Veterinarian Salary in Oregon
Veterinarians in Oregon earned a median annual wage of $128,880 in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 estimates — $1,220, or 1%, below the national median of $130,100.
That near-match at the middle masks a squeezed distribution: the Oregon 10th percentile sits well above the national floor, while the 75th and 90th percentiles fall further below the national high end.
BLS counted 1,660 veterinarians in Oregon, 21st of the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median.
10th percentile
$78,420
25th percentile
$98,570
75th percentile
$154,410
90th percentile
$205,850
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Oregon, SOC 29-1131 (Veterinarians). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Oregon vs. the national figures
The Oregon median is below the national median by 1%. Among the 49 jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes a veterinarian median for May 2025, it ranks 21st, and 21st by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Near the national median, but not across the range
At the median, Oregon sits close to the national figure: $128,880 against $130,100, a difference of $1,220, or 1% below.
The hourly median moves the same way, at $61.96 against $62.55, also 1% below.
The gap widens away from the middle, and it runs in opposite directions.
The Oregon 10th percentile is 6% above the national 10th percentile, while the 75th percentile is 7% below the national 75th and the 90th percentile is 5% below the national 90th.
A veterinarian benchmarking an offer against the national 75th percentile of $166,120 would be measuring against a level the Oregon distribution falls short of; the Oregon 75th percentile is $154,410.
A distribution squeezed from both ends
The middle half of Oregon veterinarians — everyone between the 25th and 75th percentiles — earned between $98,570 and $154,410, a band $55,840 wide.
The same band nationally is $64,660 wide.
From the 10th percentile ($78,420) to the 90th ($205,850), Oregon spans $127,430, against $141,780 nationally.
A tighter band means an Oregon offer near the median carries less room to swing far in either direction than a national offer would.
OEWS publishes the shape of the distribution, not what drives it, so this page does not assign the compression to any particular kind of practice or setting.
A mid-sized workforce, counted as people in jobs
BLS estimates that 1,660 veterinarians were employed in Oregon, 21st among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median — roughly the middle of the pack by headcount, not among the largest or smallest state workforces.
The figure counts people in jobs during the survey period, not open positions, and it says nothing about how quickly any employer fills a role.
It also does not explain why Oregon's distribution runs narrower than the national one; that shape is a property of the wages BLS recorded, not of how many veterinarians the state employs.
Read the employment count as the size of the profession in Oregon and nothing more.
What it takes to practice in Oregon
Practicing veterinary medicine in Oregon takes a license from the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board.
Every applicant passes the NAVLE — Oregon's own rule sets the passing score at 425 — plus the board's own open-book state exam, the JPE/RDT, with a minimum score of 95 on one part and a perfect 100 on the other.
There is no endorsement-without-exam path: an out-of-state licensee works under a temporary license but must still sit Oregon's next scheduled exam.
Renewal requires 30 hours of continuing education every two years.
Those requirements apply regardless of where a job sits in the wage distribution; the full Oregon license requirements page covers each step with its citation.
Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board (OVMEB)
Oregon licenses veterinarians through the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board.
Every applicant passes the NAVLE, with the passing score of 425 stated in Oregon's own rule, plus the board's open-book Jurisprudence Exam and Regional Disease Test, requiring at least 95% on the JPE and 100% on the RDT.
Renewal requires 30 hours of continuing education every two years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinarian salary in Oregon?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 estimate puts the Oregon median annual wage for veterinarians at $128,880, or $61.96 an hour.
Half of the veterinarians counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median in the same release is $130,100, so Oregon sits 1% below it — a gap small enough that the median alone says little about how an Oregon offer compares with the rest of the distribution.
How much do the highest-paid veterinarians in Oregon earn?
The Oregon 90th percentile is $205,850, meaning one in ten veterinarians counted earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $215,700, so the top of the Oregon distribution sits 5% below the national top.
The gap is wider at the 75th percentile: $154,410 in Oregon against $166,120 nationally, a 7% shortfall — larger than the gap at the 90th percentile.
What does the lower end of the Oregon range look like?
The Oregon 10th percentile is $78,420 and the 25th percentile is $98,570 — 6% above and 3% below the national figures of $73,920 and $101,460.
Those percentiles mark positions in the wage distribution, not particular jobs or experience levels, so they cannot predict what one employer will pay.
They do show that Oregon's floor sits notably higher than the national floor, even as its median runs slightly below the national median.
How many veterinarians work in Oregon?
BLS counted 1,660 veterinarians employed in Oregon in the May 2025 estimates, ranking 21st among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a veterinarian median.
That figure is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of open positions.
It says nothing about how easy or hard any one practice finds it to hire, only how many veterinarians the survey counted working in the state.
Do I need an Oregon license to work as a veterinarian there?
Yes.
Oregon licenses veterinarians through the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board, and every applicant passes the NAVLE plus the board's own open-book state exam, the JPE/RDT.
There is no endorsement-without-exam path for a veterinarian licensed elsewhere.
The Oregon license requirements page on this site walks through each step and its citation; confirm current rules with the board before you apply.
More Oregon Veterinarian Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Oregon, SOC 29-1131 Veterinarians (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-16)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOC 29-1131 Veterinarians (via O*NET OnLine) (retrieved 2026-08-15)
- Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board — licensing pages, as summarised on the Oregon license requirements page (retrieved 2026-09-16)
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOC 29-1131, retrieved 2026-09-16. Page last updated 2026-09-22.