Veterinary Assistant Salary in Alaska
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Alaska — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $36,490 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,660 or 4% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 35th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the shape: the 10th and 25th percentiles nearly touch, the 75th and 90th nearly touch, and the middle band between them runs $18,530 wide against a national $10,050.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$27,690
25th percentile
$28,230
75th percentile
$46,760
90th percentile
$47,010
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Alaska, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Alaska vs. the national figures
The Alaska median is below the national median by 4%. 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 35th, and 50th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Below the national line everywhere but the 75th percentile
Alaska sits below the national figures at most percentiles, but not by the same margin — and not everywhere.
The 10th percentile, $27,690, is 8% below the national $30,120, while the 25th percentile, $28,230, is 21% below the national $35,660 — the deepest gap in the distribution.
At the median the gap is 4%, $36,490 against $38,150.
Then the lines cross: the 75th percentile, $46,760, is $1,050, or 2%, above the national $45,710 — the only percentile where Alaska leads — before the 90th falls back to 4% below at $47,010.
An offer benchmarked only against the national median would undersell the upper-middle of this distribution.
A much wider middle band inside a similar overall span
Half of the Alaska workers counted earned between $28,230 and $46,760, a middle band $18,530 wide, against a national band of $10,050.
Yet the 10th-to-90th span, $19,320, sits close to the national $19,030, because both ends of the Alaska distribution are compressed: the 10th and 25th percentiles nearly touch at the bottom, and the 75th and 90th percentiles nearly touch at the top — nationally those pairs sit $5,540 and $3,440 apart.
In practice, pay above the 75th percentile barely rises further in this release.
Inside the band the median sits low — $8,260 above the 25th percentile and $10,270 below the 75th.
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 Alaska is $17.54, against $18.34 nationally — $0.80 less, the same 4% 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.
A small employment estimate, 50th among those that publish one
BLS estimates 130 people were employed in this combined occupation in Alaska, 50th 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.
With an estimate this small, read every other figure on this page as resting on it.
Against the Alaska vet tech median
In the same release, Alaska's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $46,480, which is $9,990, or 27%, above the median for this occupation.
The technician median is 1.3 times this occupation's median.
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 Alaska have a median of $46,480 ($22.35/hr) — $9,990 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Alaska →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Alaska?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Alaska median annual wage was $36,490 in May 2025, or $17.54 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Alaska sits 4% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Alaska?
The Alaska 90th percentile is $47,010, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Alaska figure is $2,140, or 4%, 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 pay range look like in Alaska?
The Alaska 10th percentile is $27,690, $2,430 or 8% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120.
The floor is compressed: the 10th and 25th percentiles nearly touch, so workers at those two positions in the distribution earned close to the same amount in this release.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Alaska?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Alaska have a median of $46,480, against $36,490 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $9,990.
The technician median is 1.3 times this occupation's median.
The two figures describe different occupations, so the gap is context for a career decision, not a promised raise.
How many veterinary assistants work in Alaska?
BLS estimates 130 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Alaska, 50th 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 Alaska Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Alaska, 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.