Dental Laboratory Technician salary in San Diego

At a verified median of $50,910, dental laboratory technicians in San Diego earn slightly above the U.S. median of $49,610 — a gap of about 3%. Among the 377 metro areas where the BLS reports dental laboratory technician pay, San Diego ranks 109th.

Compared with California as a whole (median $47,410), San Diego pays dental laboratory technicians about 7% more — modestly above the statewide figure. 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 laboratory technicians in this metro area earn around $37,010, while the top tenth earn $76,940 or more — a spread of about $39,930. 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 250 dental laboratory technicians employed in San Diego — a measure of how deep the local job market is for the role.

Within San Diego, a dental laboratory technician earns about 3.1× less than a general dentist, about 2.4× less than a dental hygienist and about 1.1× less than a dental assistant ($158,160, $123,790, $58,120 respectively) — a quick way to see where the role sits in the local dental pay ladder.