Veterinarian Salary in North Carolina

At the median, North Carolina sits close to the national figure: $129,240 against $130,100, 1% below.

The hourly median tells a similar story at $62.14 against $62.55, also 1% below.

The percentiles don't move together, though.

The North Carolina 10th percentile is $77,650, 5% above the national 10th percentile of $73,920 — a higher floor than the country as a whole.

The 25th percentile reverses that pattern at $98,240, 3% below the national $101,460.

From there the state tracks close to the national line at the 75th percentile — $165,430 against $166,120, essentially level — before falling behind again at the 90th, $209,340 against $215,700, 3% below.

A veterinarian benchmarking an offer against the national 10th percentile would be comparing against a figure North Carolina exceeds; benchmarking against the national 90th percentile would be comparing against a figure North Carolina falls short of.

The middle half of North Carolina veterinarians — the 25th to 75th percentile — earned between $98,240 and $165,430, a band $67,190 wide.

The same band nationally is $64,660 wide, so the state's middle band is wider than the national one.

From the 10th percentile ($77,650) to the 90th ($209,340), North Carolina spans $131,690, against $141,780 nationally — a narrower overall range.

Inside that middle band, the median of $129,240 sits closer to the 25th percentile than to the 75th, rather than at the center.

OEWS publishes the shape of the distribution, not the reasons behind it, so this page does not assign the pattern to any particular kind of practice.

BLS estimates that 2,940 veterinarians were employed in North Carolina, 7th among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median, so the percentiles on this page summarise a sizeable group rather than a handful of practices.

The figure is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period.

It is not a count of open positions, and it says nothing about how quickly any employer fills a role, so read it as the size of the profession in the state and nothing more.

Practising veterinary medicine in North Carolina takes a license from the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board (NCVMB).

The Board does not accept reciprocity, so every applicant — including a veterinarian already licensed elsewhere — sits the NC Veterinary State Exam alongside a national exam: a NAVLE score of 425 or higher applies to anyone licensed fewer than five years, while veterinarians licensed five-plus years qualify through an NBE/NAVLE license-date chart instead.

Licenses renew every year for $170, with 20 hours of continuing education due each year.

Those steps are the same wherever a job sits in the wage distribution; the full North Carolina license requirements page covers each one with its citation.