Dental Hygiene/Hygienist Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Dental Hygiene/Hygienist maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 2,454 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median in-state published tuition is about $4,820.
Key Statistics
Dental Hygiene/Hygienist: what the data shows
Common questions about dental hygiene/hygienist degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a dental hygiene/hygienist degree?
A Dental Hygiene/Hygienist program is classified under NCES CIP 51.0602 in the Dental Support Services and Allied Professions field family (51.06).
A program that prepares individuals to clean teeth and apply preventive materials, provide oral health education and treatment counseling to patients, identify oral pathologies and injuries, and manage dental hygiene practices. Includes instruction in dental anatomy, microbiology, and pathology; dental hygiene theory and techniques; cleaning equipment operation and maintenance; dental materials; radiology; patient education and counseling; office management; supervised clinical training; and professional standards
IPEDS counted 2,454 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of dental hygiene/hygienist degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 51.06 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Dental Assisting/Assistant (CIP 51.0601)
- Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician (CIP 51.0603)
How long does it take to get a dental hygiene/hygienist degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.0602 in our file:
- 5,949 Associate (69.8% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 2,454 Bachelor's (28.8% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 104 Master's (1.2% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 11 Doctorate (0.1% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in dental hygiene/hygienist?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a dental hygiene/hygienist degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Dental Hygiene/Hygienist to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a dental hygiene/hygienist degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Dental Support Services and Allied Professions bachelor's program family: median debt $28,290, median earnings $68,061 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.47.
About 0.0% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $4,820 and median net price is $11,656.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$4,820 Median In-State Public
$16,522 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors are, on average, $4,820 for in-state public colleges, and $16,522 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
2,454 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 3 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 4 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 5 | Miami Dade College | FL | 46,182 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Dental Hygiene/Hygienist programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 2 | San Diego Mesa College | CA | $1,146 |
| 3 | San Diego Mesa College | CA | $1,146 |
| 4 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,148 |
| 5 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,148 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of San Mateo | CA | $536 |
| 2 | College of San Mateo | CA | $536 |
| 3 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | GA | $614 |
| 4 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | GA | $614 |
| 5 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,115 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist programs.
Graduation Rates
51.95% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
51.40% Average Graduation Rate
365 Institutions Reporting
36.12% - 65.48% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist is in CA (256 completions). That state represents about 10.4% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is WY (0.57% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 256 | 10.4% | 0.06% |
| TX | 163 | 6.6% | 0.06% |
| WA | 160 | 6.5% | 0.23% |
| MN | 129 | 5.3% | 0.15% |
| UT | 124 | 5.0% | 0.12% |
| IN | 105 | 4.3% | 0.10% |
| TN | 91 | 3.7% | 0.12% |
| OR | 89 | 3.6% | 0.20% |
| MA | 77 | 3.1% | 0.06% |
| GA | 76 | 3.1% | 0.07% |
| MI | 71 | 2.9% | 0.06% |
| LA | 63 | 2.6% | 0.13% |
| NJ | 62 | 2.5% | 0.07% |
| CT | 59 | 2.4% | 0.12% |
| KY | 59 | 2.4% | 0.11% |
| OH | 58 | 2.4% | 0.04% |
| VA | 57 | 2.3% | 0.05% |
| KS | 56 | 2.3% | 0.15% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 51.06 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Dental Assisting/Assistant CIP 51.0601
- Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician CIP 51.0603
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.0602 in the survey year used in our extract (8,518 total across levels below).
- 5,949 Associate (69.8% of IPEDS total)
- 2,454 Bachelor's (28.8% of IPEDS total)
- 104 Master's (1.2% of IPEDS total)
- 11 Doctorate (0.1% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Dental Hygiene/Hygienist graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Dental Support Services and Allied Professions CIP family (7 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Dental Hygiene/Hygienist graduate.
- $28,290 median federal loan debt among completers
- $68,061 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.47 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 0.0% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Dental Hygiene/Hygienist graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist.
Age distribution for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
2,454 Total Degrees Awarded
133 Male (5.42%)
2,321 Female (94.58%)
Gender distribution of Dental Hygiene/Hygienist degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1,435 White (58.48%)
455 Hispanic or Latino (18.54%)
232 Asian (9.45%)
139 Black or African American (5.66%)
82 Two or More Races (3.34%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Dental Hygiene/Hygienist degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Dental Hygiene/Hygienist field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Dental Hygiene/Hygienist majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to clean teeth and apply preventive materials, provide oral health education and treatment counseling to patients, identify oral pathologies and injuries, and manage dental hygiene practices. Includes instruction in dental anatomy, microbiology, and pathology; dental hygiene theory and techniques; cleaning equipment operation and maintenance; dental materials; radiology; patient education and counseling; office management; supervised clinical training; and professional standards
In 2023, 2,454 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Dental Hygiene/Hygienist.
CIP Code
51.0602 - Dental Hygiene/Hygienist
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $28,290 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $68,061, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.47. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Dental Hygiene/Hygienist graduate.
Women earned 94.1% of 8,802 Dental Hygiene/Hygienist completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $4,820 in-state at public colleges and $16,522 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.