Veterinary Assistant Salary in Louisiana
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Louisiana — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $30,480 in the May 2025 estimates, $7,670 or 20% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 50th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distribution is also unusually compressed: everything from the 10th to the 90th percentile fits inside a $9,110 span, against $19,030 nationally.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$28,400
25th percentile
$28,880
75th percentile
$35,830
90th percentile
$37,510
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Louisiana, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Louisiana vs. the national figures
The Louisiana median is below the national median by 20%. 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 50th, and 33rd by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Below the national figures at every percentile, most of all at the top
Louisiana sits below the national figures at every published percentile, and the shortfall widens going up.
The 10th percentile, $28,400, is $1,720 or 6% below the national $30,120 — the closest any point of the distribution comes.
The 25th percentile is 19% below, the median 20% below, and the 75th percentile 22% below.
At the 90th the gap is widest: $37,510 against $49,150, $11,640 or 24% lower.
Even the top of the Louisiana distribution sits below the national median of $38,150.
A far narrower distribution than the national one
Half of the Louisiana workers counted earned between $28,880 and $35,830, a middle band $6,950 wide against the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the state spans $9,110, less than half the national span of $19,030.
The median also sits low inside that band: $1,600 above the 25th percentile but $5,350 short of 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 Louisiana is $14.65, against $18.34 nationally — $3.69 less, the same 20% 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 — a combined-occupation headcount
BLS estimates 1,230 people were employed in this combined occupation in Louisiana, 33rd 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 Louisiana vet tech median
In the same release, Louisiana's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $35,530, which is $5,050, or 17%, above the median for this occupation.
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 Louisiana have a median of $35,530 ($17.08/hr) — $5,050 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Louisiana →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Louisiana?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Louisiana median annual wage was $30,480 in May 2025, or $14.65 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Louisiana sits 20% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Louisiana?
The Louisiana 90th percentile is $37,510, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Louisiana figure is $11,640, or 24%, 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 Louisiana?
The Louisiana 10th percentile is $28,400 — one in ten workers counted earned less than that, and it is the state figure that sits closest to its national counterpart, $1,720 or 6% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120.
By the 25th percentile the shortfall is already 19%.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Louisiana?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Louisiana have a median of $35,530, against $30,480 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $5,050, or 17% on this occupation's median.
The technician median is 1.2 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 Louisiana?
BLS estimates 1,230 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Louisiana, 33rd 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 Louisiana Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Louisiana, 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.