Veterinary Assistant Salary in New Mexico
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in New Mexico — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $37,500 in the May 2025 estimates, 2% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 23rd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the squeeze above the middle: the 75th percentile is 13% below the national one, leaving a $4,190 middle band against $10,050 nationally.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$29,870
25th percentile
$35,430
75th percentile
$39,620
90th percentile
$48,310
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — New Mexico, 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 Mexico vs. the national figures
The New Mexico median is below the national median by 2%. 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 23rd, and 43rd by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Below the national figures at every percentile — the gap sits at the 75th
New Mexico sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The floor is nearly level: the 10th percentile, $29,870, is 1% below the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile is 1% below as well.
The median, $37,500, is 2% below the national median of $38,150.
The one clear break is the 75th percentile: $39,620 against a national $45,710 — $6,090, or 13%, below.
By the 90th the gap has closed again, to 2% below the national $49,150.
Someone holding a New Mexico offer against national figures would overstate the upper-middle of this distribution by $6,090 at the 75th percentile.
A middle band far narrower than the national one
Half of the New Mexico workers counted earned between $35,430 and $39,620, a band $4,190 wide against a national band of $10,050.
The 10th-to-25th stretch is nearly identical to the national one, but the distance from the median up to the 75th percentile is much tighter — $2,120 against $7,560 nationally — while the 75th-to-90th stretch is much wider, $8,690 against $3,440.
The full 10th-to-90th span, $18,440, still lands close to the national $19,030, and the median sits almost centered in the band: $2,070 above the 25th percentile, $2,120 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 New Mexico is $18.03, against $18.34 nationally — $0.31 less, the same 2% 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 headcount in a combined occupation
BLS estimates 520 people were employed in this combined occupation in New Mexico, 43rd 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.
The data set carries no reliability measure with it, so read every figure on this page as the survey's estimate rather than an exact count.
Against the New Mexico vet tech median
In the same release, New Mexico's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $44,790, which is $7,290, or 19%, 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 New Mexico have a median of $44,790 ($21.53/hr) — $7,290 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in New Mexico →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in New Mexico?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose New Mexico median annual wage was $37,500 in May 2025, or $18.03 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so New Mexico sits 2% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in New Mexico?
The New Mexico 90th percentile is $48,310, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, and the New Mexico figure sits 2% below it.
Because the occupation combines veterinary assistants with laboratory animal caretakers, the figures cannot say which of the two groups sits at the top.
What does the low end of pay look like in New Mexico?
The 10th percentile is $29,870, meaning one in ten workers counted earned less.
That sits 1% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120, so the floor in New Mexico is nearly level with the national one — the shortfall in this state is concentrated in the stretch between the median and the 75th percentile, 13% below.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in New Mexico?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in New Mexico have a median of $44,790, against $37,500 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $7,290, or 19%.
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 New Mexico?
BLS estimates 520 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in New Mexico, 43rd 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 Mexico Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — New Mexico, 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.