Kennel Attendant Salary in Maine
Animal caretakers in Maine — SOC 39-2021, an occupation spanning all industries, not only veterinary practices — earned a median annual wage of $37,230 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,870 or 5% above the national median of $35,360.
That ranks 10th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distribution is tight: Maine runs ahead of the national figures at every percentile through the 75th, but the 90th percentile is 3% below the national level, and the $17,170 span is well under the national $22,810.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$31,360
25th percentile
$35,250
75th percentile
$44,000
90th percentile
$48,530
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Maine, SOC 39-2021 (Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Maine vs. the national figures
The Maine median is above the national median by 5%. Among the 51 jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes a Animal Caretakers (SOC 39-2021) median for May 2025, it ranks 10th, and 40th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Ahead through the 75th percentile, behind at the top
Maine's position against the national figures flips once, near the top of the distribution.
At the bottom it is well ahead: the 10th percentile, $31,360, is $4,110 or 15% above the national $27,250, and the 25th percentile, $35,250, is $5,430 or 18% above — the largest edge anywhere in the distribution.
The median is $1,870 or 5% above, and the 75th percentile, $44,000, is $3,950 or 10% above the national $40,050.
Only at the 90th percentile does Maine fall behind: $48,530 against $50,060, $1,530 or 3% lower.
Benchmarking an offer against the national 90th percentile alone would understate how strong the rest of the Maine distribution is.
A tight span: a high floor, a low ceiling
Half of the Maine workers counted earned between $35,250 and $44,000 — a band $8,750 wide, against $10,230 nationally.
The full span from the 10th to the 90th percentile is $17,170, well under the national $22,810: the Maine floor sits high and the ceiling sits low, so the occupation's pay range is narrower overall.
Within the band, the median sits $1,980 above the 25th percentile but $6,770 below the 75th — much closer to the bottom of the band than the top.
OEWS does not publish why a distribution has this shape, and this row spans every industry, so this page does not assign it a cause.
Holding an hourly posting against these figures
The Maine hourly median is $17.90, against $17.00 nationally — a 5% gap, matching the annual median.
The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so it is the figure to hold an hourly posting against.
Before comparing a posted rate with the annual percentiles, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled.
A small share of a small-state workforce
BLS estimates 1,430 animal caretakers were employed in Maine across all industries — 40th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The estimate is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of openings, and BLS publishes no state count of how many of them work in veterinary settings.
The total moves with the size of Maine's workforce across all industries, so read it as scale, not as a signal about job availability.
Against the Maine vet tech median
In the same release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Maine have a median of $50,810 — $13,580, or 36%, more than the all-industry animal caretaker median on this page.
The comparison sets a veterinary occupation against one that spans all industries, so it is context for someone weighing a move into technician work, not a measure of what veterinary kennel work pays.
Same release, same state: veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) in Maine have a median of $50,810 ($24.43/hr) — $13,580 above the animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Maine →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median kennel attendant salary in Maine?
No federal wage series isolates kennel attendants.
The closest is SOC 39-2021, Animal Caretakers, which covers all industries; its Maine median annual wage was $37,230 in May 2025, or $17.90 an hour.
Half of the animal caretakers counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the occupation is $35,360, so Maine sits 5% above it.
What do the top-paid animal caretakers in Maine earn?
The Maine 90th percentile is $48,530, so one in ten animal caretakers counted across all industries earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $50,060, so Maine's top tenth sits 3% below the national figure — the only point in the distribution where the state trails.
The 75th percentile is the opposite: $44,000 in Maine, $3,950 or 10% above the national $40,050.
What does the low end of the Maine distribution look like?
The Maine 10th percentile is $31,360, so one in ten animal caretakers counted across all industries earned less than that.
Nationally the 10th percentile is $27,250, so the Maine floor is $4,110 or 15% higher.
The 25th percentile shows the same pattern — $35,250 in Maine against $29,820 nationally, an 18% difference.
How does this all-industry figure compare with vet tech pay in Maine?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Maine have a median of $50,810, which is $13,580 above the $37,230 median for animal caretakers across all industries — 1.4 times as much.
Only the technician figure is veterinary-specific, so treat the gap as context for a career decision, not as a promised raise.
More Maine Kennel Attendant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Maine, SOC 39-2021 Animal Caretakers (all industries), and SOC 29-2056 for the technician comparison (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-16)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOC 39-2021 percentiles (via O*NET OnLine) (retrieved 2026-08-15)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOC 39-2021 hourly median (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOC 39-2021, retrieved 2026-09-16. Page last updated 2026-09-24.