Veterinary Assistant Salary in Utah
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Utah — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $37,560 in the May 2025 estimates, 2% below the national median of $38,150.
That ranks 21st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive part is the floor: the Utah 10th percentile is 6% above the national one, and the 10th-to-90th span is narrower than the national span.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$31,890
25th percentile
$35,810
75th percentile
$45,760
90th percentile
$49,100
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Utah, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Utah vs. the national figures
The Utah 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 21st, and 39th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Level with the national figures almost everywhere
Utah tracks the national distribution closely, with one clear exception at the bottom.
The median, $37,560, sits 2% below the national $38,150.
The 10th percentile, $31,890, is the one clear lead: 6% above the national $30,120.
The 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles are level with their national counterparts — $35,810, $45,760 and $49,100 respectively.
Someone benchmarking a Utah offer against national figures gives up almost nothing through the upper half of the range and gains a little at the floor.
A span narrower than the national one, pulled in at the bottom
Half of the Utah workers counted earned between $35,810 and $45,760, a band $9,950 wide — almost exactly the national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile Utah spans $17,210, against $19,030 nationally; the narrowing sits at the bottom of the range, where the national 10th percentile reaches $1,770 lower.
Inside the middle band the median sits low: $1,750 above the 25th percentile and $8,200 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 Utah is $18.06, against $18.34 nationally — $0.28 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 employment estimate for the combined occupation
BLS estimates 580 people were employed in this combined occupation in Utah, 39th 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 Utah vet tech median
In the same release, Utah's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $40,560, which is $3,000, or 8%, 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 Utah have a median of $40,560 ($19.50/hr) — $3,000 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Utah →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Utah?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Utah median annual wage was $37,560 in May 2025, or $18.06 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Utah sits 2% below it.
How much do the top-paid workers in this occupation earn in Utah?
The Utah 90th percentile is $49,100, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Utah figure sits at the same level.
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 Utah?
The Utah 10th percentile is $31,890, meaning one in ten workers counted earned less than that.
It is 6% above the national 10th percentile of $30,120 — the one point in the distribution where Utah clearly leads.
That figure sits $5,670 below the Utah median of $37,560.
How many veterinary assistants work in Utah?
BLS estimates 580 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Utah, 39th 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.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Utah?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Utah have a median of $40,560, against $37,560 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $3,000.
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.
More Utah Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Utah, 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.