Pennsylvania·Production Occupations·SOC 51-9081

Best Dental Laboratory Technician programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

Construct and repair full or partial dentures or dental.

1 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 56 people a year. The job pays a median of $49,280 in Pennsylvania across about 930 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDental CeramistDental Technician (Dental Tech)Denture Technician (Denture Tech)Dental Laboratory Technician (Dental Lab Tech)WaxerCeramistDenture WaxerCrown Ceramist
Graduates / yr
56
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$49,280
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
930
people employed
Schools
1
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
45%
across those schools
Median net price
$17,792
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
156
100.0%
1$28,924$10,782

Top 1 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 1 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1YTI Career Institute - York
York, PA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
56Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician$27,84245%$17,792

All 1 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
YTI Career Institute - YorkYorkPrivate for-profit561

What dental laboratory technicians earn in Pennsylvania

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$49,280
Mean annual
$54,770
Jobs in state
930
What the range looks like
10th pct$31,680Median$49,28090th pct$84,570
Versus the national median
-0.7%

U.S. median $49,610. Pennsylvania pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.69×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA
$76,170median
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
$50,850median
640 jobs
Pittsburgh, PA
$49,060median
220 jobs
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
$49,110median
60 jobs
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
$49,920median
60 jobs
Reading, PA
$49,550median
40 jobs
Lancaster, PA
$48,710median
70 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-4.7%
Decline
Openings per year
3,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-1,600
35,200 → 33,600
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Dental Laboratory Technicians page.

How to become a Dental Laboratory Technician

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingActive LearningActive ListeningMonitoringSpeaking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Pennsylvania

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Dental Laboratory Technicians1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 51.0603Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing dental laboratory technicians programs in Pennsylvania.

What degree do you need to become a Dental Laboratory Technician?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician, which awarded 56 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Dental Laboratory Technician?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Dental Support Services and Allied Professions. Together they graduate about 56 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do dental laboratory technicians earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $49,280 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% below the U.S. median of $49,610. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for dental laboratory technicians growing?+

BLS projects a -4.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 3,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Pennsylvania?+

1 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do dental laboratory technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Dental Ceramist, Dental Technician (Dental Tech), Denture Technician (Denture Tech), Dental Laboratory Technician (Dental Lab Tech) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-9081.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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