Program ranking · CIP 51.06 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Dental Hygiene

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Dental Hygiene (CIP 51.06) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$86,150
Highest dental hygiene earnings: 45
Colleges ranked: $37,694
#45 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $37,694 median earnings for Dental Hygiene bachelor's (CIP 51.06) completers. University of the Pacific leads at $86,150.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$86,150
#1 - University of the: $37,694
#45 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 101
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

University of the Pacific

$86,150
West Coast University-An…

$85,797
Lake Washington Institut…

$85,286
Massachusetts College of…

$83,253
Foothill College

$82,028
Loma Linda University

$79,207
Pacific University

$78,641
Oregon Institute of Tech…

$78,089
University of Minnesota-…

$76,078
Eastern Washington Unive…

$75,533
University of Bridgeport

$74,822
University of New England

$74,504
Herzing University-Minne…

$73,741
University of New Haven

$73,231
Minnesota State Universi…

$72,882

What this shows Dental-support bachelor's medians concentrate where clinical hygiene pathways exist - compare credential level and debt before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 45

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	University of the Pacific	CA	$86,150	-	25
2	West Coast University-Anaheim-Orange County	CA	$85,797	$33,707	62
3	Lake Washington Institute of Technology	WA	$85,286	$23,000	26
4	Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences	MA	$83,253	$25,000	70
5	Foothill College	CA	$82,028	$11,000	76
6	Loma Linda University	CA	$79,207	$15,000	35
7	Pacific University	OR	$78,641	$22,500	33
8	Oregon Institute of Technology	OR	$78,089	$20,750	58
9	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$76,078	$17,394	28
10	Eastern Washington University	WA	$75,533	$23,604	42
11	University of Bridgeport	CT	$74,822	$25,121	36
12	University of New England	ME	$74,504	$26,645	54
13	Herzing University-Minneapolis	MN	$73,741	$28,823	34
14	University of New Haven	CT	$73,231	$23,281	27
15	Minnesota State University-Mankato	MN	$72,882	$21,355	59
16	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$72,567	$11,000	26
17	Farmingdale State College	NY	$70,853	-	25
18	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$70,132	$15,000	29
19	Old Dominion University	VA	$69,732	$18,000	74
20	Northern Arizona University	AZ	$68,917	$20,567	55
21	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale	IL	$68,609	$21,500	26
22	University of South Dakota	SD	$68,556	$26,000	37
23	University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center	OK	$68,018	$15,000	47
24	Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans	LA	$67,665	$15,000	37
25	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	$67,561	$20,000	33
26	Texas Woman's University	TX	$66,034	$14,049	65
27	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$65,920	$20,000	40
28	University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences	AR	$65,708	$20,000	31
29	East Tennessee State University	TN	$65,649	$14,000	29
30	The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston	TX	$64,980	$18,469	25
31	Pennsylvania College of Technology	PA	$64,919	$23,983	26
32	University of Missouri-Kansas City	MO	$64,838	$18,750	30
33	Georgia Highlands College	GA	$64,541	-	26
34	Clayton State University	GA	$63,402	$18,375	28
35	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	$63,364	$22,032	25
36	Idaho State University	ID	$62,783	$18,000	28
37	University of Louisville	KY	$62,595	$23,000	28
38	University of Louisiana at Monroe	LA	$62,089	$15,000	28
39	Wichita State University	KS	$61,982	$19,000	59
40	The University of Tennessee Health Science Center	TN	$61,981	$15,000	27
41	West Liberty University	WV	$61,801	$25,481	31
42	Augusta University	GA	$61,584	$12,687	28
43	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$59,402	$17,875	38
44	Careers Unlimited	UT	$44,722	$28,896	58
45	Weber State University	UT	$37,694	$17,965	30

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Dental Hygiene (CIP 51.06) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see Dental Hygiene (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. College Scorecard publishes dental-hygiene cohorts inside Dental Support Services and Allied Professions (CIP 51.06) - this list ranks that bachelor's CIP, the published proxy for "dental hygiene" demand. Certificate and associate dental-support ladders often dominate the field and are not mixed into this bachelor's ranking.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.