Veterinary Assistant Salary in Vermont
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Vermont — BLS publishes the two as one combined occupation, SOC 31-9096 — earned a median annual wage of $37,290 in the May 2025 estimates, 2% below the national median of $38,150, which ranks 26th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
The distinctive feature is compression: half of the workers counted earned between $35,670 and $39,250, a middle band roughly a third as wide as the national one.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$30,690
25th percentile
$35,670
75th percentile
$39,250
90th percentile
$45,880
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Vermont, SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Vermont vs. the national figures
The Vermont 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 26th, and 45th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Even with the national floor, falling away above the middle
Vermont tracks the national figures at the bottom of the distribution and falls away above the middle.
The 10th percentile, $30,690, is 2% above the national $30,120, and the 25th percentile, $35,670, is even with the national figure of $35,660.
The Vermont median of $37,290 is 2% below the national median of $38,150.
The shortfall is widest at the 75th percentile, $39,250, which is 14% below the national $45,710 — a gap of $6,460 — while the 90th percentile, $45,880, is 7% below the national $49,150.
A middle band a fraction of the national width
Half of the Vermont workers counted earned between $35,670 and $39,250, a band $3,580 wide, against a national band of $10,050.
From the 10th to the 90th percentile Vermont spans $15,190, against $19,030 nationally.
Inside the narrow band the median sits nearly centered: $1,620 above the 25th percentile and $1,960 below the 75th.
What the compression does not tell you: the figures describe how pay was distributed in the survey period, and OEWS publishes no reason a state's spread takes the shape it does.
Reading an hourly posting against these figures
The hourly median in Vermont is $17.93, against $18.34 nationally — 2% below, the same 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, the annual percentiles assume the occupation's usual hours, which OEWS does not publish, so compare a posted rate with the hourly median rather than the annual figures.
A small employment estimate for a combined occupation
BLS estimates 370 people were employed in this combined occupation in Vermont, 45th among the jurisdictions that publish an employment figure.
The 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 Vermont vet tech median
In the same release, Vermont's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $49,490, which is $12,200, or 33%, above the median for this occupation — the technician median is 1.3 times this occupation's median.
Hourly, the Vermont technician median is $23.80 against $17.93, a difference of $5.87.
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 Vermont have a median of $49,490 ($23.80/hr) — $12,200 above the veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in Vermont →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinary assistant salary in Vermont?
BLS does not publish veterinary assistants on their own.
The closest figure is SOC 31-9096, Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers, whose Vermont median annual wage was $37,290 in May 2025, or $17.93 an hour.
Half of those counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,150, so Vermont sits 2% below it.
What do the highest-paid workers in this occupation earn in Vermont?
The Vermont 90th percentile is $45,880, meaning one in ten workers counted in SOC 31-9096 earned more than that.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,150, so the Vermont figure is $3,270, or 7%, 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 Vermont?
The Vermont 10th percentile is $30,690 and the 25th percentile is $35,670.
Against the national figures of $30,120 and $35,660, the floor is 2% higher and the 25th percentile is even, so the low end in Vermont tracks the national numbers.
The gap opens above the middle, where the 75th percentile is 14% below the national figure.
How does this compare with vet tech pay in Vermont?
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Vermont have a median of $49,490, against $37,290 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers — a difference of $12,200.
The technician median is 1.3 times this occupation's median.
The two figures describe different occupations counting different workers, so the gap is context for a career decision, not a promised raise.
How many veterinary assistants work in Vermont?
BLS estimates 370 people employed in SOC 31-9096 in Vermont, 45th 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 Vermont Veterinary Assistant Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Vermont, 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.