A USDA veterinarian is a federal employee.
This page covers the two USDA agencies whose veterinarian careers are published in their own career profiles and notices: the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), whose public health veterinarians inspect meat and poultry plants, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), whose Veterinary Medical Officers work in animal-welfare enforcement and animal health.
The deal is a published GS salary, federal benefits and a defined-benefit pension.
Here is the work in each, the pay, and the application on USAJOBS.
FSIS vs APHIS: what each agency's veterinarian roles involve
The two agencies on this page hire differently, and the first decision is which one you are applying to.
FSIS — the Food Safety and Inspection Service — hires Public Health Veterinarians (PHVs), and its own career profile lists the duties as antemortem and postmortem inspection of meat and poultry products, foreign animal disease surveillance, supervising the food inspectors on the line, egg products inspection, and enforcing inspection procedures including animal welfare laws.
APHIS — the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service — hires Veterinary Medical Officers (VMOs) and, on its own recruiting page, says it is actively hiring in two program areas.
Animal Care protects animal welfare by enforcing the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, conducting inspections and guiding compliance.
Veterinary Services works to protect and improve the health, quality and marketability of the nation's animals, animal products and veterinary biologics.
APHIS lists its open VMO locations by state.
This page is the deep dive on the USDA piece of the sector: the two agencies' day-to-day work, the GS pay structure, the incentives, and the application itself.
The wide-angle version of the job family — FDA, CDC, the uniformed services and the state layer alongside USDA — is our guide to public health and regulatory careers.
No published headcount
Neither the number of veterinarians USDA employs nor any "largest employer of veterinarians" ranking appears on a page we could verify, so you will not find either claim here. What is verifiable is what the agencies publish themselves: the duties, the grade levels and the pay in their own career profiles and postings.
What a day looks like in each agency
The FSIS day is anchored to a plant.
BLS describes food safety and inspection veterinarians traveling to farms, slaughterhouses and food-processing plants to inspect the health of animals and check that facilities follow safety protocols.
On the plant side, that means the duties FSIS lists — antemortem inspection before slaughter, postmortem inspection of carcasses and products, oversight of the food inspectors working the line, and egg products inspection — with the foreign-animal-disease surveillance and animal-welfare threads running underneath.
FSIS posts openings with nationwide locations and different shifts.
The APHIS day depends on the program.
In Animal Care, the work is enforcing the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act — inspections and compliance guidance.
In Veterinary Services, the work follows the health, quality and marketability of animals, animal products and veterinary biologics.
The hours are where the published data is clearest.
In the AVMA 2024 Census of Veterinarians, full-time veterinarians in federal government averaged 44.1 hours a week, and state and local government 43.7 — against 48.3 in industry and 51.9 at colleges and universities.
A federal job is still full-time work, but it is a shorter average week than the academic and industry ends of the profession.
Pay: GS grades, the posted FSIS range, and the incentives
FSIS grades its public health veterinarian roles at GS-11 to GS-12 in the 0701 Veterinary Medical Science series, with promotion potential to GS-12.
The agency's most recent public notice — open April 1 to June 29, 2026, and now closed — advertised a salary range of $74,678 to $145,468 a year.
The span covers the two grades plus locality pay, which varies by duty station, so neither endpoint is a quote for your zip code.
The same notice lists the money designed to move you:
- A $20,000 sign-on bonus, paid in four $5,000 annual payments and tied to a four-year service agreement.
- The SPHV Accelerated Promotion Program — a single accelerated career-ladder promotion to GS-12 in less than one year, with a mandatory training plan.
- Listed as potentially available: assisted relocation, creditable service for annual leave accrual, student loan repayment, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, accelerated promotion, and referral bonus awards.
Against the rest of the profession, two data series describe the shape.
In BLS OEWS May 2025 data, the median wage for all veterinarians was $130,100 — the middle half earned $101,460 to $166,120 — and the median for veterinarians in government (a series excluding state and local education and hospitals), $115,210, sat below veterinary services at $129,990.
AVMA's 2024 Census, a different measure (self-reported professional income, not wages), put the federal-government median at $142,721, above the $133,000 companion-animal-exclusive associate median and well below the $190,000 industry/commercial median.
Keep the two series separate when you compare — and note that the samples behind them are small (AVMA's federal row is n=28; its industry row n=69).
| Series | Figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| FSIS PHV posted range (Apr–Jun 2026 notice, closed) | $74,678–$145,468 | GS-11 to GS-12 with locality pay |
| BLS OEWS median, all veterinarians (May 2025) | $130,100 (middle 50%: $101,460–$166,120) | Occupation-wide wages |
| BLS OEWS median, government veterinarians, excl. state/local education and hospitals (May 2025) | $115,210 | Wages by industry of employment |
| AVMA 2024 Census median, federal government | $142,721 (n=28) | Self-reported professional income |
The posted range comes from a closed announcement
The $74,678–$145,468 figure is from the April 1 – June 29, 2026 FSIS notice, which has closed. Federal pay tables and locality rates move, and each announcement states its own grades and range. Treat every dollar figure on this page as a record of that posting, and confirm the live numbers on USAJOBS before making a decision.
Benefits: loan repayment, PSLF, and the federal pension
FSIS estimates its benefits package at approximately 38% over salary, and its own list of what that includes is specific: a defined-benefit federal annuity — a pension that pays a formula-based amount rather than tracking investment returns — plus health, dental, vision and life insurance, paid leave, and overtime pay at time and a half.
For graduates carrying veterinary school debt, the announcement's incentive list is the part to read closely: student loan repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness are both listed as potentially available for FSIS PHV roles.
Neither is automatic — "may be available" is the notice's own language — and the programs work very differently from each other.
Our guide to loan repayment programs covers how the federal programs veterinarians actually use are structured.
It is worth naming the trade the package represents.
A fixed GS salary plus a defined-benefit annuity is a different financial shape from a package where pay rises with production: less upside if your production would have run high, more certainty, and a pension in the deal.
Which side of that trade wins depends on your production potential and how long you would stay.
How to apply on USAJOBS: qualifications and conditions of employment
FSIS posts PHV openings on USAJOBS with nationwide locations and different shifts, and APHIS lists its open VMO locations by state on its recruiting page.
The rhythm matters as much as the listing — FSIS's most recent public notice ran April 1 to June 29, 2026, and the 2025 notice before it was also closed when we checked.
Two straight closed notices make a saved USAJOBS search with alerts the practical strategy, rather than waiting to stumble on a posting.
- Build the USAJOBS profile and resume before a window opens — stored documents let you move when a notice drops
- Search the right titles: "public health veterinarian" for FSIS, "veterinary medical officer" for APHIS
- Read the announcement itself for grades, salary, locality, duty stations and conditions of employment — it overrides everything, including this page
- Submit everything the announcement names before it closes
The basic qualification for FSIS GS-11 veterinarian roles is the degree itself: a DVM or VMD from a school accredited by the AVMA Council on Education.
For graduates of foreign schools, the notice lists the alternative routes — ECFVG certification, a full U.S. license including NAVLE, or an accepted equivalency — plus English proficiency.
A state license is not part of the basic U.S.-graduate requirement; it appears only as one of the alternative routes for foreign graduates.
More broadly, BLS notes that veterinarians employed by state or federal government may not need a state license because agencies differ in what they require — which makes the specific announcement, not any general rule, the thing to check.
The conditions of employment FSIS attaches are each a real step: a background investigation, a pre-employment medical exam, a one-year probationary period, and required training completed within 12 months of hire.
One distinction before you apply: a federal job is not the same thing as USDA accreditation.
The National Veterinary Accreditation Program is a separate credential for private-practice veterinarians — renewed every 3 years — whose accredited duties include completing certificates for domestic and international movement of Category I animals.
If that credential is what you are after rather than federal employment, start with USDA accreditation (private vets).
Is a USDA veterinary career a good fit?
The fit question is really two lists.
On the plus side:
- You think in populations and systems — the unit of work is a slaughter line, a disease status or a compliance case, not a waiting room
- You want the number published — GS grades and posted ranges trade negotiation room for a known salary
- You can relocate or already live near a duty station — FSIS posts nationwide locations and different shifts, and assisted relocation may be available
- The pension and loan-repayment doors matter to you — the package includes a defined-benefit annuity, and PSLF is listed as potentially available
- You want a shorter average week than industry or academia — 44.1 hours for full-time federal veterinarians in the AVMA census, against 48.3 in industry and 51.9 at colleges and universities
The honest minus column: if the ceiling matters more than the floor, AVMA's census puts the industry/commercial median at $190,000 against the federal $142,721 — with the caveat that both are small self-reported samples.
And if you went to vet school to practice medicine, be clear-eyed that the work both agencies describe is inspection, compliance and surveillance, not exam-room patients.
The roles treat populations, and the medicine is epidemiological rather than exam-room.
So the answer is a two-column exercise: the structure, the benefits and the population-scale mission on one side; the posted pay band and the absence of patients on the other.
Then go read the live announcements — in this sector, the announcement is the fine print of the offer.