Veterinary Assistant Salary in Texas
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Texas — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $34,850 in the May 2025 estimates, $3,300 or 9% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 44th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the floor: the Texas 10th percentile is 20% below the national one, while the gap narrows to 5% by the 75th percentile.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$24,070
25th percentile
$29,340
75th percentile
$43,270
90th percentile
$46,890
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Texas, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Texas vs. the national figures
The Texas median is below the national median by 9%. 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 44th, and 2nd by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Below the national figures at every percentile, most of all at the floor
Texas sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.
The 10th percentile, $24,070, is 20% below the national $30,120, and the 25th is 18% below.
At the median the gap is 9% — $34,850 against $38,150.
It then narrows sharply: the 75th percentile, $43,270, is 5% below the national $45,710, and the 90th, $46,890, is 5% below $49,150.
Someone benchmarking a Texas offer against national figures would overstate the middle of this distribution by $3,300 at the median.
A wider band than the national one, with the median sitting low inside it
Half of the Texas workers counted earned between $29,340 and $43,270, a band $13,930 wide — wider than the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile Texas spans $22,820, against $19,030 nationally.
Inside the middle band the median sits low: $5,510 above the 25th percentile and $8,420 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 Texas is $16.75, against $18.34 nationally — $1.59 less, the same 9% 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 large workforce — counted as one combined occupation
BLS estimates 8,440 people were employed in this combined occupation in Texas, 2nd 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 Texas vet tech median
In the same release, Texas's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $39,410, which is $4,560, or 13%, 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.
On hourly medians the spacing is similar — $18.95 against $16.75.
Same release, same state: veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) in Texas have a median of $39,410 ($18.95/hr) — $4,560 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Texas →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Texas?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Texas median annual wage was $34,850 in May 2025, or $16.75 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Texas sits 9% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Texas?
The Texas 90th percentile is $46,890, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Texas figure is $2,260, or 5%, 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 Texas?
The Texas 10th percentile is $24,070 and the 25th is $29,340 — one in ten workers counted earned less than the first figure, one in four less than the second.
Against the national percentiles of $30,120 and $35,660, the Texas figures sit 20% and 18% lower, so the distance to the nation is widest at the bottom of the range.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Texas?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Texas have a median of $39,410, against $34,850 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $4,560, or 13%.
The technician median is 1.1 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 Texas?
BLS estimates 8,440 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Texas, 2nd 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 Texas Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Texas, 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.