- Although most dental hygienists work in private dental practices, they find employment in many other settings as well. Hospitals, school districts, dental education programs, public heath departments, correctional institutions, government agencies, and residential facilities for persons with special needs all employ dental hygienists, notes the West Virginia University website. Of the estimated 173,900 dental hygienists working in the United States in 2009, about 810 of them were employed in West Virginia, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average pay rate for dental hygienists there was $22.22 per hour, or $46,210 per year. The nationwide average pay for dental hygienists was over 30 percent higher, at $32.63 per hour.
- The middle 50 percent of dental hygienists in West Virginia were earning about $19.00 to $25.30 per hour in 2009, according to the bureau. The bottom 10 percent had pay rates of $14.63 and less, and the top 10 percent were making at least $29.19 per hour, or $60,720 per year.
- The highest-paying area of West Virginia for dental hygienists was the Parkersburg-Vienna metro region, with an average wage of $24.52 per hour in 2009. The average pay rate for dental hygienists was $24.08 per hour in Charleston, and $24.15 in Morgantown.
- The lowest pay for dental hygienists in West Virginia was in the north central nonmetropolitan part of the state, where their average wage was $19.14 per hour. The average pay for dental hygienists was $20.81 per hour in Wheeling, and $21.22 in the southern nonmetropolitan area. Those three areas rank in the bottom 10 percent nationwide for dental hygienist salaries. Dental hygienists earned higher pay in the Weirton area, at $22.17 per hour on average, and in the Huntington area, at an average of $23.15 per hour.
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