Veterinary Assistant Salary in Pennsylvania
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Pennsylvania — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $37,140 in the May 2025 estimates, $1,010 or 3% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 28th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is where the shortfall opens: the 10th percentile is level with the national floor, while the 75th percentile sits 6% below, compressing the middle band to $8,050 against $10,050 nationally.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$30,010
25th percentile
$34,940
75th percentile
$42,990
90th percentile
$47,200
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Pennsylvania, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Pennsylvania vs. the national figures
The Pennsylvania 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 28th, and 11th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Level at the floor, furthest behind at the 75th
Pennsylvania tracks the national figures closely at the bottom and drifts below through the middle.
The 10th percentile, $30,010, is essentially level with the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $34,940, is 2% below.
At the median the gap is $1,010, or 3%, against the national $38,150.
It then deepens: the 75th percentile, $42,990, sits $2,720, or 6%, below the national $45,710 — the widest shortfall among the published percentiles — before narrowing again to $1,950, or 4%, at the 90th ($47,200 against $49,150).
Someone benchmarking a Pennsylvania offer against national figures would overstate the upper-middle of this distribution most, by $2,720 at the 75th percentile.
A middle band narrower than the national one
Half of the Pennsylvania workers counted earned between $34,940 and $42,990, a band $8,050 wide against a national band of $10,050.
The full 10th-to-90th span is $17,190 against $19,030 nationally, and most of that narrowing sits in the middle band, with the stretch from the 10th to the 25th percentile a little shorter than the national one ($4,930 against $5,540) and the 75th-to-90th stretch actually running wider — $4,210 against $3,440.
The median sits below the band's midpoint: $2,200 above the 25th percentile and $5,850 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 Pennsylvania is $17.86, against $18.34 nationally — $0.48 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.
What the employment estimate counts
BLS estimates 3,760 people were employed in this combined occupation in Pennsylvania, 11th 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 Pennsylvania vet tech median
In the same release, Pennsylvania's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $46,430, which is $9,290, or 25%, 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 Pennsylvania have a median of $46,430 ($22.32/hr) — $9,290 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Pennsylvania →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Pennsylvania?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Pennsylvania median annual wage was $37,140 in May 2025, or $17.86 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Pennsylvania sits 3% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Pennsylvania?
The Pennsylvania 90th percentile is $47,200, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, and the Pennsylvania figure sits $1,950, or 4%, 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 Pennsylvania?
The 10th percentile is $30,010, meaning one in ten workers counted earned less.
That is essentially level with the national 10th percentile of $30,120 — the floor in Pennsylvania tracks the national one — while the shortfall in this state concentrates higher up, peaking at the 75th percentile, 6% below the national $45,710.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Pennsylvania?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Pennsylvania have a median of $46,430, against $37,140 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $9,290, or 25%.
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 Pennsylvania?
BLS estimates 3,760 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Pennsylvania, 11th 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 Pennsylvania Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Pennsylvania, 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.