Are you being compensated fairly in comparison to other dental hygienists?

Let’s face it. We all want to earn as much as we can when we’re working … and dental hygienists are no exception. So where in the United States are dental hygienists most interested in comparing salaries and getting more information about their salaries? We went straight to Google to find out.

Some background

Google has become such a big part of our culture that it’s now a verb in many of our vocabularies. Hey, I know I’ve often said, “Hang on, let me Google that” as I pull out my iPhone. Dental hygienists are no different.

For every search term out there, Google using a ranking system of 0-100 to see exactly how “hot” a search term is. According to Google, “The numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don't represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100. Each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. When we don't have enough data, 0 is shown.”

Looking specifically at the search term “dental hygienist salary”

As a historical background, we examined data dating back to January of 2004. The biggest month for searches was January of 2010 when the term “dental hygienist salary” reached 100 (jumping up from a 66 in December 2009). The search term never went lower than 76 in the first five months of 2010 as the United States economy struggled (and so did dental hygienists trying to make ends meet).

As a point of comparison, “dental hygienist salary” was a 67 in January 2014.

So where are you and your colleagues searching for “dental hygienist salary?”

Currently, the top 10 states are…

• Arkansas (100)

• West Virginia (91)

• North Carolina (90)

• Mississippi (89)

• South Carolina (89)

• Tennessee (86)

• Georgia (86)

• Louisiana (86)

• Kentucky (84)

• Oklahoma (80)

Currently, the top five metro regions are…

• Atlanta, Ga. (100)

• Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (82)

• Chicago, Ill. (61)

• New York, N.Y. (56)

• Los Angeles, Calif. (55)

Currently, the top 10 cities are…

• Raleigh, N.C. (100)

• Dallas, Texas (99)

• Charlotte, N.C. (92)

• Louisville, Ky. (91)

• Nashville, Tenn. (90)

• Atlanta, Ga. (90)

• Houston, Texas (89)

• San Antonio, Texas (87)

• Las Vegas, Nev. (82)

• Phoenix, Ariz. (79)

Look for more analytics and advice in upcoming articles on Modern Hygienist