Veterinary Technician Salary in Montana

At the median, Montana trails the nation by $6,210 — $41,170 against $47,380, a 13% gap.

Near the floor the gap is smaller: the 10th percentile, $35,420, is 1% below the national $35,710, and the 25th percentile, $37,380, is 4% below the national $38,910.

The gap widens sharply higher up.

The Montana 75th percentile, $47,990, is 17% below the national $57,650 — the widest gap this page tracks at any percentile.

At the 90th percentile it narrows again: $57,660 against $63,180 nationally, a 9% difference.

A technician weighing an offer against national upper-percentile figures should expect the biggest overstatement to come from a 75th-percentile comparison, not the very top of the range.

Half of Montana's technicians counted earned between $37,380 and $47,990 — a band $10,610 wide.

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

From the 10th percentile ($35,420) to the 90th ($57,660), Montana spans $22,240, against $27,470 nationally.

The median also sits closer to the 25th percentile than to the 75th: $3,790 above the one and $6,820 below the other.

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

The data set behind this page carries Montana's hourly wage only at the median: $19.79, against $22.78 nationally, a 13% gap that matches the gap in the annual median.

That makes it the figure to hold an hourly posting against.

For the rest of the range the annual percentiles are the only guide here, so before comparing a posted rate with them, ask the employer how many hours a week the role is scheduled for.

BLS counted 480 veterinary technologists and technicians employed in Montana, 42nd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for the occupation.

That is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of vacancies, so it describes the size of the occupation in the state rather than how quickly positions are filled.

A smaller employment estimate also carries more year-to-year noise than a larger one, so this page treats the rank as a size marker, not as a reading of any change over time.

Montana licenses veterinary technicians through the Montana Board of Veterinary Medicine (Dept. of Labor & Industry), and holding the license is mandatory to do the work: the statute says an individual seeking to practice as a veterinary technician in this state must be licensed as a veterinary technician by the board.

An applicant either graduates from an AVMA-accredited program or documents 4,500 hours of on-the-job training under a veterinarian licensed and residing in Montana, then must pass the VTNE plus the board's own jurisprudence exam, with a minimum score of 90.

Renewal runs on a two-year clock: continuing-education hours are earned during the 24 months before a renewal that falls on November 1 of even-numbered years.

The full Montana requirements page on this site sets out the fee schedule and the CE-hour count behind these numbers.