Veterinary Assistant Salary in Alabama
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Alabama — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $35,800 in the May 2025 estimates, $2,350 or 6% below the national median of $38,150, ranking 41st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is where the gap is deepest: 19% below at the 25th percentile and 17% at the 75th, while the median and the outer percentiles sit closer to the national figures.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$27,970
25th percentile
$29,010
75th percentile
$37,970
90th percentile
$43,360
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Alabama, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Alabama vs. the national figures
The Alabama median is below the national median by 6%. Among the 51 jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes a Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers (SOC 31-9096) median for May 2025, it ranks 41st, and 32nd by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Behind at every percentile, furthest at the quartiles
Alabama sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The deepest shortfalls are at the quartiles: the 25th percentile, $29,010, is 19% below the national $35,660, and the 75th percentile, $37,970, is 17% below the national $45,710.
The gaps are smaller at the edges — 7% at the 10th percentile and 12% at the 90th, $43,360.
Someone benchmarking an Alabama offer against the national figures would overstate the middle of the state's distribution by $2,350 at the median, and by $6,650 or more at the quartiles.
A tight middle band with the median near its top
Half of the Alabama workers counted earned between $29,010 and $37,970, a band $8,960 wide — narrower than the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the state spans $15,390, against $19,030 nationally.
The median sits toward the top of that band: $6,790 above the 25th percentile and only $2,170 below the 75th.
The low end is compressed — the 10th and 25th percentiles are just $1,040 apart, against $5,540 nationally.
OEWS does not publish why a distribution has this shape, so this page does not assign it a cause.
Holding an hourly posting against these figures
The hourly median in Alabama is $17.21, against $18.34 nationally — $1.13 less, the same 6% gap as the annual median.
The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so it is the one figure to hold an hourly posting against.
For the rest of the range, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled before comparing a posted rate with the annual percentiles.
The employment estimate, for a combined occupation
BLS estimates 1,240 people were employed in this combined occupation in Alabama, 32nd among the jurisdictions that publish an employment figure.
That count includes laboratory animal caretakers as well as veterinary assistants, in a split BLS does not publish.
It is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period — not a count of openings, and not a measure of how quickly positions are filled.
Against the Alabama vet tech median
In the same release, Alabama's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $36,590 — 2% above the median for this occupation.
In hourly terms the two rows sit at $17.59 and $17.21, a gap of $0.38.
Read that as the distance between two BLS occupations in one state, not as a raise any one person should expect: the two rows count different groups of workers.
Same release, same state: veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) in Alabama have a median of $36,590 ($17.59/hr) — $790 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Alabama →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Alabama?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Alabama median annual wage was $35,800 in May 2025, or $17.21 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Alabama sits 6% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Alabama?
The Alabama 90th percentile is $43,360, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Alabama figure is $5,790, or 12%, lower.
Because the occupation combines veterinary assistants with laboratory animal caretakers, the figure cannot say which of the two groups sits at the top.
What does the low end of the range look like in Alabama?
The 10th percentile is $27,970 and the 25th is $29,010, so the bottom quarter of the distribution is compressed: the two figures are $1,040 apart, against $5,540 between the national percentiles.
Against the national figures directly, the Alabama 10th is 7% below and the 25th is 19% below.
A percentile marks a position in the state's distribution, not an experience level.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Alabama?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Alabama have a median of $36,590, against $35,800 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — the technician median is 2% higher.
The two figures describe different occupations counting different workers, so the gap is context for a career decision, not a promised raise.
How many veterinary assistants work in Alabama?
BLS estimates 1,240 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Alabama, 32nd among the jurisdictions that publish an employment figure.
That number combines veterinary assistants with laboratory animal caretakers, so it overstates clinic assistants alone by an amount BLS does not publish.
It is a headcount of people in jobs, not a count of vacancies.
More Alabama Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Alabama, SOC 31-9096 Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, and SOC 29-2056 for the technician comparison (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-16)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOC 31-9096 (via O*NET OnLine) (retrieved 2026-08-15)
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOC 31-9096, retrieved 2026-09-16. Page last updated 2026-09-24.