Vet Tech Salary in 2026: What Veterinary Technicians Earn an Hour and a Year
25th percentile
$38,910
Median (50th)
$47,380
75th percentile
$57,650
90th percentile
$63,180
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 national release — SOC 29-2056, Veterinary Technologists and Technicians.
The median salary for a vet tech in the United States is $47,380 a year, or $22.78 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056).
The middle half earn between $38,910 and $57,650, or $18.71 to $27.72 an hour.
The lowest-paid 10% earn $35,710 or less, and the top 10%, the 90th percentile, earn $63,180 or more.
In the U.S., "veterinary nurse" is another name for the same credentialed job, so these are also the figures behind veterinary nurse pay.
How Much Does a Veterinary Technician Make an Hour?
At the national median of $47,380 a year, a veterinary technician makes about $22.78 an hour, $911 a week or $3,948 a month before taxes.
The middle half of veterinary technicians earn about $18.71 to $27.72 an hour, and the top 10% earn $30.38 an hour or more.
Hourly, weekly and monthly figures are our calculations from the BLS OEWS May 2025 annual figures for Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (SOC 29-2056): annual ÷ 2,080 hours (the 40-hour, 52-week year BLS uses to annualize wages), ÷ 52 weeks and ÷ 12 months.
To estimate part-time pay, multiply an hourly figure by the hours worked.
Veterinary Technician Compensation Structure
Compensation for veterinary techniciansvaries significantly by employment type.
Here's how the most common structures break down:
Bottom 10%
About $17.17 an hour or less.
BLS does not say who sits here; the new-grad pay guide uses this band as a floor proxy, not a starting salary.
$35,710 or less
Middle 50%
Where half of all vet techs sit — about $18.71 to $27.72 an hour.
$38,910–$57,650
Median
Half of veterinary technologists and technicians earn more than this, half less.
About $22.78 an hour.
$47,380
Top 10% (90th percentile)
About $30.38 an hour and up.
BLS publishes no percentile above the 90th and does not break the top decile out by practice type.
$63,180 or more
What Affects Veterinary Technician Salary?
Vet tech pay is usually quoted by the hour rather than as an annual salary, which is worth knowing when you compare a posting against the figures above: most listings advertise a rate, not a salary.
Five things move the number in practice.
Location is the factor BLS measures most directly.
State medians run from $35,530 to $61,270 in the same release, as the state section below shows.
Credential status is the next.
Whether your state requires credentialing at all, and whether an employer pays credentialed and uncredentialed staff differently, varies enormously — see working as a vet tech without a credential for why that variation exists, and the credentialed vs non-credentialed pay gap for the NAVTA-surveyed dollar figure.
Setting is less clear-cut.
No federal or survey series splits technician pay between general practice, emergency and specialty hospitals, so the widely assumed emergency-and-specialty premium is unmeasured; specialty and referral hospital tech roles walks through what the data does and does not show.
The industries outside clinical practice do pay more, covered below.
Shift structure matters in emergency work.
Overnight, weekend and on-call differentials are a real part of emergency compensation and are not always visible in an advertised base rate.
Specialty certification is the last.
A VTS is the clearest scope-and-pay step-up available to a technician, though how much it moves pay is employer-dependent and not something BLS measures.
Vet tech salary by percentile: hourly and annual pay
BLS publishes five percentile points for veterinary technologists and technicians, in both hourly and annual terms.
The table restates them exactly from the May 2025 OEWS release (SOC 29-2056).
| Percentile | Hourly | Annual | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th | $17.17 | $35,710 | 10% of vet techs earn less |
| 25th | $18.71 | $38,910 | A quarter earn less |
| 50th (median) | $22.78 | $47,380 | Half earn more, half less |
| 75th | $27.72 | $57,650 | A quarter earn more |
| 90th | $30.38 | $63,180 | 10% earn more |
| Mean (average) | $23.61 | $49,120 | The simple average of all wages |
Median vs. national average.
Many salary pages quote the mean, the simple average of every wage.
In the same release, BLS puts the mean annual wage for vet techs at $49,120, or $23.61 an hour, a little above the $47,380 median.
That is the usual pattern: the highest earners pull an average up, while the median stays at the midpoint.
This page leads with the median, so when you compare a figure from another source, check which of the two it quotes.
What the data covers.
OEWS figures are BLS estimates from its survey of employers, not job postings or salaries people report about themselves.
The May 2025 release counts 129,140 veterinary technologists and technicians across all industries.
The occupation counts technicians (associate-degree or certificate graduates) and technologists (bachelor's-degree graduates) together, so BLS publishes no separate salary for either; see veterinary technician vs technologist.
Source and scope
Vet tech salary trajectory: how pay grows over a career
BLS publishes no pay series by years of experience.
A percentile is a position in the wage distribution, not a pay step, so the 75th percentile is not what a vet tech earns after a set number of years.
What the sources do show is which steps tend to go with higher pay.
- Starting pay. No government series or named survey measures new-graduate vet tech pay. The usual proxy is the bottom of the BLS distribution, $35,710 to $38,910 a year ($17.17 to $18.71 an hour); new-grad vet tech pay explains why that is a floor, not an average.
- Credentialing. In NAVTA's 2024 Demographic Survey, credentialed technicians reported an average of $55,792 a year against $43,833 for those without a credential. That is a self-reported membership survey, not BLS data; the credentialed vs non-credentialed pay gap sets out both NAVTA survey cycles.
- A VTS specialty. NAVTA's 2022 survey found VTS holders averaging $31.80 an hour against $26.80 for credentialed technicians generally, and no newer survey has repeated the comparison. See does a VTS raise your pay? and how to become a VTS.
- Evening, weekend and overnight shifts. Many emergency, overnight and on-call jobs pay a differential on top of the base rate, though no survey sets a market rate for it (ER, overnight and on-call differentials). Because vet tech pay is usually hourly, overtime rules matter too — see hourly vs salary for vet techs.
- Moving beyond the treatment floor. Some technicians move into research, education or government settings, which the BLS industry rows below show paying more, or into management (from vet tech to practice manager).
Comparing a vet tech job offer against these salaries
Most vet tech job postings advertise an hourly rate or a range, so the hourly column is the one to use.
A posted rate near $22.78 sits at the national median; one at $30.38 or more is in the top 10% nationally.
Then check the rate against your state's median, below, rather than the national figure alone.
Also ask what the rate leaves out: shift differentials, overtime, and whether the employer pays credentialed technicians more.
You can browse current vet tech jobs on VeterinaryHires, where Apply takes you to the employer's own application.
Pay on a listing is set by the employer, not by these BLS figures.
Where vet techs earn more: pay by state and setting
State medians in the May 2025 release run from $35,530 in Louisiana (about $17.08 an hour) to $61,270 in Washington, D.C. ($29.46 an hour).
Every state plus D.C. has its own page with hourly and annual figures, listed in the directory below.
How local pay compares to the national median.
The directory's "vs National" column sets each state's median against the $47,380 national median.
Texas, which reports more vet tech jobs than any other state (16,730), has a median of $39,410, 17% below; Florida, the next largest, is at $46,380, 2% below.
None of these medians is adjusted for cost of living, so a higher number is not automatically more purchasing power.
The top five — D.C., California, Washington, New York and Minnesota — are 21% to 29% above the national median; the highest-paying states for vet techs guide compares them with the five lowest.
By setting.
Almost every vet tech works in veterinary services, so the veterinary-hospital median and the national median are nearly the same.
The few who work elsewhere earn more:
| Setting (BLS industry) | Vet techs employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Veterinary services | 116,050 | $47,170 |
| Colleges, universities and professional schools | 3,950 | $52,200 |
| Scientific research and development | 1,160 | $60,690 |
| Federal government (excluding postal) | 440 | $68,220 |
The federal figure rests on 440 workers, a small base that BLS estimates less reliably, so treat it as directional.
These are the largest settings measured, not every industry.
GP vs ER vs specialty tech covers the hospital-type question, and non-clinical careers for vet techs covers the settings outside practice.
Veterinary Technician Salary by State
Of the 51 jurisdictions below, Washington, DC ($61,270), California ($60,630) and Washington ($59,740) have the highest median pay.
The guide to the highest-paying states for veterinary technicians compares the top- and bottom-paying states.
What Veterinary Technician Job Listings Show Right Now
From the 3,449 active veterinary technician listings on VeterinaryHires as of November 1, 2026.
Employers with the most openings
Where the openings are
- California401
- Texas277
- Florida213
- New York174
- Virginia156
Pay employers post
- Median $26 an hour; the middle half of posted pay runs $23.50–$30.50 (702 listings that state an hourly rate)
- 20% of veterinary technician listings state any pay at all.
Benefits listings name
- Dental & Visionnamed in 87%
- Health Insurancenamed in 79%
- PTO / Paid Time Offnamed in 75%
- 401k Matchnamed in 58%
- Pet Care Discountnamed in 49%
Source: active veterinary technician listings on VeterinaryHires, updated daily. Pay figures use only listings that state pay (midpoint of each posted range). Benefits count listings that name the benefit; a listing that doesn’t mention one may still offer it.
Browse 3,449 jobs →Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a vet tech make an hour?
The median hourly wage for veterinary technologists and technicians is $22.78, according to the BLS May 2025 OEWS release (SOC 29-2056).
The lowest-paid 10% earn $17.17 an hour or less, the middle half earn $18.71 to $27.72, and the top 10% earn $30.38 or more.
The mean hourly wage, the simple average, is $23.61.
Most vet tech jobs are quoted hourly, so these are the figures to hold a posted rate against.
What is the highest salary for a vet tech?
The top figure BLS publishes is the 90th percentile: 10% of vet techs earn $63,180 a year ($30.38 an hour) or more, per the May 2025 OEWS release (SOC 29-2056).
BLS publishes no percentile above that.
By state, Washington, D.C. has the highest median at $61,270.
By setting, federal government technicians have a median of $68,220, but that figure rests on only 440 workers.
How does vet tech pay in my state compare to the national average?
Each state salary page on this site sets that state's BLS median against the $47,380 national median (the mean, or average, is $49,120).
In the May 2025 release, state medians run from 25% below the national figure in Louisiana ($35,530) to 29% above it in Washington, D.C. ($61,270).
Texas, which reports the most vet tech jobs, is 17% below.
BLS does not adjust any of these for cost of living.
What is the starting salary for a vet tech?
No BLS series or named survey measures new-graduate vet tech pay.
The closest honest proxy is the bottom of the BLS distribution for all experience levels: $35,710 a year at the 10th percentile and $38,910 at the 25th, or $17.17 to $18.71 an hour (May 2025 OEWS, SOC 29-2056).
Treat that as a floor for a first job rather than a measured new-grad average.
Your state and credential status move a starting offer too.
Do vet techs get paid more for nights and weekends?
Many emergency, overnight and on-call vet tech jobs pay a shift differential, extra money on top of the base hourly rate for hard-to-staff hours.
No named survey measures a market rate for technician differentials, so any percentage you see is one employer's offer rather than data.
When you compare jobs, ask whether the differential is a flat amount or a percentage, which hours trigger it, and how on-call time is paid.
How does vet tech pay compare with related veterinary professions?
In the BLS May 2025 OEWS release, veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) earned a median of $47,380.
Veterinarians (SOC 29-1131) earned $130,100, and veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers (SOC 31-9096, a combined occupation) earned $38,150.
The veterinarian salary and veterinary assistant salary pages on this site carry the full percentiles for both roles.
Do veterinary technologists earn more than technicians?
BLS cannot say.
Veterinary technologists (bachelor's-degree graduates) and technicians (associate-degree or certificate graduates) are counted together in one occupation, SOC 29-2056, so every BLS figure on this page covers both and there is no separate federal salary for either.
Both sit the same VTNE and go through the same state credentialing.
Whether a bachelor's degree earns more at a given employer depends on that employer's pay scale.
How much does a veterinary technician make a month?
About $3,948 a month before taxes at the median: the $47,380 annual median from the BLS OEWS May 2025 release (SOC 29-2056, Veterinary Technologists and Technicians) divided by 12.
The middle half works out to $3,243 to $4,804 a month, and the 90th percentile to $5,265.
BLS publishes annual and hourly wages, not monthly ones, so these monthly figures are calculations from its annual numbers.
This page is general information about veterinary technician pay, not legal, financial or veterinary advice.
The figures are BLS estimates, not a quote for any job; confirm pay, differentials and overtime terms with the employer before you accept an offer.