GP net income $215,320, revenue up 1.4%, expenses up 4.9%: HPI's 2026 trends in dentists' income, revenue and hours

What it says#

HPI's June 2026 slide deck is the annual update of its income series, built on the 2026 Survey of Dental Practice, which asked private practitioners about their 2025 year, with a Bureau of Labor Statistics wage series drawn alongside for comparison. HPI's own four takeaways: general practitioner incomes were unchanged in 2025 but have decreased in recent years because of the "fiscal squeeze" of practice expenses growing faster than reimbursement; the gender gaps in income and hours have narrowed; GPs are working slightly more hours, with the extra time spent on non-clinical duties; and the gap between owner and nonowner GP incomes has narrowed over 15 years.

The income series, in constant 2025 dollars: the average net income of general practitioners was $274,198 in 2010, $257,785 in 2019, $211,672 in the pandemic year 2020, $259,167 in 2021, $240,062 in 2022, $231,085 in 2023, $213,453 in 2024 and $215,320 in 2025. The median GP figure went from $250,992 in 2010 to $186,000 in 2025. The BLS mean wage for general dentists on the same slide fell from $234,412 in 2010 to $191,350 in 2025. HPI explains why the two lines differ: BLS counts salary, commissions and production bonuses only, and includes dentists in education, government and hospitals while excluding unincorporated practice owners; the Survey of Dental Practice counts end-of-year bonuses and retirement plan payments too, and covers private practice only.

The 2025 levels come from Table 1 of the data tables, in nominal dollars. All general practitioners averaged $215,320, with a median of $185,010 and quartiles of $133,700 and $249,810, on 599 responses. Owner GPs averaged $228,980 (median $199,140): solo owners $207,520 and nonsolo owners $262,880. Employed GPs averaged $164,510 (median $165,520, quartiles $129,280 and $191,470) on 65 responses. Specialists in private practice averaged $346,520 (median $258,880); owner specialists $372,460, solo specialist owners $351,700, nonsolo $403,580; employed specialists had too few responses to report. The only specialty with its own 2025 line is pediatric dentistry at $328,500. All dentists together averaged $241,250 with a median of $199,010.

Owners and nonowners by year, from Table 2's medians: GP owners earned $180,000 in 2010, $186,620 in 2019, $149,820 in 2020, $197,680 in 2021, $190,500 in 2024 and $199,140 in 2025; employed GPs $110,000 in 2010, $139,100 in 2019, $156,130 in 2024 and $165,520 in 2025. In the deck's inflation-adjusted chart, owner GPs end 2025 at $228,975 and nonowner GPs at $160,448. Comparing pooled 2011-2015 with 2021-2025, owner GP income fell $23,000 while nonowner income was essentially unchanged, which is HPI's basis for saying the gap narrowed. On the same basis male GP income fell about $21,000 and female GP income rose about $14,000; in 2025 male GPs averaged $219,531 and female GPs $208,327.

Revenue and expenses: pooling 2016-2020 against 2021-2025 in 2025 dollars, GP revenue per dentist rose 1.4% ($793,274 to $804,144), expenses per dentist rose 4.9% ($527,028 to $552,909) and income fell 8.1% ($266,400 to $244,729). HPI's caption is that expenses per dentist are rising more than revenue per dentist and that this is driving the downward trend in GP net income. The rural and urban split is sharp: rural GP revenue per dentist rose 11.9% ($816,458 to $913,633) with expenses up 17.8% ($522,200 to $615,361) and income nearly flat ($272,864 to $272,469), while urban revenue slipped 0.1% ($790,567 to $790,100), expenses rose 3.3% ($527,839 to $545,243) and income fell 9.1% ($265,762 to $241,670).

Hours: from 2010 through 2019 dentists averaged 35 hours a week in the office and from 2021 through 2025, 36; HPI says the extra hour matches the rise in office time not treating patients, from 3.6 hours a week in 2010 to 5.1 in 2025, while hours treating patients went from 31.3 to 30.5. In 2025 owner dentists worked 36.1 hours a week and employee dentists 33.6, so associates worked 2.5 hours fewer. Female dentists worked 35.2 hours and male dentists 35.8, a gap of 36 minutes against 138 minutes in 2010; dentists up to 10 years out of school work the most hours.

Who it applies to#

The numbers describe dentists whose primary occupation is private practice. HPI drew a stratified national sample of 59,951 private practitioners in January 2026, oversampling younger dentists, specialists and non-members, emailed the survey to those with an address on file and closed collection in February with 1,113 responses, a 1.9% response rate, weighted for the oversampling and for nonresponse by age, race and ethnicity, membership, specialty and county population. Net income is personal income from the primary practice after practice expenses and before personal income tax, retirement contributions included; an employed dentist is one paid on salary, commission, percentage or associate basis with no ownership, and independent contractors, 4.2% of private practitioners, usually have too few responses to appear.

For an owner, Table 1 is the benchmark for your own draw and for what you pay an associate; the pooled revenue and expense figures are the benchmark for whether your overhead is moving with the profession. For an associate, the employed GP line and its quartiles ($129,280 to $191,470) are the national range you are negotiating inside. Dentists in academic, public health or hospital settings are not in the survey, and the BLS line, which includes them, is drawn only for comparison.

What changed#

Against the prior year in the same series, the GP average moved from $213,453 in 2024 to $215,320 in 2025 in 2025 dollars, which the HPI page and the deck both call unchanged, and the GP median from $184,634 to $186,000. The five-year pooled windows advanced a year, to 2016-20 against 2021-25, and produce the page's headline that revenues went up 1.4% while expenses went up 4.9%. Office hours slipped from 36.1 a week in 2024 to 35.6 in 2025, and the owner-employee hours gap is 2.5 hours in 2025. HPI's framing did not change: the decline is a 15-year story explained by the fiscal squeeze, and the new edition adds the rural-urban comparison and the note that newer dentists work the most hours.

Where the source is#

The HPI page Trends in Dentists' Income, Revenue and Hours Worked hosts the 24-slide deck (suggested reference: American Dental Association, Trends in Dentists' Income, Revenue and Hours Worked, Health Policy Institute, June 2026) and the XLSX Income, Gross Billings, Expenses, Characteristics, Selected Staff Wages: Selected 2025 Results from the Survey of Dental Practice, with 27 tables, an employment situation note, methodology and glossary. Both are free downloads and copyright the American Dental Association. The page's summary is the headline: GP incomes unchanged in 2025 after 15 years of decline, revenue up 1.4% and expenses up 4.9% over five years.