Veterinary Technician Salary in Iowa

Iowa's median annual wage is $45,560, $1,820 below the national median of $47,380, a 4% gap.

That gap does not run the same direction at every point in the distribution.

At the 10th percentile, Iowa's $36,290 is 2% above the national $35,710, and at the 90th percentile Iowa's $63,860 is 1% above the national $63,180.

The gap opens in between: the 25th percentile runs 2% below the national figure, and the 75th percentile, $49,210, is $8,440, or 15%, below the national $57,650 — the widest gap on this page.

A technician holding a national 75th-percentile figure against an Iowa offer would be comparing it to a point the Iowa distribution reaches far less often.

Half of the technicians Iowa counted earned between $38,150 and $49,210, a band $11,060 wide.

Nationally the same band runs from $38,910 to $57,650, a much wider $18,740.

Yet the full spread from the 10th to the 90th percentile is nearly identical: $27,570 in Iowa against $27,470 nationally.

The median also sits much closer to the 75th percentile than to the 25th — $3,650 below the one, $7,410 above the other — the reverse of a wide-upper-half shape.

OEWS does not explain why a distribution takes this shape, so this page does not assign it a cause.

The dataset behind this page carries Iowa's hourly wage only at the median: $21.90, against $22.78 nationally, a $0.88, or 4%, gap that matches the gap in the annual median.

That makes the hourly median the one hourly figure to hold a posted rate against here — the rest of the range is described only in annual terms on this page.

Before comparing an hourly posting with the percentiles above, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled for, since the annual figures do not specify one.

BLS estimates 1,220 veterinary technologists and technicians employed in Iowa, ranking 30th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for the occupation.

That is a headcount of people counted in the job during the survey period, not a count of open positions, so it says nothing about how many roles are available or how quickly they fill.

It places the size of Iowa's occupation in the middle of the range of jurisdictions this page can rank, no more.

On the sources read, Iowa's credential gates the RVT title, not the job: registration is required to use the RVT title, abbreviation, or any sign of registration, but no section read makes it a precondition to the work itself.

Getting the title has one standard route: graduation from an accredited or approved veterinary technology program, a passing score on the national VTNE, and a passing score on Iowa's own state exam, the VTSE, plus 30 hours of continuing education in every three-year renewal triennium.

A narrower work-experience alternative exists under board rule for applicants who relocated from a jurisdiction with no licensure requirement.

Using the RVT title, abbreviation or any sign of registration without the certificate is a simple misdemeanor under Iowa Code §169.35.

The Iowa vet tech requirements page linked below sets out the full route, exam and renewal detail; the wage data on this page does not separate credentialed technicians from anyone else counted in the occupation.