Dental Hygienist Salary in Mississippi 2026,
$67,280 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $67,280 a year, or $32.35 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $63,000 and $74,600 and a full range of $58,810 to $83,320. That is 31.4% below the $98,100 national median, and the entire published band sits below the national midpoint.

Gulfport-Biloxi at $73,500, more than six thousand dollars above Jackson at $67,270 and more than eight thousand above Hattiesburg at $65,360. The Gulf Coast's casino, shipbuilding and military economy supports more private dental spending than the rest of the state, and hygiene pay follows the money.

Because demand for the service, not supply of hygienists, is the constraint. A location quotient of 0.68 shows the state employs far fewer hygienists per worker than the country does — and when low employment coincides with low pay rather than high pay, it indicates weak demand rather than scarce staff. Mississippi has among the poorest dental access in the United States, with large parts of the population not receiving routine preventive care at all. Practices cannot pay what they cannot bill.

Through the Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners. You need a CODA-accredited dental hygiene programme, a passing score on the national written examination, a board-accepted clinical examination and the Mississippi jurisprudence requirement. The board also governs the supervision arrangements under which you may work and the authorisations covering expanded functions, which matter a good deal here given the state's rural access problem.

Not within the state. The 90th percentile of $83,320 falls nearly fifteen thousand dollars short of the $98,100 national median, so even the top decile does not reach it. Within Mississippi the realistic levers are the Gulf Coast market, expanded function authorisations and periodontal practice, which reach the $74,600 seventy-fifth percentile. Closing the gap to national rates means practising elsewhere, and a Mississippi licence and CODA-accredited education transfer normally.

Because they have the same cause. In most labour markets, employing fewer workers per head than the national average pushes wages up — scarce staff bid up their price, as the physical therapist and physician assistant records in other states in this batch show. Mississippi's dental hygiene market inverts that, with a location quotient of 0.68 alongside a median 31.4% below the national figure, and the only consistent explanation is that the demand side is weak rather than the supply side being abundant. Mississippi has among the worst dental access in the country: a large share of the population does not receive routine preventive care, whether through cost, distance or lack of coverage. Fewer patients means fewer chairs, fewer hygienists and less revenue per hygienist. This page is measuring a public health failure as much as a labour market.

Part-time work and a small sample. Dental hygiene carries a high voluntary part-time rate everywhere, and the $32.35 hourly median is the cleaner benchmark for comparing a daily rate across states. With about 1,140 hygienists statewide — one of the smallest workforces in this batch — and only three published metros, the estimates should be read as directional. The figure also excludes production bonuses and does not distinguish general from periodontal practice.

The Gulf Coast first — $73,500 against $65,360 in Hattiesburg is worth more than eight thousand dollars and is the largest published lever. Expanded function authorisations from the Board of Dental Examiners second, since they broaden what a practice can bill for your chair time. Periodontal and specialist practice third. Days worked matters as always. But the honest reading of this band is that its ceiling is nearly fifteen thousand dollars below the national median, and for a hygienist prioritising income, the comparison worth making is with neighbouring states rather than within this one.