Veterinary Assistant Salary in Nevada
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Nevada — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $36,920 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,230 or 3% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 31st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the compressed bottom half: the 10th percentile sits just $1,000 under the median, and it is 19% above the national 10th percentile.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$35,920
25th percentile
$36,330
75th percentile
$42,470
90th percentile
$47,910
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Nevada, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Nevada vs. the national figures
The Nevada median is below the national median by 3%. 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 31st, and 30th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Above the national floor, behind from the median up
Nevada leads the national figures at the bottom of the distribution and trails them from the middle up.
The 10th percentile, $35,920, is $5,800 or 19% above the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $36,330, is 2% above the national $35,660.
The order flips at the median: $1,230, or 3%, below the national $38,150.
The 75th percentile, $42,470, is $3,240 or 7% below the national $45,710, and the 90th, $47,910, is $1,240 or 3% below the national $49,150.
Someone holding a Nevada offer against national figures would find the national median overstates the middle of the Nevada distribution by $1,230.
A far narrower range than the national one
Half of the Nevada workers counted earned between $36,330 and $42,470, a band $6,140 wide against the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile Nevada spans $11,990, against $19,030 nationally.
The compression is heaviest in the bottom half: just $1,000 separates the 10th percentile from the median, where the gap nationally is $8,030.
Inside the middle band the median sits low — 2% above the 25th percentile and $5,550 below 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 Nevada is $17.75, against $18.34 nationally — $0.59 less, the same 3% 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 mid-sized employment estimate, for a combined occupation
BLS estimates 1,380 people were employed in this combined occupation in Nevada, 30th 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 Nevada vet tech median
In the same release, Nevada's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $50,250, which is $13,330, or 36%, above the median for this occupation — 1.4 times this occupation's median.
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 Nevada have a median of $50,250 ($24.16/hr) — $13,330 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Nevada →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Nevada?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Nevada median annual wage was $36,920 in May 2025, or $17.75 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Nevada sits 3% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Nevada?
The Nevada 90th percentile is $47,910, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Nevada figure is $1,240, or 3%, 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 pay look like in Nevada?
The Nevada 10th percentile is $35,920, $5,800 or 19% above the national 10th percentile of $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $36,330, is 2% above the national $35,660.
The bottom half is unusually flat: only $1,000 separates the 10th percentile from the median of $36,920.
A percentile is a position in the distribution, not where any individual worker starts.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Nevada?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Nevada have a median of $50,250, against $36,920 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $13,330, or 36% on this occupation's median.
The technician median is 1.4 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 Nevada?
BLS estimates 1,380 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Nevada, 30th 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 Nevada Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Nevada, 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.