Veterinary Assistant Salary in Massachusetts
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Massachusetts — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $46,670 in the May 2025 estimates, $8,520 or 22% above the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 3rd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the ceiling: the 75th percentile sits 30% above the national figure, over a middle band more than twice the national width.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$35,460
25th percentile
$37,440
75th percentile
$59,290
90th percentile
$63,130
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Massachusetts, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Massachusetts vs. the national figures
The Massachusetts median is above the national median by 22%. 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 3rd, and 21st by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Ahead at every percentile, most of all at the 75th
Massachusetts sits above the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The 10th percentile, $35,460, is 18% above the national $30,120, while the 25th percentile, $37,440, is only 5% above the national $35,660 — the smallest lead anywhere in the range.
From there the gap widens through the middle: the median is 22% above, and the 75th percentile, $59,290, peaks at 30% above the national $45,710.
The 90th percentile, $63,130, eases to 28% above the national $49,150.
Benchmarking a Massachusetts offer against national figures would understate the median by $8,520.
A much wider middle band, with the median low inside it
Half of the Massachusetts workers counted earned between $37,440 and $59,290, a middle band $21,850 wide — more than twice the national band of $10,050, and wider relative to the median, too.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the state spans $27,670, against $19,030 nationally.
Inside the band the median sits low: $9,230 above the 25th percentile and $12,620 below the 75th, so the range extends further above the median than below it.
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 Massachusetts is $22.44, against $18.34 nationally — $4.10 more, the same 22% 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.
What the 2,130-person estimate counts
BLS estimates 2,130 people were employed in this combined occupation in Massachusetts, 21st 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 Massachusetts vet tech median
In the same release, Massachusetts's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $49,540, which is $2,870, or 6%, 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 Massachusetts have a median of $49,540 ($23.82/hr) — $2,870 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Massachusetts →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Massachusetts?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Massachusetts median annual wage was $46,670 in May 2025, or $22.44 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Massachusetts sits 22% above it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Massachusetts?
The Massachusetts 90th percentile is $63,130, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Massachusetts figure is $13,980, or 28%, 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 pay look like in Massachusetts?
The Massachusetts 10th percentile is $35,460 — one in ten workers counted earned less than that — and the 25th percentile is $37,440.
Against the national figures of $30,120 and $35,660, the floor sits 18% higher and the 25th percentile 5% higher.
The state's smallest lead over the national figures is at that 25th percentile, not at the bottom of the range.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Massachusetts?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Massachusetts have a median of $49,540, against $46,670 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $2,870.
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 Massachusetts?
BLS estimates 2,130 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Massachusetts, 21st 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 Massachusetts Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Massachusetts, 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.