Dentists, general job market in Oklahoma

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

Median annual pay of $196,740 puts Oklahoma City, OK at the top of the published pay estimates for Oklahoma-associated metros with usable employment figures in OEWS May 2025. Its employment estimate is 290. The largest employment market, Tulsa, OK, has 390 estimated jobs and median pay of $165,280. The comparison covers 2 metros, and the highest-paying metro's median is 19.0% higher than the largest market's. Market size describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.

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

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

Employment concentration provides a different comparison for dentists, general in Oklahoma. In OEWS May 2025, the published location quotient is 0.72, meaning the occupation's share of employment is 0.72 times its national share. The state estimate is 980 jobs, 0.8% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.58 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. This measures existing employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution

The positive weighted contributions in Oklahoma are concentrated in Private education and health services: it accounts for 99.1% across the leading industry groups examined in January to March 2026, with its own employment changing +1.0% year over year. The calculation weights industry groups by their shares of this occupation's national industry mix; the examined groups cover 100.0% of the mix. This describes an employment-growth proxy, not occupation jobs created.