Veterinary Assistant Salary in Ohio
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Ohio — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $36,340 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,810 or 5% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 37th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the compressed middle: half of the workers counted earned within a $4,590 band, while the 90th percentile comes within 4% of the national one.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$29,330
25th percentile
$34,070
75th percentile
$38,660
90th percentile
$47,070
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Ohio, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Ohio vs. the national figures
The Ohio 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 37th, and 7th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Behind the national figures at every percentile, most of all at the 75th
Ohio sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The shortfall is shallow through the lower half: the 10th percentile is 3% below the national $30,120, the 25th is $1,590 below the national $35,660, and the median is $1,810 below.
It deepens sharply at the 75th percentile — $38,660, which is $7,050 or 15% below the national $45,710 — then narrows again at the top, where the 90th percentile, $47,070, is $2,080 or 4% below the national $49,150.
Measured against national figures, an Ohio offer looks weakest at the 75th percentile — the point where the national benchmark most overstates what the occupation pays in Ohio.
A compressed middle band with a stretched top
Half of the Ohio workers counted earned between $34,070 and $38,660, a band $4,590 wide — less than half the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile Ohio spans $17,740, against $19,030 nationally.
The shape is a compressed middle with a stretched top: the lower tail runs $4,740 from the 10th percentile to the 25th, against $5,540 nationally, while $8,410 separates the 75th percentile from the 90th, against $3,440 nationally.
Inside the middle band the median sits almost exactly at the center — $2,270 above the 25th percentile and $2,320 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 Ohio is $17.47, against $18.34 nationally — $0.87 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 top-ten employment estimate, for a combined occupation
BLS estimates 4,640 people were employed in this combined occupation in Ohio, 7th 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 Ohio vet tech median
In the same release, Ohio's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $47,990, which is $11,650, or 32%, above the median for this occupation — 1.3 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 Ohio have a median of $47,990 ($23.07/hr) — $11,650 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Ohio →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Ohio?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Ohio median annual wage was $36,340 in May 2025, or $17.47 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Ohio sits 5% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Ohio?
The Ohio 90th percentile is $47,070, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Ohio figure is $2,080, or 4%, 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 Ohio?
The Ohio 10th percentile is $29,330, 3% below the national 10th percentile of $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $34,070, is $1,590 or 4% below the national $35,660.
The shortfall at the bottom is modest next to the 75th percentile, which sits $7,050 or 15% below the national figure.
A percentile is a position in the distribution, not where any individual worker starts.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Ohio?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Ohio have a median of $47,990, against $36,340 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $11,650, or 32% on this occupation's median.
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 Ohio?
BLS estimates 4,640 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Ohio, 7th 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 Ohio Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Ohio, 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.