Veterinarian Salary and What Moves It Up or Down

The national median veterinarian salary was $130,100 a year, or $62.55 an hour, in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The mean was higher at $142,680 a year, while annual wages ranged from $73,920 at the 10th percentile to $215,700 at the 90th percentile.

For students weighing veterinary medicine, that wide range makes the headline median a starting point rather than a prediction. You need to compare location, work setting, schedule and the full compensation package alongside the four-year professional degree required for practice. If you are considering another doctoral health career, such as dentistry, reviewing how much dentists make can also put veterinary pay in perspective.

Veterinarian Pay at a Glance

• The May 2025 national median was $130,100 annually or $62.55 hourly, while the mean was $142,680.
• The national spread was substantial, from $73,920 at the 10th percentile to $215,700 at the 90th percentile.
• California had the highest published state median and the most veterinarian jobs in the May 2025 state estimates.
• Veterinarian employment is projected to grow 9 percent from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3 percent for all occupations.

National Veterinarian Pay From Lower to Higher Earners

The median is the clearest answer to how much veterinarians make because it marks the midpoint of the wage distribution. Half of wage and salary veterinarians earned more than $130,100 in May 2025 and half earned less. The mean, sometimes called the average veterinarian income, was $142,680 because it represents total wages divided by the number of employees. Higher wages at the upper end can pull the mean above the median.

The national pay table below uses the BLS May 2025 OEWS estimates for veterinarians across the United States. It shows annual and hourly wages at five percentile points, along with the mean.

The pay table above shows why you should not treat $130,100 as a guaranteed starting wage or an income ceiling. The 25th-percentile annual wage was $101,460 and the 75th-percentile wage was $166,120, so even the middle half of the profession was spread widely. These points describe how wages were distributed among covered employees. They do not represent a fixed career timeline that every veterinarian follows.

The hourly estimates provide another useful comparison. They run from $35.54 at the 10th percentile to $103.70 at the 90th percentile, with a median of $62.55. BLS converts hourly wages to annual estimates using a full-time, year-round schedule of 2,080 hours, so a position with a different schedule may not produce the same annual total even if its stated hourly rate matches one of these figures.

What the Wage Figures Include

A real employment offer may contain more than the wage you see in a BLS table. The BLS definition of OEWS wages covers straight-time gross pay and excludes premium pay. The estimates also exclude employer costs for nonwage benefits, including health insurance and employer retirement contributions.

Excluded forms of pay include overtime, shift differentials, on-call pay, holiday and weekend premium pay, nonproduction bonuses and year-end bonuses. Production bonuses, commissions and incentive pay are included. This distinction matters in a veterinary role where compensation may combine a base wage with production-based earnings or where the schedule includes emergency coverage. When evaluating an offer, separate the guaranteed wage, included production compensation, excluded premium pay and benefits instead of comparing one total package directly with the national median.

Practice owners sit outside these figures entirely. OEWS covers full-time and part-time workers paid a wage or salary, but it does not cover self-employed workers or owners and partners in unincorporated firms. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reports about 91,100 veterinarian jobs in 2025, including 7 percent held by self-employed workers. The OEWS national employment estimate was lower at 83,900 because it measures covered wage and salary employment rather than every veterinarian job.

So the percentiles above describe veterinarians who draw a wage or salary. They do not tell you what a practice returns to the person who owns it, which is worth remembering whenever you read a figure for what vets earn.

How Work Setting Changes Pay and Daily Practice

Most veterinarian jobs are in veterinary services, but the profession also includes government, education, social advocacy and self-employment. The setting table below uses the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook’s 2025 employment shares and May 2025 median annual wages for the largest veterinarian work settings.

The setting table above shows a narrower span than the national percentile table. Median annual wages among the four settings with published figures ran from $115,210 in government to $131,760 in social advocacy organizations. Veterinary services had a median of $129,990, while educational services had a median of $121,890. Employer category therefore provides useful context, but it does not explain the full difference between veterinarians near the lower and upper ends of the national wage distribution.

Your choice of setting also changes the work itself. Most veterinarians work in private clinics and hospitals. Companion animal veterinarians in these settings most often treat cats and dogs, along with pets such as birds, ferrets and rabbits. Other veterinarians work in laboratories, classrooms or zoos. If research appeals to you more than clinical practice, IMA’s medical research scientist salary guide shows what that path pays.

Government and field-based roles can look very different from private practice. Food animal veterinarians visit farms and ranches to treat animals and prevent disease. Food safety and inspection veterinarians may travel to farms, slaughterhouses and food-processing plants, inspect animals and animal products and enforce food safety rules. These differences affect where you spend your day, whom you serve and whether travel or outdoor work is central to the job.

Veterinarian Salary by State

Location is one of the clearest differences visible in the wage estimates. The state table below presents employment, median annual wage and mean annual wage from the BLS May 2025 state OEWS estimates for veterinarians in the 49 jurisdictions with published figures.

The state table above shows that California had the highest published median at $163,920. Maryland followed at $163,170, Washington at $160,510, New Jersey at $160,140 and Arizona at $152,020. These are rankings by median wage, not by mean wage or number of jobs.

At the other end, South Dakota had the lowest published median at $88,650. Wyoming followed at $97,240, Oklahoma at $98,090, Montana at $99,390 and North Dakota at $102,180. The distance from California’s median to South Dakota’s is the full width of the published state medians, and it comes before you compare individual employers and compensation packages.

The states with the most jobs were not identical to the five with the highest medians. California led both measures with an estimated 9,170 employed veterinarians. Texas was second for employment with 6,270 and a $131,330 median, followed by Florida with 5,360 and a $131,660 median. Pennsylvania ranked fourth for employment with 3,490 and a $133,520 median.

If you are open to relocating, use the state figures to identify markets for further investigation rather than choosing solely by the highest wage. A state median tells you what the midpoint looked like across covered jobs. An actual decision still requires you to compare the offered schedule, included compensation, benefits and licensing requirements.

What Creates the Wide Pay Range?

The BLS figures show three practical sources of variation you can evaluate: where the job is located, which work setting employs you and what the reported wage includes. State medians span a much wider range than the four published industry medians, while the national difference between the 10th and 90th percentiles is wider still. No single employer category accounts for the entire spread.

When you compare positions, start from the same measure and remember what the wage estimates leave out. An offer that combines a base wage, production pay, emergency coverage and benefits has to be broken into its parts before you set it beside the national or state figure.

The work attached to the offer deserves equal attention. The BLS description of veterinary work includes examinations, diagnosis, wound care, surgery, vaccination, medical imaging, prescribing medication, advising owners and euthanasia. A clinic position may involve anxious owners and sick pets, while food-animal work may require travel, outdoor work and procedures in remote locations.

Schedule can also change how attractive a stated wage feels. Most veterinarians work full time and often work more than 40 hours per week. Some work nights or weekends and respond to emergencies outside scheduled hours. Because OEWS excludes on-call pay, overtime and weekend premiums, ask whether these duties are expected and how the employer compensates them.

How Veterinarian Pay Compares With Related Careers

Veterinarians earned a May 2025 median of $130,100, above the $103,500 median for healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners as a group and the $50,980 median for all occupations. The comparison becomes more specific when you look at careers with different responsibilities and educational paths.

In the BLS similar occupations table for 2025, dentists had median pay of $176,110 and physicians and surgeons had median pay of $275,930. Both typically require a doctoral or professional degree. IMA’s guide to physician compensation covers that profession in detail.

Optometrists had 2025 median pay of $136,570 and also typically enter with a doctoral or professional degree. That figure was closer to the veterinarian median than the dentist or physician figure. IMA’s optometrist salary guide breaks that figure down the same way this page does.

The veterinary team also includes occupations with shorter typical entry paths. Veterinary technologists and technicians had median pay of $47,380 and typically enter with an associate’s degree. Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers had median pay of $38,150 and typically enter with a high school diploma or equivalent. These roles work alongside veterinarians but do not carry the same doctoral education requirement or clinical responsibilities.

Veterinarian Job Outlook

The BLS job outlook for veterinarians projects employment growth of 9 percent from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3 percent for all occupations. Employment is projected to rise from 91,100 to 99,600, an increase of about 8,600 jobs over the decade.

BLS also projects about 3,100 openings each year on average. Many are expected to result from workers moving to other occupations or leaving the labor force, so annual openings are not the same as newly created positions.

The agency expects growth to be supported by increased pet-related spending, expanding treatment options and a growing, aging pet population. Veterinary medicine now includes complicated procedures such as cancer treatment and kidney transplants. For you, that points to growing demand through the decade, in private clinics and in the government, education and advocacy settings as well.

Training, Licensing and the Reality of the Work

Becoming a veterinarian requires a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM or VMD) degree from an accredited veterinary college. According to the BLS, the professional program generally lasts four years and combines classroom, laboratory and clinical education. Most programs devote the first three years to classroom, laboratory and clinical work, followed by clinical rotations during the final year.

Admission is competitive. Applicants typically have a bachelor’s degree, often in a field such as biology, and veterinary colleges generally expect coursework in biology, chemistry, animal science, math, humanities and social sciences. Some colleges prefer applicants who have studied agriculture or worked with animals on a farm, at a stable or in a shelter. Requirements vary, so you should compare the stated prerequisites of each program rather than relying on a universal experience-hour target.

Veterinarians must be licensed to practice in the United States. Every state requires completion of an accredited veterinary program and passage of a qualifying examination. Most states also require an exam covering their own laws and regulations, and veterinarians commonly need to meet the requirements of each state where they plan to practice. Government agencies may apply different licensing requirements to their veterinary employees.

The degree leads to meaningful clinical responsibility, but the work can be physically and emotionally demanding. Veterinarians may be bitten, kicked or scratched by frightened or injured animals and may face infection risks when treating diseased animals. They also care for abused animals, perform euthanasia and help anxious owners understand difficult choices. Strong communication matters because veterinarians must explain options clearly and direct the staff supporting animal care.

Before committing to the educational path, compare the time required with the work and compensation you are seeking. IMA’s framework for weighing debt against salary works through that math for medical school and lists the questions worth asking about any professional degree.

Deciding Whether Veterinary Medicine Fits You

The national median is a strong figure for a four-year professional degree, but the decision reaches well beyond one number. Consider where you are willing to work, whether you prefer a clinic, field, government or educational setting and how you feel about long schedules, emergencies, physical risks and emotionally difficult conversations.

Your next step is to compare veterinary programs and observe the work closely enough to understand its daily demands. When you eventually evaluate employment offers, compare the same wage measure, identify what is excluded and review schedule, benefits and licensing obligations alongside the stated pay. That approach will give you a more useful answer than choosing a career or job from a national median alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Do Veterinarians Make an Hour?

Veterinarians had a median hourly wage of $62.55 in May 2025. The hourly estimates ranged from $35.54 at the 10th percentile to $103.70 at the 90th percentile. BLS annual estimates assume 2,080 hours of full-time, year-round work.

What Is the Difference Between Average and Median Veterinarian Income?

The median veterinarian income was $130,100 in May 2025, while the mean was $142,680. The median divides workers into two equal halves. The mean adds covered wages and divides the total by the number of employees, so higher wages can pull it above the median.

Which States Pay Veterinarians the Most?

California had the highest published May 2025 median veterinarian wage at $163,920. Maryland, Washington, New Jersey and Arizona completed the five highest-ranked jurisdictions by annual median wage.

Does Private Practice Pay Less Than Government or University Work?

No, not according to the May 2025 industry medians. Veterinary services had a median of $129,990, compared with $121,890 in educational services and $115,210 in government. Social advocacy organizations had the highest of the four published setting medians at $131,760.

Why Is the Veterinarian Pay Range So Wide?

The published figures show substantial differences by geography, work setting and position within the national wage distribution. They also exclude benefits and several kinds of premium pay, so compensation packages that look similar at first may contain different components. No single work setting explains the full national spread.

Does the BLS Veterinarian Salary Include Bonuses and Benefits?

It includes production bonuses, commissions and other incentive pay but excludes nonproduction bonuses, year-end bonuses and employer costs for benefits such as health insurance and retirement contributions. OEWS also excludes overtime, on-call pay, shift differentials and holiday or weekend premium pay.

Is the Veterinarian Job Market Growing?

Yes. Veterinarian employment is projected to grow 9 percent from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3 percent across all occupations. BLS projects about 3,100 openings per year on average, including openings created when workers leave the profession or labor force.

What Degree and License Does a Veterinarian Need?

A veterinarian generally needs a four-year DVM or VMD from an accredited veterinary college and a license to practice. Every state requires graduates to pass a qualifying examination, and most states also require an exam covering state laws and regulations.