MEDIUMBusinessTier 1

Orthodontist pay vs. cost of living by state

SourceBecker's Dental + DSO ReviewTier 1Hard News

By Ariana Portalatin

Originally at beckersdental.com

Summary & scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol (Drill-Down Score) — not the original publisher.

Why it matters for dental

An analysis of updated 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics and MIT data compares orthodontist compensation against the cost of living by state, identifying Connecticut as the highest-paying location.

Key points

  • Newly updated 2025 BLS salary data paired with MIT cost-of-living figures provides localized real purchasing power benchmarks for orthodontists.
  • Connecticut emerged as the top-paying state for orthodontists, offsetting a baseline single-adult cost of living of $54,178.
  • DSOs and practice owners in high-cost states must adjust compensation models to remain competitive against lower-cost regions.

Who should care

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