In May 2025, the median annual wage was $130,100 for veterinarians, $47,380 for veterinary technologists and technicians, and $38,150 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New veterinary graduates in the Class of 2025 who went into companion animal practice averaged $140,000 in starting pay, according to the AVMA.
Those are national figures. Your pay depends on your state, the setting, your experience, and how the job is structured, and the gaps between them are large. This guide breaks those factors down and shows how to compare offers.
Veterinary pay at a glance
BLS publishes the full wage distribution for each occupation. Here are the May 2025 annual figures:
| Role | 10th percentile | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veterinarians | $73,920 | $101,460 | $130,100 | $166,120 | $215,700 |
| Vet technologists and technicians | $35,710 | $38,910 | $47,380 | $57,650 | $63,180 |
| Vet assistants and lab animal caretakers | $30,120 | $35,660 | $38,150 | $45,710 | $49,150 |
Sources: BLS occupational profiles for veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, and veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers.
The median is the middle of the range: half earned more and half earned less. The percentiles show the spread. A tech at the 75th percentile earned about $10,000 more than the median tech, and a veterinarian at the 90th percentile earned more than $85,000 above the median vet.
Hourly, the medians were $62.55 for veterinarians, $22.78 for techs, and $18.34 for assistants.
Veterinarian salaries
New graduate starting pay
The AVMA surveys every graduating class. For the Class of 2025, average real starting pay for new graduates who took full-time jobs was about $129,000. By practice area, the averages were (AVMA News, October 2025):
| Practice area | Share of graduates | Average starting pay |
|---|---|---|
| Companion animal | 72.6% | $140,000 |
| Mixed animal | 10.9% | $112,000 |
| Food animal | 3.2% | $100,000 |
| Equine | 7.9% | $95,000 |
To calculate the shares, the AVMA counted graduates taking an internship in a species area together with those taking a job in it.
Most new graduates also received something beyond base pay. In the Class of 2025, 61% got a signing bonus, 37% a moving allowance, 15% student loan repayment, 10% extra pay for emergency cases, and 3% a housing allowance.
Internships pay far less. The average internship stipend for the Class of 2024 was $56,705 and the average residency stipend $54,847. For 2024 graduates who took full-time private practice jobs, average compensation was $131,210 (AVMA, Economic State of the Veterinary Profession 2025).
Debt shapes those numbers. The Class of 2025 averaged $212,499 in veterinary school debt among graduates who had debt, and the average debt-to-income ratio for new graduates entering full-time work was 1.4 to 1 (AVMA, January 2026).
How associate pay is structured
Among 2024 graduates who took full-time practice jobs, 67.4% were paid a base salary plus a production bonus, 31.7% a guaranteed salary only, and 1.0% entirely on production (AVMA, 2025). Under a production model, you earn a percentage of the revenue you generate, either on top of a base or instead of your base once production passes it. Ask how production is calculated, which services count, whether it's based on revenue billed or collected, and whether a production shortfall is ever deducted from future pay.
Where veterinarians earn the most
The highest state medians for veterinarians in May 2025 were (BLS):
| State | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| California | $163,920 |
| Maryland | $163,170 |
| Washington | $160,510 |
| New Jersey | $160,140 |
| Arizona | $152,020 |
The top metro areas were San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ($208,080) and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($192,160). By setting, veterinarians in veterinary services had a median of $129,990, compared with $121,890 in schools and universities and $115,210 in government (BLS).
Across all career stages, AVMA's census found average real income for veterinarians of about $154,000 in 2024 (AVMA News, October 2025). That figure is probably higher than the BLS median for two reasons. It's an average, which a smaller number of high earners pull up, and the AVMA survey includes practice owners, whom BLS wage data leaves out.
Vet tech salaries
The median tech earned $47,380 in May 2025. The highest state medians were (BLS):
| State | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $61,270 |
| California | $60,630 |
| Washington | $59,740 |
| New York | $59,010 |
| Minnesota | $57,270 |
The best-paying metro areas were San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ($71,090), Corvallis, Oregon ($67,960), and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($67,280).
Setting matters. Techs at colleges, universities, and other schools had a median of $52,200, compared with $47,170 in veterinary services. The highest-paying industries, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing and research and development, employ relatively few techs.
Self-reported figures run a little higher. NAVTA's 2024 survey of its members found average annual gross income of $53,759. It also found that 23% of respondents worked more than one job, mostly to supplement their income (Today's Veterinary Nurse, 2025). NAVTA members tend to be credentialed and engaged in the profession, so the survey probably skews toward experienced techs.
Specializing can open doors to advanced roles. Techs can earn the VTS credential in areas such as emergency and critical care, anesthesia, or dentistry. No national data shows how much extra the credential pays, so ask each practice whether it pays more for it. For how credentials work, see what a vet tech does.
Veterinary assistant salaries
BLS groups veterinary assistants with laboratory animal caretakers. The median was $38,150 in May 2025, and it was $37,930 in veterinary services. Assistants in research and development ($49,230) and at colleges and universities ($47,860) earned more, largely because research facilities employ laboratory animal caretakers (BLS).
The highest state medians were in Rhode Island ($49,770), the District of Columbia ($49,080), Massachusetts ($46,670), California ($46,260), and New Jersey ($46,160) (BLS).
The biggest pay jump for most assistants is becoming a credentialed tech. That usually means an AVMA-accredited program, which many people complete online while still working in a clinic, followed by the national exam.
What about relief vets and practice managers?
BLS wage data covers employees only. It leaves out practice owners and self-employed relief veterinarians, so neither shows up in the tables above. There's no official national survey of relief rates. Our relief veterinarian guide covers how relief pay is structured and what a day rate has to cover.
BLS doesn't publish a separate category for veterinary practice managers either. They fall under medical and health services managers, which mostly covers human healthcare. Industry groups such as the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association run their own compensation surveys for members.
How to compare offers
A salary number alone doesn't tell you which offer is better. Line up the whole package:
- Base pay and how it grows. Ask when the first review happens and what raises have looked like for others in your role.
- Production terms, for veterinarians. Get the formula in writing.
- Schedule. Hours per week, weekends, on-call, and emergency duty. $130,000 for four 10-hour days is a different job from $130,000 with on-call every third weekend.
- Benefits. Health insurance and your share of the premium, retirement match, disability and liability insurance, and paid time off.
- Professional costs. CE allowance and days off, license and DEA renewals, association dues, and credential fees.
- One-time money. Signing bonus, moving allowance, and student loan repayment. Check whether any of it has to be paid back if you leave early.
- Restrictions. Non-compete or non-solicitation clauses, and how far they reach.
Then compare the offer with local data, not just national data. A $60,000 tech job in rural Texas and a $60,000 tech job in San Francisco aren't the same offer.
Is veterinary pay rising?
BLS projects employment of veterinarians, techs, and assistants to each grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations (BLS). Pay gains have been uneven, though. The AVMA reported in 2025 that inflation continues to cut into real salary gains for veterinarians. Low pay was also the top concern in NAVTA's tech survey: 56% named it the most pressing issue facing the profession.
Next steps
Browse veterinary jobs on VeterinaryHire to see what practices near you are offering. Practices can post a job with a pay range and benefits so candidates can compare at a glance.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS profiles for veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, and veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, May 2025 national, state, and metro estimates.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook pay tabs for veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, and veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, with industry medians and projections for 2025 to 2035.
- American Veterinary Medical Association, Inflation continues to dampen gains in veterinarian salaries (October 15, 2025), preliminary results of the 2025 Graduating Senior Survey and Census of Veterinarians.
- American Veterinary Medical Association, Economic State of the Veterinary Profession 2025, 2024 graduate compensation and pay structure.
- American Veterinary Medical Association, Chart of the month: Average DVM debt climbing (January 27, 2026).
- NAVTA 2024 Demographic Survey, as analyzed in Today's Veterinary Nurse (Summer 2025; 1,404 member responses).
BLS figures are for wage and salary workers and don't include self-employed owners or contractors. AVMA figures are averages from surveys of graduates and members. NAVTA figures are self-reported by members. None of these sources adjusts for cost of living. Sources checked September 27, 2026.