Veterinary Assistant Salary in Nebraska
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Nebraska — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $36,100 in the May 2025 estimates, $2,050 or 5% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 39th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The shortfall is uneven: near even at the floor, 1% below the national 10th-percentile figure, and widest at the 75th percentile, 17% below.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$29,930
25th percentile
$34,130
75th percentile
$37,750
90th percentile
$42,050
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Nebraska, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Nebraska vs. the national figures
The Nebraska median is below the national median by 5%. 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 39th, and 34th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Below the national figures at every percentile, widest at the 75th
Nebraska sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The 10th percentile, $29,930, is 1% below the national $30,120 — effectively at parity — and the 25th percentile, $34,130, is 4% below the national $35,660.
The median, $36,100, is $2,050, or 5%, below the national $38,150.
The gap then widens sharply: the 75th percentile, $37,750, is $7,960, or 17%, below the national $45,710, while the 90th percentile, $42,050, is $7,100, or 14%, below the national $49,150.
Someone benchmarking a Nebraska offer against national figures should match the percentile first: near the floor the state is within 1% of the national figure, while at the 75th it falls $7,960 short.
A much narrower middle band than the national one
Half of the Nebraska workers counted earned between $34,130 and $37,750, a band $3,620 wide — far narrower than the national band of $10,050, whether measured in dollars or as a share of the median.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile the Nebraska figures span $12,120, against $19,030 nationally.
The tightness sits in the middle and the lower tail: the stretch from the 10th to the 25th percentile is $4,200 against $5,540 nationally, while the stretch from the 75th to the 90th, $4,300, is actually wider than the national $3,440.
Inside the middle band the median sits slightly closer to its top, $1,970 above the 25th percentile and $1,650 below the 75th.
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 Nebraska is $17.36, against $18.34 nationally — $0.98 less, the same 5% 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 900 people were employed in this combined occupation in Nebraska, 34th 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 Nebraska vet tech median
In the same release, Nebraska's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $43,680, which is $7,580, or 21%, above the median for this occupation — 1.2 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 Nebraska have a median of $43,680 ($21.00/hr) — $7,580 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Nebraska →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Nebraska?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Nebraska median annual wage was $36,100 in May 2025, or $17.36 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Nebraska sits 5% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Nebraska?
The Nebraska 90th percentile is $42,050, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Nebraska figure is $7,100, or 14%, 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 Nebraska?
The 10th percentile in Nebraska is $29,930 — one in ten workers counted earned less than that, and the figure sits 1% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120, effectively at parity.
The 25th percentile is $34,130, 4% below the national $35,660.
The state's range is tight at the bottom: $4,200 separates the 10th and 25th percentiles, against $5,540 nationally.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Nebraska?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Nebraska have a median of $43,680, against $36,100 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $7,580.
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 Nebraska?
BLS estimates 900 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Nebraska, 34th 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 Nebraska Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Nebraska, 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.