Washington, D.C., California, Washington, New York and Minnesota posted the five highest state median veterinary technician salaries in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release (SOC 29-2056), each 21% to 29% above the $47,380 national median.
Unlike the veterinarian occupation, every one of the 50 states plus D.C. published a vet tech pay estimate — the full salary-by-state table below lists all 51 medians, one flagged for a wide error margin.
Every figure comes from that same BLS state-level release.
The five highest-paying states for vet techs
The BLS OEWS May 2025 release covers veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. — a published median for every one of the 51 jurisdictions.
Ranked by median annual wage, the same five jurisdictions sit above every other state:
| Rank | State | Median | 25th–75th percentile | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington, D.C. | $61,270 | $50,390–$80,030 | +29% |
| 2 | California | $60,630 | $51,570–$64,100 | +28% |
| 3 | Washington | $59,740 | $50,700–$64,480 | +26% |
| 4 | New York | $59,010 | $50,410–$66,310 | +25% |
| 5 | Minnesota | $57,270 | $49,080–$60,560 | +21% |
All five sit between 21% and 29% above the $47,380 national median.
Washington, D.C.'s figure is worth reading carefully: its 25th–75th percentile band ($50,390–$80,030) is unusually wide for a $61,270 median, and the district's reported technician employment (120) is the smallest of the five — an estimate built on a small sample tends to move more from release to release than one built on a large sample.
For the full national percentile breakdown and what drives pay within any one state, see the national veterinary technician salary page.
The five lowest-paying states, for contrast
At the other end of the same release, five states post the lowest published veterinary technician medians:
| Rank | State | Median | 25th–75th percentile | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | $35,530 | $30,320–$38,240 | −25% |
| 2 | Mississippi | $36,380 | $31,220–$39,250 | −23% |
| 3 | Alabama | $36,590 | $30,210–$38,940 | −23% |
| 4 | West Virginia | $37,700 | $31,330–$44,860 | −20% |
| 5 | Arkansas | $38,360 | $32,360–$43,940 | −19% |
The spread between the top and bottom published states is substantial — Washington, D.C.'s $61,270 median sits $25,740 above Louisiana's $35,530.
The wage tables this page is built from carry no explanation of the gap, so this page reports the numbers rather than assigning a cause.
Vet tech salary by state: every published median, ranked
The five highest and five lowest states are the edges of the distribution, not the whole answer to what a vet tech makes in each state.
Every veterinary technician salary by state that BLS published in the May 2025 release is listed below in median order, with each state's salary page linked; the 25th–75th column is the middle half of that state's wage distribution, and the vs.-national column compares each median with the $47,380 national figure.
| Rank | State | Median | 25th–75th percentile | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington, DC | $61,270 | $50,390–$80,030 | +29% |
| 2 | California | $60,630 | $51,570–$64,100 | +28% |
| 3 | Washington | $59,740 | $50,700–$64,480 | +26% |
| 4 | New York | $59,010 | $50,410–$66,310 | +25% |
| 5 | Minnesota | $57,270 | $49,080–$60,560 | +21% |
| 6 | Oregon | $55,810 | $48,360–$62,460 | +18% |
| 7 | Virginia | $52,090 | $46,030–$62,040 | +10% |
| 8 | Connecticut | $50,950 | $48,220–$61,780 | +8% |
| 9 | Maine | $50,810 | $48,610–$56,110 | +7% |
| 10 | Nevada | $50,250 | $47,460–$63,600 | +6% |
| 11 | Michigan | $49,710 | $45,180–$58,980 | +5% |
| 12 | Colorado | $49,650 | $46,580–$59,340 | +5% |
| 13 | Massachusetts | $49,540 | $47,670–$60,240 | +5% |
| 14 | Vermont | $49,490 | $48,430–$54,290 | +4% |
| 15 | New Jersey | $49,050 | $45,160–$58,600 | +4% |
| 16 | North Dakota | $48,790 | $39,530–$55,440 | +3% |
| 17 | New Hampshire | $48,780 | $45,550–$59,040 | +3% |
| 18 | Indiana | $48,720 | $41,330–$56,370 | +3% |
| 19 | Hawaii | $48,550 | $45,930–$54,950 | +2% |
| 20 | Delaware | $48,370 | $39,040–$56,340 | +2% |
| 21 | Ohio | $47,990 | $40,560–$53,110 | +1% |
| 22 | North Carolina | $47,620 | $38,520–$55,020 | +1% |
| 23 | Maryland | $47,350 | $44,520–$60,460 | 0% |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $47,020 | $44,390–$52,310 | −1% |
| — | Alaska† | $46,480 | $37,630–$60,510 | low-reliability estimate |
| 25 | Illinois | $46,440 | $45,140–$57,500 | −2% |
| 26 | Pennsylvania | $46,430 | $38,060–$50,140 | −2% |
| 27 | Florida | $46,380 | $39,140–$49,600 | −2% |
| 28 | Arizona | $46,300 | $43,510–$49,340 | −2% |
| 29 | Kansas | $45,810 | $38,650–$51,610 | −3% |
| 30 | Iowa | $45,560 | $38,150–$49,210 | −4% |
| 31 | Rhode Island | $45,310 | $38,130–$60,760 | −4% |
| 32 | South Dakota | $45,300 | $37,430–$47,040 | −4% |
| 33 | New Mexico | $44,790 | $37,370–$47,360 | −5% |
| 34 | Nebraska | $43,680 | $39,120–$46,910 | −8% |
| 35 | Missouri | $43,520 | $37,670–$46,490 | −8% |
| 36 | Georgia | $43,060 | $37,200–$47,450 | −9% |
| 37 | Tennessee | $42,810 | $37,170–$51,060 | −10% |
| 38 | Idaho | $42,120 | $37,270–$46,810 | −11% |
| 39 | Montana | $41,170 | $37,380–$47,990 | −13% |
| 40 | Utah | $40,560 | $36,350–$47,850 | −14% |
| 41 | Kentucky | $39,590 | $36,300–$46,560 | −16% |
| 42 | Texas | $39,410 | $36,040–$46,780 | −17% |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $39,100 | $36,070–$46,720 | −17% |
| 44 | South Carolina | $39,020 | $36,310–$47,310 | −18% |
| 45 | Wyoming | $38,650 | $37,410–$46,300 | −18% |
| 46 | Arkansas | $38,360 | $32,360–$43,940 | −19% |
| 47 | West Virginia | $37,700 | $31,330–$44,860 | −20% |
| 48 | Alabama | $36,590 | $30,210–$38,940 | −23% |
| 49 | Mississippi | $36,380 | $31,220–$39,250 | −23% |
| 50 | Louisiana | $35,530 | $30,320–$38,240 | −25% |
Two reading notes.
The vs.-national column is a nominal comparison only — none of these medians is adjusted for cost of living, which the next two sections take up.
And Alaska, marked with a dagger, keeps its $46,480 median in the table but gets no rank and no vs.-national figure: BLS's relative standard error on the Alaska veterinary technologist and technician mean wage estimate is 22.1%.
Treat the Alaska figure as a rough signal, not a market rate.
Why cost of living changes the picture
The table above ranks pay, not what that pay buys.
A nominal dollar gap of 21–29% over the national median does not translate one-to-one into extra purchasing power once housing, taxes and everyday costs enter the picture — a high-cost metro and a rural county in the same state can sit far apart, and a statewide median averages over that distance.
Whether the top of this ranking survives its own cost of living is a question the BLS tables cannot answer.
The same cuts the other way: a lower nominal median in a cheaper place can outbuy a higher one in an expensive place, and a statewide figure cannot tell you which situation you are looking at.
Neither this page nor the BLS wage tables it's built on include a cost-of-living adjustment — the figures above are nominal, statewide medians, not real (cost-adjusted) wages.
The practical implication: don't rank a job offer by the state median alone.
Compare it against your specific target metro's housing and living costs, not the statewide aggregate, before deciding a higher number in a given state actually means more take-home value.
Source and scope
What does a cost-of-living-adjusted vet tech salary look like?
We found no federal source that publishes one.
The OEWS medians in the table above are nominal wages — no cost-of-living adjustment appears in the BLS state tables this page is built from, and we found no federal cost-adjusted wage series to swap in for them.
A cost-of-living-adjusted vet tech salary ranking you come across will pair a wage series with a separate cost index — two inputs that may not share a year or a method — so treat those rankings as directional rather than as data.
The comparison that holds up is one you run for the places you would actually move between.
Price the housing market in the metro you would practice in, not the statewide average, then compare whole offers — the hourly rate, how the pay structure works, benefits, and any CE or credential support.
The state medians above are a screening tool for building that shortlist, not the decision itself.
How setting and credential status fit alongside geography
State is one input among several.
Within any single state, whether a technician is credentialed at all changes the tasks they may take on — see working as a vet tech without a credential for how that plays out, and what NAVTA's survey found credentialed and non-credentialed technicians reporting.
And RVT, LVT, CVT and LVMT are four names for the same credential — a difference in what a state's practice act calls it, not in training, scope or seniority.
Setting is harder to price than geography: the federal tables this page is built from publish one median for the occupation as a whole, with no split by setting or VTS status, so they cannot tell you whether an emergency or specialty referral hospital pays above the general-practice rate in the same state.
The one sourced signal is the VTS specialty certification premium in NAVTA's self-reported survey — a survey figure, not a BLS one.
See the national salary page for the full percentile breakdown and everything else that moves pay within a single state.