Kennel Attendant Salary in 2026: What Kennel Attendants Earn
25th percentile
$29,820
Median (50th)
$35,360
75th percentile
$40,050
90th percentile
$50,060
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 national release — SOC 39-2021, Animal Caretakers.
Kennel Attendant Compensation Structure
Compensation for kennel attendantsvaries significantly by employment type. Here's how the most common structures break down:
Bottom 10%
Typically new hires and lower-cost-of-living markets, across the full aggregate this occupation covers.
$27,250 or less
Middle 50%
The band most postings fall in, across boarding, retail, shelter and clinic settings alike.
$29,820–$40,050
Median
Half of animal caretakers earn more than this, half less — the all-industries figure, not a clinic-specific one.
$35,360
Top 10%
Drawn from across the full aggregate — including boarding, retail, and settings like zoos and stables — not from veterinary clinics specifically.
$50,060 or more
Kennel Attendant Salary by Setting
Both figures are BLS OEWS May 2025 medians for the same occupation code (SOC 39-2021). The all-industries row covers the full Animal Caretakers occupation — boarding, grooming, retail, self-employed, and zoo or stable work along with veterinary clinics. The veterinary-services row isolates workers employed in veterinary clinics specifically, and it comes in lower ($32,150 vs. $35,360), not higher — this occupation does not follow the pattern of clinic settings paying a premium.
What Affects Kennel Attendant Salary?
Read this figure carefully before using it to judge a clinic-based kennel attendant job, because the occupation code behind it is unusually broad.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts kennel attendants under Animal Caretakers (SOC 39-2021), a code that also covers pet sitters, groomers, shelter workers, and zoo, aquarium and stable caretakers. Only about 10% of the people counted in this occupation work in a veterinary-clinic-type setting — most work in boarding and grooming businesses, are self-employed, or work in pet retail. See the kennel attendant career guide for the full breakdown of where the occupation actually works.
Filtered specifically to veterinary services (NAICS 541940), the median is lower, not higher, than the all-industries figure above — see the setting breakdown below. That is worth stating plainly, because the intuitive assumption is that clinic work pays a premium over boarding or retail; the OEWS data says the opposite for this occupation.
Beyond the industry-mix caveat, the usual drivers apply: overnight, weekend and holiday coverage is routine in this role and is not always broken out as a differential in an advertised rate, and region moves the number as it does for any occupation. There is no formal credentialing step that raises pay within this role — the next paid step up is typically a move into a different occupation entirely, such as veterinary assistant, at a national median of $38,150, or a credentialed veterinary technician role at $47,380. Per-state data is not published on this page yet.