The benchmark
What companies normally cover
The clearest reference point is medical, where the data is published every year. In 2025, employers covered the large majority of the premium and employees paid the rest.
| Coverage (medical, 2025) | Total premium | Employer pays | Employee pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $9,325/yr | ~84% | ~16% ($1,440) |
| Family | $26,993/yr | ~74% | ~26% ($6,850) |
Dental follows the same shape but at a smaller scale and a smaller employer share. Because dental premiums are a fraction of medical, roughly $9 to $14 per employee per month for the employer on a lean plan, the dollars are modest either way. The market norm is that employers contribute less to dental than to medical, and increasingly ask employees to carry more of it.
The dental picture
Dental is smaller, and going voluntary
Your choice
How the contribution actually works
You decide your share, and the decision has real levers attached to it.
Pay all, part, or none. Most carriers want the employer to fund at least half of the employee-only premium to issue a plan, and that 50 percent floor is also the threshold for the federal small-business tax credit. But several carriers, including Humana, Ameritas, Principal and Beam, allow a zero employer contribution and run the plan fully voluntary, with employees paying through pre-tax payroll.
Dependents are usually employee-paid. The common structure is that the employer contributes a percentage of the employee-only rate, and employees who add a spouse or children pay the difference. That keeps the employer cost predictable while still giving the whole family access.
Paying more buys you things. A higher contribution typically lowers the participation the carrier requires and can waive waiting periods, and pre-tax payroll returns about 7.65 percent in employer FICA savings while the contribution itself is tax deductible. So the true cost of contributing is lower than the sticker.
Tax outcomes depend on entity type, payroll and state. These are estimates; consult a qualified tax advisor.
Decide your contribution with real numbers
Set your headcount and split, and see the employee cost for self, spouse and kids alongside your monthly cost.
How we know
Sources
- Employer premium share (medical benchmark): KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey 2025; BLS Employee Benefits, March 2025.
- Dental offer rates, take-up and voluntary trend: BLS Employee Benefits, March 2025; NADP 2024 Dental Benefits Report.
- Group dental cost ranges: eHealth; MoneyGeek 2026.
- Tax mechanics: IRS Topic 751; HealthCare.gov SHOP credit.
KFF and BLS publish the medical contribution share; dental-specific employer-share benchmarks are looser, so we present medical as the anchor and dental as the smaller, increasingly voluntary line. No group dental premium is shown because carriers price each company individually.