Best Dental Assistant programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment
Perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist.
18 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 585 people a year. The job pays a median of $46,720 in Tennessee across about 7,420 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Tennessee that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in Tennessee that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Tennessee (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 Tennessee page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dental Assisting/Assistantmain feeder CIP 51.0601In Tennessee → | 585 | 100.0% | 18 | $28,924 | $10,782 |
Top 18 schools in Tennessee
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 11 of the 18 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Concorde Career College - Memphis Memphis, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 225 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $20,285 | 55% | $23,740 | 95% |
| 2 | Chattanooga College Medical Dental and & Technical Careers Chattanooga, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 49 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $29,984 | 12% | $28,740 | — |
| 3 | Remington College - Nashville Campus Nashville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 34 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $21,721 | 47% | $29,040 | — |
| 4 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville Nashville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 32 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $25,189 | 70% | — | — |
| 5 | Ross Medical Education Center - Knoxville Knoxville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $25,352 | 68% | $23,257 | — |
| 6 | Ross Medical Education Center - Johnson City Johnson City, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $24,411 | 64% | $21,394 | — |
| 7 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology Northwest Newbern, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 69% | — | — |
| 8 | Miller - Motte College - Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $19,134 | 60% | $26,425 | — |
| 9 | Northeast State Community College Blountville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 33% | — | — |
| 10 | Chattanooga State Community College Chattanooga, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $31,590 | 26% | — | — |
| 11 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Dickson Dickson, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $26,045 | 74% | — | — |
| 12 | South College Knoxville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 42% | $20,346 | — |
| 13 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Knoxville Knoxville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 71% | — | — |
| 14 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Pulaski Pulaski, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 75% | — | — |
| 15 | Volunteer State Community College Gallatin, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 28% | — | — |
| 16 | Genesis Career College - Cookeville Cookeville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $21,573 | 54% | $14,929 | — |
| 17 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Memphis Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | $19,013 | 55% | — | — |
| 18 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Murfreesboro Murfreesboro, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Dental Assisting/Assistant | — | 76% | — | — |
All 18 schools in Tennessee
Every school in Tennessee 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.
What dental assistants earn in Tennessee
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $48,070. Tennessee pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Tennessee
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Assistants page.
How to become a Dental Assistant
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Tennessee
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Dental Assistants1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.0601Dental Assisting/Assistant
Common questions
Answers for people weighing dental assistants programs in Tennessee.
What degree do you need to become a Dental Assistant?+
Postsecondary nondegree award is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Dental Assisting/Assistant, which awarded 585 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Dental Assistant?+
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 585 people a year in Tennessee.
How much do dental assistants earn in Tennessee?+
The median is $46,720 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.8% below the U.S. median of $48,070. 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 assistants growing?+
BLS projects a +6.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 52,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Tennessee?+
18 institutions in Tennessee 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 assistants work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Dental Assistant (DA), Certified Dental Assistant (CDA), Registered Dental Assistant (RDA), Expanded Duty Dental Assistant (EDDA) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-9091.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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