Veterinary Assistant Salary in Maine
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Maine — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $45,510 in the May 2025 estimates, $7,360 or 19% above the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 6th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The lead is uneven: widest at the floor, 24% above the national 10th-percentile figure, and thinnest at the 75th percentile, 3% above.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$37,380
25th percentile
$39,640
75th percentile
$47,260
90th percentile
$59,790
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Maine, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Maine vs. the national figures
The Maine median is above the national median by 19%. 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 6th, and 37th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Above the national figures at every percentile, by uneven margins
Maine sits above the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The 10th percentile, $37,380, is $7,260 or 24% above the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile is 11% above.
At the median the lead is 19%, or $7,360 on $38,150.
The 75th percentile, $47,260, is only 3% above the national $45,710, while the 90th percentile, $59,790, is 22% above the national $49,150.
Someone benchmarking a Maine offer against national figures should match the percentile first: at the 75th the state adds just $1,550, while at the 90th it adds $10,640.
A narrower middle band than the national one, with the median high in it
Half of the Maine workers counted earned between $39,640 and $47,260, a band $7,620 wide — narrower than the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the Maine figures span $22,410, against $19,030 nationally — about the same share of the median in both cases.
Inside the middle band the median sits high: $5,870 above the 25th percentile and only $1,750 below the 75th, where the national median sits $2,490 above its 25th and $7,560 below its 75th.
The long stretch is at the top: the distance from the 75th to the 90th percentile is $12,530 in Maine against $3,440 nationally.
OEWS does not publish why a distribution has this shape, so this page does not assign it a cause.
Reading an hourly posting against these figures
The hourly median in Maine is $21.88, against $18.34 nationally — $3.54 more, the same 19% 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 workforce in a combined occupation
BLS estimates 690 people were employed in this combined occupation in Maine, 37th 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, and with a count this small the estimates can move between releases.
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 Maine vet tech median
In the same release, Maine's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $50,810, which is $5,300, or 12%, above the median for this occupation — 1.1 times it.
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 Maine have a median of $50,810 ($24.43/hr) — $5,300 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Maine →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Maine?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Maine median annual wage was $45,510 in May 2025, or $21.88 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Maine sits 19% above it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Maine?
The Maine 90th percentile is $59,790, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Maine figure is $10,640, or 22%, higher.
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 Maine?
The 10th percentile in Maine is $37,380 — one in ten workers counted earned less than that, and the figure is 24% above the national 10th percentile of $30,120.
The 25th percentile is $39,640, 11% above the national $35,660.
So even the bottom of the Maine distribution sits above the national one.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Maine?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Maine have a median of $50,810, against $45,510 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $5,300.
The technician median is 1.1 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 Maine?
BLS estimates 690 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Maine, 37th 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 Maine Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Maine, 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.