Dentists by metro
Local search for dental practices in the San Francisco, California metro
The Census counted 3,029 dental offices in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro in 2023, or 6.6 for every 10,000 residents (County Business Patterns).
Its median household income, $135,590 in 2024, is the highest of the 25 largest metros (American Community Survey).
The metro in numbers
| Measure | Here | Median | Standing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $135,590 | $92,344 | Highest of 25 | ACS 2024 |
| Dental offices per 10,000 residents | 6.6 | 4.4 | 2nd highest of 25 | CBP and ACS 2023 |
| Homes lived in by their owners | 55.1% | 63.4% | 4th lowest of 25 | ACS 2024 |
| Change in dental offices since 2018 | Down 2.2% | Up 1.7% | 7th lowest of 25 | CBP 2018 to 2023 |
| Average pay, dental office jobs | $69,507 | $67,315 | 7th highest of 19 | QCEW 2024 |
| Dental offices | 3,029 | Not compared | Not compared | CBP 2023 |
| Private dental office jobs | 17,868 | Not compared | Not compared | QCEW 2024 |
| Residents | 4,648,486 | Not compared | Not compared | ACS 2024 |
| Average pay, all private jobs | $139,002 | Not compared | Not compared | QCEW 2024 |
What stands out
The American Community Survey puts the metro's median household income at $135,590 for 2024, with a published margin of error of $2,210 (American Community Survey).
That is the highest of the 25 largest metros, 47% above their median of $92,344 (American Community Survey).
3,029 dental offices against 4,566,961 residents in 2023 works out to 6.6 for every 10,000 people, the 2nd highest of the 25 largest metros (County Business Patterns, American Community Survey).
That is one dental office for every 1,508 residents.
The median of the 25 is 4.4, so this metro has 50% more per resident than the middle one (County Business Patterns).
More practices per resident means more of them sharing each neighborhood's searches.
Counted over the same 5 counties in both years, the metro had 3,098 dental offices in 2018 and 3,029 in 2023 (County Business Patterns).
That is a fall of 2.2%, the 7th lowest change of the 25 largest metros, where the median is a rise of 1.7% (County Business Patterns).
So there are fewer practices to compete with than in 2018.
BLS counted 17,868 private dental office jobs in the metro in 2024, paying $69,507 a year on average, against $139,002 for all private jobs there (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages).
That is 50% below the metro's all-industry average, and the 7th highest 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.
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 Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro: 5.9
- Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro: 4.3
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro: 5.4
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro: 5.4
The same metro, other fields
- HVAC in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro
- Chiropractors in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro
Working with us in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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 Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro?
3,029 in 2023 in the Census's table for the metro, counting establishments with paid employees, or 6.6 for every 10,000 residents (County Business Patterns).
Is the number of dental offices in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro growing?
No. It fell 2.2% from 2018 to 2023, from 3,098 to 3,029 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 ENUC4186105621210, private jobs
- BLS series ENUC4186505621210, average annual pay for private jobs
- American Community Survey 2024 1-year, this metro
- BLS series ENUC418650510, 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.