Veterinary Assistant Salary in Montana
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Montana — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $38,340 in the May 2025 estimates, effectively even with the national median of $38,150 (a 0% gap on whole percentages).
That ranks 16th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the shape: a middle band less than half the national width, with the shortfall concentrated above the median.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$29,430
25th percentile
$35,680
75th percentile
$40,270
90th percentile
$45,220
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Montana, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Montana vs. the national figures
The Montana 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 16th, and 42nd by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Even with the nation through the middle, behind it above
Montana tracks the national figures through the lower and middle of the distribution and falls away in the upper half.
The 10th percentile, $29,430, is 2% below the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $35,680, is even with the national $35,660 (0%).
The median carries the same 0% gap.
Then the ceiling: the 75th percentile, $40,270, is $5,440, or 12%, below the national $45,710, and the 90th, $45,220, is $3,930, or 8%, below the national $49,150 — the largest shortfall of the five sits at the 75th.
Benchmarking a Montana offer against national figures would overstate the upper half of this state's distribution.
A middle band less than half the national width
Half of the Montana workers counted earned between $35,680 and $40,270, a band $4,590 wide — less than half the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the state spans $15,790, against $19,030 nationally.
Inside the band the median sits close to the top: $2,660 above the 25th percentile and only $1,930 below the 75th, the reverse of the national arrangement, where the median sits $2,490 above the 25th and $7,560 below the 75th.
The compression is in the middle; the tails run wider in dollars than the national ones — $6,250 from the 10th to the 25th percentile (nationally $5,540) and $4,950 from the 75th to the 90th (nationally $3,440).
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 Montana is $18.43, against $18.34 nationally — $0.09 more, the same 0% whole-percent 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 combined-occupation headcount
BLS estimates 550 people were employed in this combined occupation in Montana, 42nd 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.
An estimate this size is also a reason to read every percentile card on this page as an estimate rather than a precise cut point.
Against the Montana vet tech median
In the same release, Montana's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $41,170, which is $2,830, or 7%, above the median for this occupation — a technician median 1.1 times this one.
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 Montana have a median of $41,170 ($19.79/hr) — $2,830 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Montana →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Montana?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Montana median annual wage was $38,340 in May 2025, or $18.43 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150 — a 0% gap on whole percentages.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Montana?
The Montana 90th percentile is $45,220, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Montana figure is $3,930, or 8%, 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 distribution look like in Montana?
The Montana 10th percentile is $29,430, 2% below the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $35,680, is even with the national $35,660.
The lower tail runs long: from the 10th to the 25th percentile the distribution covers $6,250, against $5,540 nationally for the same two positions.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Montana?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Montana have a median of $41,170, against $38,340 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $2,830, or 7%.
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 Montana?
BLS estimates 550 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Montana, 42nd 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 Montana Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Montana, 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.