Veterinarian Salary in Washington

Every percentile in Washington sits above the national figure, not just the median.

At the median, Washington's $160,510 is $30,410, or 23%, above the national median of $130,100 — a gap that ranks Washington 3rd among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a veterinarian median.

The hourly figures move the same way: $77.17 against $62.55, also 23% higher.

The gap isn't flat across the range.

The 10th percentile runs widest at 31% above the national 10th ($97,140 against $73,920), while the 75th percentile is narrowest at 19% above ($197,370 against $166,120).

The 90th percentile lands close to the median's gap, 23% above the national 90th of $215,700.

A veterinarian weighing a Washington offer against national figures should expect the whole scale to run higher, most sharply near the floor.

The middle half of Washington veterinarians — everyone between the 25th and 75th percentiles — earned between $124,990 and $197,370, a band $72,380 wide.

The same band nationally is $64,660 wide, a larger dollar figure in Washington.

But the whole Washington distribution sits well above the national one, and once that higher level is accounted for, the Washington band is no wider around its median than the national band is around its own — if anything, proportionally tighter.

From the 10th percentile ($97,140) to the 90th ($265,600), Washington spans $168,460, against $141,780 nationally — again a larger span built on a taller distribution rather than a genuinely looser one.

Inside the middle band the median sits nearly equidistant between the 25th and 75th percentiles, only slightly closer to the floor.

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

BLS estimates that 2,390 veterinarians were employed in Washington, 10th among the 49 jurisdictions that publish a median — a workforce rank well below the state's 3rd-place rank by pay.

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 one employer fills a role, so read it as the size of the profession in the state today and nothing more.

Practising veterinary medicine in Washington takes a license from the Veterinary Board of Governors, part of the Department of Health.

The route layers a mail-home, open-book state exam — 50 questions worth 2 points each, with 90 points required to pass — on top of the NAVLE, and the state's page restates no numeric passing score for the NAVLE itself.

Endorsement is available under SHB 1724 to a veterinarian credentialed two-plus years in a state Washington deems substantially equivalent, with no discipline history.

Licenses renew on a birthday-based cycle with 30 hours of continuing education every two years.

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