Okay, let's just settle this once and for all. Click the link at the bottom, which will send you to the income guide from the ADA survey center. Some people on this board are pulling numbers out of the air, and I hope that you will all at least believe the ADA numbers....(disclaimer: the data is from 1999 and the numbers will have increased since then-considerably faster than the cost of living, but with a grain of salt, please).
To sum it up for you, the average GP regardless of age, region, etc. makes 158K/yr. The average specialist, 240K/yr.
As far as associates (nonowners), the average for someone that has been out of school LESS than 10 years is 100K/yr, while those associates who have been at it longer than 10 yrs make avg. of 118K/yr.
For all of you saying that you have a friend who "break 300K in the first year out" or something similar, I direct a hearty laugh in your general direction. That is TWICE what the AVERAGE is for ALL GP DENTISTS and 60K
more than the average specialist!!! If that is the truth, then they are what statistics term "outliers" (and rather far out, if you ask me)
🙂
Very simply, you see that an associate makes only an avg. of 100K/yr within 10 yrs. of exiting school. If you somehow think that you will be making that your first year out as an associate (working for someone to which you are not related), then you just simply are ignoring the stats. Sure, some people will make more than this, but once again, they are NOT the norm. Once again, I will say...expect to make an optimistic 75-85K net your first year out. Some will make more, some less-mainly depending on what kind of hours you work.
If you are walking into your dad's practice and are getting right into ownership of an already well-established practice, of course you will be making more from the get-go. That is mainly because (again, according to this study) the average overhead for a new independent dentist (less than 10 yrs out of school) is 65%, while the average of ALL solo dentists is 59% overhead. So, as I have said again and again, it is VERY hard to have 50% overhead at ANY time in your practice career, no matter what. My dad runs a mainly solo with 1 part-time associate practice with 1.2 million gross and 54% overhead, and it has taken him many years to get to that point.
Once again, sure, some people will walk out of school and into a great setup and make a good deal of money their first years...but...look at the statistics. The average is 100K for nonowners in the first ten years!!! Even if you are not an associate and are the SOLE owner, the average for you in the first ten years of GP is 136K/yr and 210K/yr for specialists. And that won't be the figure in the first few years if you start your own practice, buy a house, and are paying back mucho loans.
All of us will make good money in this business, but let's not ignore the stats. They also break it down by age in this study, which is interesting. Here is the link:
http://www.ada.org/prof/pubs/dbguide/newdent/income.html
