Veterinary Assistant Salary in Arizona
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Arizona — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $38,250 in the May 2025 estimates, level with the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 17th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the compression: the Arizona 10th percentile is 18% above the national one, while the 90th percentile sits 3% below.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$35,530
25th percentile
$37,010
75th percentile
$45,900
90th percentile
$47,460
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Arizona, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Arizona vs. the national figures
The Arizona median is in line with the national median. 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 17th, and 13th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Level in the middle, ahead at the floor, behind at the ceiling
Arizona holds even with the national figures through the middle of the distribution and parts company at the edges.
The 10th percentile, $35,530, is $5,410, or 18%, above the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $37,010, is $1,350, or 4%, above.
The median, $38,250, prints level with the national $38,150 — a 0% gap — and so does the 75th percentile, $45,900 against $45,710.
The direction reverses at the top: the 90th percentile, $47,460, is $1,690, or 3%, below the national $49,150.
An offer at the national median would sit squarely at the middle of this distribution, while an offer at the national 90th percentile would exceed the Arizona 90th percentile, $47,460 — a point one in ten Arizona workers counted earn above.
A compressed range, and a median that sits low in it
Half of the Arizona workers counted earned between $37,010 and $45,900, a band $8,890 wide, against the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the state spans $11,930, against $19,030 nationally.
Inside the middle band the median sits low: $1,240 above the 25th percentile and $7,650 below the 75th.
Read together with the elevated floor, the shape describes a tightly grouped distribution — but OEWS publishes where the percentiles fall, not why, so this page does not assign a cause.
Holding an hourly posting against the hourly median
The hourly median in Arizona is $18.39, against $18.34 nationally — $0.05 more, the same 0% gap the annual medians show.
The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so this 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 mid-sized workforce for a combined occupation
BLS estimates 3,340 people were employed in this combined occupation in Arizona, 13th among the jurisdictions that publish an employment figure.
The 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 Arizona vet tech median
In the same release, Arizona's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $46,300, which is $8,050, or 21%, above the median for this occupation — 1.2 times it.
The hourly medians run $22.26 against $18.39.
Read the gap 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 Arizona have a median of $46,300 ($22.26/hr) — $8,050 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Arizona →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Arizona?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Arizona median annual wage was $38,250 in May 2025, or $18.39 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Arizona sits level with it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Arizona?
The Arizona 90th percentile is $47,460, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Arizona figure is $1,690, or 3%, 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 Arizona?
The Arizona 10th percentile is $35,530 — one in ten workers counted earned less than that — and it is $5,410, or 18%, above the national 10th percentile of $30,120.
The 25th percentile, $37,010, is 4% above the national figure.
The floor is the part of the Arizona distribution furthest above the national figures.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Arizona?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Arizona have a median of $46,300, against $38,250 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $8,050.
The technician median is 1.2 times this occupation's median.
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 Arizona?
BLS estimates 3,340 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Arizona, 13th 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 Arizona Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Arizona, 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 2026-09-23.