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Pay · 29-1023

Orthodontists earn $289,140 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $99,850, the highest tenth about $416,000, and the middle sits at $289,140.

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$289,140median a year · United States
$139.01an hour $259,400average 6,210people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$146,58025th $289,140median $342,30075th
$99,85010th percentile $416,00090th percentile
$146,580a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$478,680best-paying state · Connecticut
$159,230lowest-paying state · Georgia
+66%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Among the best-paidNumber 3 of 788 occupations by median pay — in the top five per cent.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $478,680 in Connecticut and $159,230 in Georgia — a gap of $319,450 a year.

Orthodontist earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

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Orthodontist pay rate, hourly to annual

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$289,141a year

Examples

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Neighbouring work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Orthodontists$289,140
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons$352,220+$63,080 Nurse anesthetists$236,590−$52,550 Podiatrists$160,300−$128,840 Pharmacists$140,910−$148,230 Nurse practitioners$132,300−$156,840 Veterinarians$130,100−$159,040

Orthodontist wages across the states

The 15 states where the most people do this work, of 19 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.77 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Connecticut $478,680 $205,070 $205,070 — $504,920 —
Colorado $416,000 $155,590 $155,590 — $520,000 160
Maryland $361,030 $226,420 $226,420 — $361,050 —
Michigan $357,090 $171,560 $171,560 — $423,380 140
Illinois $343,100 $99,560 $99,560 — $489,340 —
Tennessee $339,610 $180,190 $180,190 — $363,310 —
Missouri $332,630 $161,730 $161,730 — $332,630 —
Montana $312,840 $95,490 $95,490 — $375,190 —
Maine $301,250 $171,120 $171,120 — $323,460 60
Washington $290,430 $62,940 $62,940 — $435,260 290
Arizona $272,330 $96,730 $96,730 — $345,150 120
North Carolina $224,990 $182,170 $182,170 — $398,000 160
Ohio $219,300 $104,990 $104,990 — $324,970 250
Wisconsin $212,860 $106,040 $106,040 — $313,050 90
New York $172,980 $61,410 $61,410 — $430,460 130

No estimate is published for 7 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.

Resumes for orthodontists

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

Dolphin Imaging & Management Solutions Dolphin ManagementMicrosoft Office softwareAdaPatient management softwareWeb browser softwareFacebookAdstra Systems ADSTRA ManagementAdvance Ortho Systems Program Director
  • Diagnosed teeth and jaw or other dental-facial abnormalities.
  • Examined patients to assess abnormalities of jaw development, tooth position, and other dental-facial structures.
  • Studied diagnostic records, such as medical or dental histories, plaster models of the teeth, photos of a patient's face and teeth, and X-rays, to develop patient treatment plans.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Place 3 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 100% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 1 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons $352,220
  2. 2 Prosthodontists $311,180
  3. 3 Orthodontists $289,140
  4. 4 Nurse anesthetists $236,590
  5. 5 Airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers $232,140

Questions people often ask

What is an orthodontist’s yearly income?

An orthodontist makes a median of $289,140 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $146,580 and $342,300.

What is an orthodontist’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $139.01 an hour; the average is $259,400 a year.

What is the starting pay for an orthodontist?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $146,580 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $99,850.

Which state pays orthodontists the most?

Connecticut, with a median of $478,680 a year.

How many people work as orthodontists?

About 6,210 in the United States — number 3 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays nearly the same

Median pay within $75,150 of what orthodontists earn — $289,140 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations