Veterinarian Salary in Arizona

BLS publishes the full Arizona distribution: a median of $152,020 ($73.09 an hour), a 10th percentile of $81,990, a 25th of $125,210, a 75th of $205,030 and a 90th of $262,990.

The national figures in the same release are $130,100 at the median ($62.55 an hour), $73,920 at the 10th percentile, $101,460 at the 25th, $166,120 at the 75th and $215,700 at the 90th.

Because BLS attaches a wide error margin to the Arizona wage estimate, a gap between the two sets may reflect sampling as much as pay, so this page shows them side by side and does not measure the difference.

Hold an Arizona offer against the whole range rather than a single percentage.

The middle half of Arizona veterinarians — between the 25th and 75th percentiles — earned between $125,210 and $205,030, a band $79,820 wide, with the 75th percentile 1.6 times the 25th.

From the 10th percentile ($81,990) to the 90th ($262,990), the Arizona figures multiply 3.2 times.

With a wide error margin on the estimate, read these as the rough shape of the distribution BLS measured, not precise cut-offs.

OEWS publishes the distribution, not what produces it, so this page does not attribute the spread to any particular kind of employer or setting.

BLS estimates that 2,080 veterinarians were employed in Arizona, 14th among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median.

The count is a headcount of people working in the occupation during the survey period, not a number of open positions, and it says nothing about how quickly any employer fills a role.

The wide error margin BLS attaches to the Arizona figures is on the wage estimate, not on this count.

Read the employment figure as the scale of the profession in the state, not as a signal of how many positions are open.

Practicing veterinary medicine in Arizona requires a license from the AZ State Veterinary Medical Examining Board, and the route stacks two exams: the national NAVLE plus the Board's own State Veterinary Exam, which every main licensing pathway requires.

The Regular pathway is for an applicant who has taken the NAVLE within the past five years; an out-of-state veterinarian whose NAVLE was not taken within the past five years uses Endorsement, or Universal Recognition once they can show Arizona residency, and both still end at the State Veterinary Exam.

Licenses renew every two years and expire December 31 of even-numbered years, against 20 hours of continuing education per cycle.

A one-time 30-day temporary license bridges a pending application for someone already licensed elsewhere.

None of that changes with where a job sits in the wage distribution; the Arizona license requirements page covers each step with its citation.