Dental Assistant salary in Wilmington

At a verified median of $51,110, dental assistants in Wilmington earn modestly above the U.S. median of $48,070 — a gap of about 6%. Among the 377 metro areas where the BLS reports dental assistant pay, Wilmington ranks 53rd.

Compared with North Carolina as a whole (median $50,380), Wilmington tracks the statewide median closely. Local demand, cost of labor, and the mix of practices drive most of that difference.

The pay range is wide: the lowest-paid tenth of dental assistants in this metro area earn around $37,980, while the top tenth earn $59,530 or more — a spread of about $21,550. That gap reflects experience, practice setting, and local demand more than any single factor, so an individual offer can sit well above or below the midpoint.

The BLS counts roughly 600 dental assistants employed in Wilmington — a measure of how deep the local job market is for the role.

Within Wilmington, a dental assistant earns about 3.6× less than a general dentist and about 1.9× less than a dental hygienist ($185,720, $96,700 respectively) — a quick way to see where the role sits in the local dental pay ladder.