Local market data · Dental practices · Chicago
AI for dental practices in Chicago
The Chicago metro area had 4,918 dental practices in 2022, the 3rd most of 387 US metros and 4% of all in the country. They employed 31,468 people at an average of $55,715 a year. 79% have fewer than 10 staff, so the same few people answer the phone, book, follow up and do the paperwork. Those are the jobs AI tools take on today.
Talk through your practice with the person who builds it
A free 30-minute call. You leave knowing which part of your dental practice to hand to AI first, what we would build, and roughly how long it takes.
Dental practices in Chicago vs the US
| Chicago metro | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses | 4,918 | 136,140 |
| People employed | 31,468 | 1,031,957 |
| Average staff per business | 6.4 | 7.6 |
| Average yearly pay per employee | $55,715 | $57,734 |
| Share with fewer than 10 staff | 79% | 74% |
Pay here is 3% lower than the national average for dental practices, so every hour of staff time costs less to spend on admin. The average dental practice here has 6.4 people on payroll, 16% lower than the US figure of 7.6.
How big dental practices in Chicago are
Businesses with paid employees, by number of employees, March 2022.
Dental practices by county in the Chicago area
Cook County has the most, with 2,777 of the metro's 4,918 (56%). Among the 10 big metros on this page, Chicago ranks 7th for average pay and 4th for the share of small firms.
| County | Businesses | Employees | Avg pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cook County | 2,777 | 17,079 | $54,889 |
| DuPage County | 717 | 4,186 | $53,432 |
| Lake County | 407 | 2,536 | $61,323 |
| Will County | 306 | 2,085 | $55,758 |
| Kane County | 236 | 1,623 | $57,762 |
| Lake County | 181 | 1,589 | $52,152 |
| McHenry County | 135 | 976 | $62,049 |
| Porter County | 65 | 661 | $57,461 |
| Kendall County | 42 | 266 | $54,429 |
| DeKalb County | 31 | 265 | $75,328 |
| Grundy County | 12 | 97 | $67,289 |
| Jasper County | 8 | 97 | $40,278 |
Census withholds pay where few firms would make it identifiable.
Where AI helps a dental practice first
A dental front desk is usually the busiest, most interrupted job in the building. AI can take overflow calls, send recall reminders, fill cancelled chairs and follow up on treatment plans that were never scheduled. Because patient information is protected, any tool that touches it needs the right agreements first. Westward builds these with a person approving anything that goes out.
What your team's admin hours cost in Chicago
Change any number. The starting values are the Chicago averages above; the hours and the share are yours to set.
Those hours cost you$64,800 a year
The share you would hand off$19,440 a year
Hours your team gets back720 a year
See what we would build for thisGuides for dental practices, one job each
- Get more customers for dental practices
- Never miss a call for dental practices
- Follow up automatically for dental practices
- Booking and scheduling for dental practices
- More reviews for dental practices
- Marketing and content for dental practices
- Show up on Google and ChatGPT for dental practices
- Cut admin and paperwork for dental practices
- A dashboard that runs itself for dental practices
Dental practices in other big metros
| Metro | Businesses | Avg pay | Rank of 387 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 9,196 | $49,837 | 2nd |
| New York | 9,650 | $56,892 | 1st |
| Miami | 3,438 | $53,754 | 5th |
| Dallas | 4,048 | $58,773 | 4th |
| Houston | 3,326 | $53,218 | 6th |
| Atlanta | 2,410 | $59,334 | 11th |
| Washington | 3,296 | $65,038 | 7th |
| Philadelphia | 2,563 | $59,740 | 9th |
| Boston | 2,428 | $65,736 | 10th |
Where these numbers come from
From the U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 (released 2024), industry code NAICS 621210 (Offices of dentists), for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area (13 counties). It counts businesses with paid employees in March 2022, so solo owners with no payroll are not in it. Average pay is total yearly payroll divided by employees. The calculator uses 50 working weeks and 2,080 hours a year. Page checked 2026-11-12.
Find the hours your practice can get back
A free 30-minute call. You leave knowing which part of your dental practice to hand to AI first, what we would build, and roughly how long it takes.