Veterinary Assistant Salary in New Hampshire
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in New Hampshire — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $36,910 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,240 or 3% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 32nd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The shape is unusual: the 25th percentile sits 13% below the national figure, while the 10th percentile and the median are each only 3% below.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$29,160
25th percentile
$31,050
75th percentile
$44,510
90th percentile
$45,690
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — New Hampshire, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
New Hampshire vs. the national figures
The New Hampshire 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 32nd, and 35th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Close to the national figures except in the lower middle
New Hampshire sits just below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The 10th percentile, $29,160, is 3% below the national $30,120, and the median of $36,910 is $1,240, or 3%, below the national $38,150.
The 75th percentile, $44,510, is 3% below the national $45,710.
The outlier is the 25th percentile — $31,050, $4,610 or 13% below the national $35,660 — and the 90th percentile, $45,690, is $3,460, or 7%, below the national $49,150.
Someone benchmarking a New Hampshire offer against national figures would find the smallest gaps at the floor and the 75th percentile, and the largest at the 25th.
A wider middle band between compressed tails
Half of the New Hampshire workers counted earned between $31,050 and $44,510, a band $13,460 wide — wider than the national band of $10,050.
The state's span from the 10th to the 90th percentile is narrower, $16,530 against $19,030 nationally, because both tails outside the band are compressed: $1,890 separates the 10th and 25th percentiles against $5,540 nationally, and $1,180 separates the 75th and 90th against $3,440.
The low 25th percentile stretches the lower half of the band, leaving the median $5,860 above it, against $2,490 nationally.
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 New Hampshire is $17.74, against $18.34 nationally — $0.60 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.
770 employed — 35th among the estimates BLS publishes
BLS estimates 770 people were employed in this combined occupation in New Hampshire, 35th 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 New Hampshire vet tech median
In the same release, New Hampshire's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $48,780, which is $11,870, or 32%, above the median for this occupation.
On hourly figures the gap is $23.45 against $17.74, $5.71 more.
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 New Hampshire have a median of $48,780 ($23.45/hr) — $11,870 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in New Hampshire →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in New Hampshire?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose New Hampshire median annual wage was $36,910 in May 2025, or $17.74 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so New Hampshire sits 3% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire 90th percentile is $45,690, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the New Hampshire figure is $3,460, or 7%, 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 New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire 10th percentile is $29,160, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned less than that — 3% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120.
From there pay rises slowly to the 25th percentile, $31,050, and then more steeply to the median of $36,910.
The 25th percentile is the one point far below the national figure: $4,610, or 13%, under the national $35,660.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in New Hampshire?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in New Hampshire have a median of $48,780, against $36,910 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $11,870.
The technician median is 1.3 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 New Hampshire?
BLS estimates 770 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in New Hampshire, 35th 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 New Hampshire Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — New Hampshire, 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.