Which Florida dental hygiene and assisting program has the lowest debt?

Pensacola State College reports the lowest median federal debt, $10,000, with first-year pay of $46,690.

How much do dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn in Florida?

The median across 12 Florida dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs is $57,278 in the first year after graduating and $59,440 five years after.

How many dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs are in Florida?

12 Florida programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's) Programs in Florida, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

12 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Associate's in Dental Support Services and Allied Professions

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Florida dental hygiene and assisting associate's program pays its graduates $57,278 in their first year, $2,711 more than the national median. Palm Beach State College reports the highest first-year pay ($63,723), and Pensacola State College the lowest median debt ($10,000).

Median first-year pay$57,278National $54,567

Median pay after 5 years$59,440National $56,201

Median federal debt$14,875National $18,589

Debt-to-earnings26%National 36%

All 12 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Palm Beach State CollegeLake Worth · public	$63,723	$73,447	Not reported	Not reported
2	Daytona State CollegeDaytona Beach · public	$63,591	$59,440	Not reported	Not reported
3	Hillsborough CollegeTampa · public	$62,731	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	St Petersburg CollegeSt. Petersburg · public	$62,093	$62,626	$26,556	43%
5	Florida State College at JacksonvilleJacksonville · public	$59,330	$63,386	Not reported	Not reported
6	Valencia CollegeOrlando · public	$57,535	$57,856	Not reported	Not reported
7	Eastern Florida State CollegeMelbourne · public	$57,021	$42,758	Not reported	Not reported
8	Santa Fe CollegeGainesville · public	$56,722	Not reported	$14,875	26%
9	Gulf Coast State CollegePanama City · public	$54,550	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
10	Tallahassee State CollegeTallahassee · public	$51,709	Not reported	$11,417	22%
11	Pensacola State CollegePensacola · public	$46,690	$51,720	$10,000	21%
12	Miami Dade CollegeMiami · public	$41,314	Not reported	$18,000	44%

7 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Florida dental hygiene and assisting program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Palm Beach State College$63,723
Daytona State College$63,591
Hillsborough College$62,731
St Petersburg College$62,093
Florida State College at Jacksonville$59,330

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to dental hygiene and assisting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Dental Assistants

$47,620

Median pay in Florida. 26,620 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.

Bottom 10%: $37,800Top 10%: $58,880

Dental Hygienists

$91,980

Median pay in Florida. 11,980 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 15,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.

Bottom 10%: $75,960Top 10%: $99,040

Dental Laboratory Technicians

$59,790

Median pay in Florida. 2,330 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $36,750Top 10%: $78,010

Common questions

Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth reports the highest median first-year pay, $63,723.

Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked180 programs by pay and debt Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Certificate) programs in Florida, ranked14 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Florida rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024