Dentists by metro
Local search for dental practices in the San Diego, California metro
The Census counted 1,927 dental offices in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro in 2023, or 5.9 for every 10,000 residents, the 3rd highest of the 25 largest metros (County Business Patterns).
Its median household income, $109,132 in 2024, is the 5th highest of the 25 largest metros (American Community Survey).
The metro in numbers
| Measure | Here | Median | Standing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental offices per 10,000 residents | 5.9 | 4.4 | 3rd highest of 25 | CBP and ACS 2023 |
| Homes lived in by their owners | 54.4% | 63.4% | 3rd lowest of 25 | ACS 2024 |
| Median household income | $109,132 | $92,344 | 5th highest of 25 | ACS 2024 |
| Average pay, dental office jobs | $60,096 | $67,315 | 4th lowest of 19 | QCEW 2024 |
| Change in dental offices since 2018 | Up 0.9% | Up 1.7% | 12th lowest of 25 | CBP 2018 to 2023 |
| Dental offices | 1,927 | Not compared | Not compared | CBP 2023 |
| Private dental office jobs | 12,341 | Not compared | Not compared | QCEW 2024 |
| Residents | 3,298,799 | Not compared | Not compared | ACS 2024 |
| Average pay, all private jobs | $81,304 | Not compared | Not compared | QCEW 2024 |
What stands out
1,927 dental offices against 3,269,973 residents in 2023 works out to 5.9 for every 10,000 people, the 3rd highest of the 25 largest metros (County Business Patterns, American Community Survey).
That is one dental office for every 1,697 residents.
The median of the 25 is 4.4, so this metro has 34% more per resident than the middle one (County Business Patterns).
More practices per resident means more of them sharing each neighborhood's searches.
The American Community Survey puts the metro's median household income at $109,132 for 2024, with a published margin of error of $1,813 (American Community Survey).
That is the 5th highest of the 25 largest metros, 18% above their median of $92,344 (American Community Survey).
BLS counted 12,341 private dental office jobs in the metro in 2024, paying $60,096 a year on average, against $81,304 for all private jobs there (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages).
That is 26% below the metro's all-industry average, and the 4th lowest of the 19 metros where BLS publishes the figure (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages).
Pay is one measure of what it costs a dental practice here to hire.
Counted over its one county in both years, the metro had 1,909 dental offices in 2018 and 1,927 in 2023 (County Business Patterns).
That is a rise of 0.9%, the 12th lowest change of the 25 largest metros, where the median is a rise of 1.7% (County Business Patterns).
So there are about as many practices to compete with as in 2018.
What these figures leave out
County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, so a dentist who works with no paid staff is not in these counts (County Business Patterns).
BLS stopped publishing metro figures by industry with its third quarter 2025 data, so 2024 is the last full year of them (BLS notice).
None of these figures shows which businesses appear in Google's map results in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro, and we do not measure that.
None of our sources gives what a search ad click costs in this metro. LocaliQ's national averages for Dentists and Dental Services are $8.00 a click and $72.97 a lead across its own customers' campaigns, not figures for this metro (LocaliQ).
Nearby metros
Dental offices per 10,000 residents in the nearest metros we publish a page for:
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro: 7.3
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro: 4.1
- Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro: 4.3
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro: 6.6
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro: 5.4
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: 5.4
The same metro, other fields
- HVAC in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro
- Chiropractors in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro
Working with us in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro
We are new and have no clients yet, in this metro or any other.
One client per business category per metro area on the Local, Growth and Authority plans. A metro area is a U.S. Census core-based statistical area.
The work itself is on our local SEO page, what applies to every dental practice is on our Dentists page, and every price is on the prices page.
Questions
How many dental offices are there in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro?
1,927 in 2023 in the Census's table for the metro, counting establishments with paid employees, or 5.9 for every 10,000 residents (County Business Patterns).
Is the number of dental offices in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro growing?
Barely. It rose 0.9% from 2018 to 2023, from 1,909 to 1,927 on the same counties (County Business Patterns).
How these figures were made
How the figures are chosen and compared is on our method page. Each query below returns figures on this page.
- County Business Patterns 2023, this metro
- County Business Patterns 2018, every county
- County Business Patterns 2023, every county
- American Community Survey 2023 1-year, this metro
- BLS series ENUC4174105621210, private jobs
- BLS series ENUC4174505621210, average annual pay for private jobs
- American Community Survey 2024 1-year, this metro
- BLS series ENUC417450510, average annual pay for private jobs in all industries
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns (CBP), updated August 5, 2026. Checked September 27, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau: Using 1-Year or 5-Year American Community Survey Data, updated September 2, 2025. Checked September 27, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: QCEW Overview, updated January 28, 2026. Checked September 27, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Change in the presentation of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) data in QCEW, updated December 30, 2025. Checked September 27, 2026.
- LocaliQ: 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks, updated June 1, 2026. Checked September 26, 2026.