The best US cities for dentists to find opportunity

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The best US cities for dentists to find opportunity

Location might just be one the most underrated business decision a dentist makes. A new analysis of 98 U.S. metro areas by Clarify Capital, which weighs salary data, job concentration, patient search demand, Yelp ratings, and 10-year employment projections reveals a significant variation in opportunity across the country. The findings, further supplemented by a national survey of 156 dental professionals, point to clear winners across the country and highlight a workforce crisis that is reshaping how practices operate.

Read on as Clarify Capital shares the top U.S. cities for dentists.

Overall rankings: The 5 top cities for dentists

1. Scottsdale, Arizona
2. Raleigh, North Carolina
3. Orlando, Florida
4. Charlotte, North Carolina
5. Miami, Florida

Scottsdale, Arizona, ranks No. 1 overall in the country. It achieves this ranking by combining strong job availability, top-five patient search demand, and the second-highest projected job growth in the country over the next decade.

However, Scottsdale’s top ranking is not driven by salary levels alone. It actually placed 22nd in that category. Instead, it wins on the fundamentals of market penetration: a concentrated job market, high consumer demand, and long-term growth outlook. For dentists thinking beyond their first job and more towards building or acquiring a practice, it’s a combination that is hard to beat.

In second place is Raleigh, North Carolina. With the highest dental job concentration in the country and a 16th-place salary ranking, it is a rare pairing of volume and compensation that makes it a desired location. Orlando, Florida, rounds out the top three, being in the top five for patient search interest and 15th for employment concentration.

Charlotte, North Carolina, earned its spot as fourth on the list by being registered as the second-highest “dentist near me” search volume in the country, based on Google Trends data, signaling strong unmet patient demand. Charlotte, and the fifth-place city of Miami, also reflect a broader pattern in the data: The markets where patients are actively searching for care tend to also be the markets where dental businesses have the most room to grow.

The category-specific winners by city

Location isn’t the only factor at play for new dentists looking to start up a business. There are four subfactors that many take into account: earning potential, patient demand, job market growth, and patient satisfaction. Each of these subfactors has winning cities in its own right that make them worth considering.

1. Where dentists are earning the most

1. Cape Coral, Florida ($275,110 average annual salary)
2. Boston, Massachusetts ($251,390)
3. Houston, Texas ($240,340)
4. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ($234,890)
5. Tampa, Florida; St. Petersburg Florida (tie) ($233,450)

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data on average dentist salaries, Cape Coral, Florida, dentists earn an average of $275,110 per year. This is approximately $24,000 more than the second-highest city on the list, which is Boston, at an annual average salary of $251,390. Just a little bit under is Houston, with dentists earning an average annual pay of $240,340.

These three cities represent significantly above-average earning potential relative to the national picture. For recent graduates who are carrying substantial student loan debt, a common reality in dentistry, salary geography can meaningfully accelerate financial recovery.

2. Where patient demand is highest

1. Cleveland, Ohio (57,132 “dentist near me” searches per 100,000 residents in the last year)
2. Charlotte, North Carolina (49,737)
3. Atlanta, Georgia (48,867)
4. Orlando, Florida (46,532)
5. Scottsdale, Arizona (41,826)

Interestingly enough, Cleveland leads all metros with 57,132 “dentist near me” searches per 100,000 residents. This is the unique city that beat out Charlotte, with nearly 15% more search volume. Atlanta (48,867) rounds out the top three for search demand with 48,867 inquiries. High search volume is a meaningful proxy for unmet need, as markets where residents are actively looking for dental care tend to support stronger new patient acquisition, shorter ramp-up times for new practices, and greater pricing power.

3. Where the job market is growing fastest

1. New Mexico (26.6%)
2. Utah (21.3%)
3. Arizona (20.5%)
4. New York (19.8%)
5. Connecticut; Idaho (tie) (18.8%)

New Mexico is the winner of this category and leads all states with a projected 26.6% increase in dental employment over the next decade, followed by Arizona at 20.5%, and New York at 19.8%. Job growth projections are measured at the state level, meaning individual cities within these states can benefit broadly. For dentists who are earlier in their careers, practicing in a high-growth state compounds opportunity over time. Benefits including more positions, more partnerships, and more acquisition targets as retiring dentists exit the market can elevate your career.

4. Where patients are the most satisfied

1. Santa Ana, California (4.74 average Yelp rating)
2. Anaheim, California (4.73)
3. Irvine, California (4.72)
4. San Jose, California (4.7)
5. Honolulu, Hawaii; Long Beach, California; Los Angeles, California (tie) (4.67)

Patient reviews matter, and Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Irvine, all in California, averaged Yelp ratings between 4.72 and 4.74 stars. These are the highest patient satisfaction scores in the study. High ratings in these Southern California markets suggest both quality of care and strong patient-practice relationships. Irvine also recorded the highest dentist density in the study at approximately 1,014 dentists per 100,000 residents on Yelp, which indicates a highly competitive but clearly demand-heavy market.

The dentist staffing crisis

Beyond the city-by-city rankings, survey data reveals a systemic challenge facing dental practices nationwide. Some of the key callouts spell a stark story:

• 60% of practices are currently hiring.
• 84% of hiring practices report difficulty filling open roles.
• 72% of dental professionals say there is a dentist shortage in their area.
• 57% report that staffing shortages are causing patient care delays.
• 11% of practices now offer student loan repayment as a recruiting incentive.

Part of this is likely driven by the fact that dental hygienists are apparently harder to recruit than dentists themselves. With 40% of practices struggling to fill hygienist roles versus 22% for dentist roles, it’s clear there’s an underlying issue.

The hygienist gap is particularly significant because hygienists drive a large share of preventive care revenue, such as the average bi-annual checkup. When dental chairs sit empty, the financial impact can compound quickly. Patients seeking routine cleanings are often the first to experience delays, and this can lead them to seek out new offices to get their work done.

The bottom line for dentists

The data makes a clear case that where a dentist chooses to practice is both a material financial and career decision. Markets like Scottsdale, Raleigh, and Cape Coral seem to combine the factors that matter most: patient demand, job availability, compensation, and long-term growth. At the same time, though, the workforce data signals that practices in virtually every market are operating under strain. Dentists who can identify high-opportunity markets to build practices positioned to both attract and retain staff will be better placed to capitalize on the demand that is clearly there.

Methodology

For their study, Clarify Capital ranked 98 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) using six weighted metrics drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), ONet, Yelp, and Google Trends:

• Average dentist salary — BLS MSA-level data (25% weight)
• Employment per 1,000 jobs — BLS workforce concentration (25% weight)
• Search interest: “dentists near me” per 100K residents — Google Trends, 2024/2025 (20% weight)
• Dentist listings per 100K residents — Yelp (10% weight)
• Average Yelp rating — patient satisfaction proxy (10% weight)
• Projected 10-year job growth — ONet state-level data (10% weight)

A national survey of 156 dental industry employees — including dentists, hygienists, dental assistants, and office managers — supplemented the quantitative rankings. Only MSAs with complete data across all six metrics were included. Where city-level data were unavailable, MSA-level averages were applied. Job growth projections reflect state-level figures due to data granularity constraints.

This story was produced by Clarify Capital and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.