$2,041
Federal	0.9%	-7.7%	1,699	$2,002
State and local	0.6%	-1.1%	6,790	$1,254
Manufacturing	0.0%	-1.1%	11,486	$1,632
Financial activities	0.0%	+0.7%	37,749	$3,444

Which industries are growing?

3 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive North Carolina employment change are listed.

Private education and health services+4.1%
Professional and business services+1.1%
Financial activities+0.7%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current North Carolina context

Current North Carolina Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in North Carolina. They are not Dental assistants demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · North Carolina

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

112.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026

+12.3%Versus the February 2020 baseline

-0.8%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

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

Indeed postings index
Observation date	Index (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026	109.12
Jul 31, 2026	108.76
Aug 7, 2026	108.45
Aug 14, 2026	108.49
Aug 21, 2026	108.83
Aug 28, 2026	109.76
Sep 4, 2026	110.96
Sep 11, 2026	111.82
Sep 18, 2026	112.35
Sep 25, 2026	113.18
Oct 2, 2026	113.24
Oct 9, 2026	113.36
Oct 16, 2026	112.22
Oct 23, 2026	112.30

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.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide WARN notices

North Carolina statewide

15 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: This is the number of WARN notices with notice dates in this period in North Carolina’s official statewide list. It is a statewide count only, and does not identify any employer.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. WARN covers qualifying large layoffs and closures under applicable law, not all layoffs, and thresholds vary by state.

North Carolina Department of Commerce About WARN data

Source last checked 2026-11-01 18:57 UTC

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Dental assistants in North Carolina FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Dental assistants in North Carolina?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the North Carolina industries weighted to Dental assistants changed +3.9% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +2.1% nationwide.

Are wages for Dental assistants rising in North Carolina?

QCEW does not publish pay for Dental assistants in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +2.7% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this North Carolina industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% 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 100% · 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: North Carolina
QCEW release label: QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period: 2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year: +3.9%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year: +2.1%
Difference from U.S. benchmark: +1.8 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: +8.8%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year: +2.7%State data coverage 100%
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/north-carolina#evidence-record
Derived by: JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Methodology BLS QCEW How to cite QCEW 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.