What is the real (cost-adjusted) Dentist salary in Maine?

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 98.0 for Maine), the real-wage equivalent is $213,201 — what the $208,860 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $163,672 to —.

How are Maine Dentist salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

Where does Maine rank for Dentist pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, Maine ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

What are the limits of these Dentist salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Maine?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Maine.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

DSO chain vs solo private practice dentist pay in Maine?

BLS does not split dental service organization (DSO: Heartland, Aspen, Pacific, Smile Brands) from solo private practice. In Maine, DSO-employed dentists typically start at or above BLS median with production-bonus upside but cap below long-tenure solo owner total earnings. Solo private practice in Maine pays below DSO at the associate level but compounds via ownership equity, equipment depreciation, and tax-deferred retirement contributions over a 10-20 year career. Specialist dentists (orthodontists, oral surgeons, endodontists, periodontists) in Maine are tracked under different SOC codes (29-1022, 29-1023, 29-1024) and earn substantially above general-dentist medians.

2026 Dentist Salary — Maine ($209K BLS, RPP-Adjusted Real Wage)

TL;DR

$208,860 is the BLS median wage for Dentists in Maine; $213,201 is the BEA-adjusted purchasing-power equivalent.
Mid-band breakdown: P25 $160,340, P50 $208,860, P75 —. Tail percentiles withheld by BLS — common when tech-sector wages exceed the OES survey cap.
Mid-band cost of living: real and nominal wage are within a few percent of each other.
Nominal: #5/51 · Real: #7/51 — ranking shifts by 2 positions after RPP.

Wage breakdown — Maine

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$155,030	$158,252
P25 (lower quartile)	$160,340	$163,672
P50 (median)	$208,860	$213,201
P75 (upper quartile)
P90 (top tier)
Mean	$224,080	$228,737
Employment	450 Dentists in Maine

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Maine index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	98.0
Goods	98.3
Services	148.2
Rents	80.4

Maine's overall RPP (98.0) is close to the national 100 baseline; nominal and real wage move roughly together.

After-tax take-home — Maine (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Dentist)	$208,860	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$38,944	18.6% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$13,396	5.8–7.15% (graduated)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$14,491	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$142,028	68.0% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$144,980	÷ (98.0 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Maine state-tax burden means for Dentist take-home

Maine carries one of the heavier state-tax loads in the country at this income tier (6.4% effective on the BLS median). Combined with federal and FICA, gross-to-take-home spread is 32.0%, leaving $142,028 pre-RPP and $144,980 after the 98.0 cost-of-living index — a $63,880 gap from the headline gross.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $172,790 for Dentists with mean pay of $196,100 and total employment of 113,490. Maine sits at #5 on nominal pay and #7 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Maine falls 2 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real (cost-adjusted) Dentist salary in Maine?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 98.0 for Maine), the real-wage equivalent is $213,201 — what the $208,860 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $163,672 to —.
How are Maine Dentist salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
Where does Maine rank for Dentist pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, Maine ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
What are the limits of these Dentist salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Maine?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Maine.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
DSO chain vs solo private practice dentist pay in Maine?: BLS does not split dental service organization (DSO: Heartland, Aspen, Pacific, Smile Brands) from solo private practice. In Maine, DSO-employed dentists typically start at or above BLS median with production-bonus upside but cap below long-tenure solo owner total earnings. Solo private practice in Maine pays below DSO at the associate level but compounds via ownership equity, equipment depreciation, and tax-deferred retirement contributions over a 10-20 year career. Specialist dentists (orthodontists, oral surgeons, endodontists, periodontists) in Maine are tracked under different SOC codes (29-1022, 29-1023, 29-1024) and earn substantially above general-dentist medians.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 29-1021, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-07.

Cross-comparison: see how Maine Dentist pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.