Veterinarian Salary in Washington, DC

At the median, Washington, DC sits close to the national figure: $134,530 against $130,100, a difference of $4,430, or 3% — a rank of 7th of the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median.

The hourly median tells a similar story at $64.68 against $62.55, also 3% higher.

Away from the middle the two distributions pull apart.

The DC 10th percentile of $69,990 is 5% below the national 10th percentile of $73,920, while the 25th percentile of $132,520 is 31% above the national 25th percentile of $101,460.

The 75th percentile of $193,860 is 17% above the national 75th percentile, and the 90th percentile of $294,160 is 36% above the national 90th percentile of $215,700.

A veterinarian benchmarking a DC offer against the national median alone would miss how much further the DC range reaches above it.

The middle half of DC veterinarians — between the 25th and 75th percentiles — earned between $132,520 and $193,860, a band $61,340 wide.

Nationally the same band runs from $101,460 to $166,120, a span of $64,660.

From the 10th percentile to the 90th, DC runs from $69,990 to $294,160, a span of $224,170; nationally the same span runs from $73,920 to $215,700, a span of $141,780.

The middle-half band sits close to the national one in width, but the range beyond it, toward the 10th percentile and the 90th percentile, reaches much further out in DC than nationally.

OEWS publishes the shape of the distribution, not what drives it, so this page does not assign the spread to any particular kind of practice.

BLS estimates that 190 veterinarians were employed in Washington, DC, ranked 48th of the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median.

That small a count means the percentiles on this page summarise a narrow slice of the profession rather than a broad cross-section.

The figure is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of open positions, and it says nothing about how quickly any one employer fills a role — read it as the size of the profession in the District and nothing more.

Practising veterinary medicine in the District takes a license from the Board of Veterinary Medicine, part of DC Health.

Licensure by examination pairs the education requirement with a NAVLE pass — the passing score set by the National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners rather than restated in DC's own rule — and a signed DC Board of Veterinary Jurisprudence Affidavit rather than a separate scored state-law exam.

Endorsement is available to a veterinarian licensed in another jurisdiction for at least the twelve months before applying.

Renewal takes 36 hours of continuing education per two-year licensure term, though DC Health has been transitioning licensees to a birth-month renewal cycle since June 16, 2024.

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