What to Pay a Vet Tech in Your Market
Anchor the offer on your state's median, not the national one. The national median for veterinary technicians is $47,380 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-2056), but published state medians run from $35,530 in Louisiana — about 25% below that figure — to $61,270 in Washington, D.C., about 29% above it. Here is how to read the federal tables the way an employer prices from them: the percentiles as pay bands, the industry table as a sanity check, and the credential premium on top.
At a glance
BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 29-2056
National median
$47,380 / yr · $22.78 / hr
P25–P75 — where most offers land
Middle 50%, nationally
$38,910 – $57,650
same release; all 50 states + D.C. published a median
State median spread
$35,530 (LA) – $61,270 (DC)
NAVTA 2024 survey, self-reported — not BLS data
Credential gap
≈ 27%
Start from your state's row, not the national number
The national figures hide a market you don't actually hire in.
Per the BLS OEWS May 2025 release (SOC 29-2056), state medians for veterinary technologists and technicians range from $35,530 in Louisiana (−25% vs. national) to $61,270 in Washington, D.C. (+29%), with California at $60,630 and Washington state at $59,740 close behind.
The middle of the country sits lower than many owners expect: Texas posts $39,410 (−17%), Oklahoma $39,100 (−17%), and Florida $46,380 (−2%) — essentially the national median.
Minnesota ($57,270, +21%), Virginia ($52,090, +10%) and Illinois ($46,440, −2%) show how sharply nearby states can diverge.
All 50 states plus D.C. published an estimate for this occupation, so your row exists wherever you hire.
Find your state's median and its 25th–75th percentile band in the BLS state table, and treat that band as the frame for every decision below.
One caveat: these are statewide aggregates — the number blends your metro with rural counties, so a high-cost metro can sit well above its own state's median.
For the full ranking of which states pay most and least — and why cost of living complicates the comparison — see our breakdown of the highest-paying states for vet techs.
Read the percentiles as pay bands
Nationally, the release gives you five anchors: the 10th percentile at $35,710, the 25th at $38,910, the median at $47,380, the 75th at $57,650, and the 90th at $63,180.
Read them as roles, not just rankings: P25 is where a minimally qualified new hire starts, the median is what a competent credentialed veterinary technician is worth, P75 is an experienced or lead technician, and the top decile is emergency, specialty and high-wage-metro pay.
Most technicians are hired and quoted hourly, and the release publishes hourly percentiles directly: $17.17 (P10), $18.71 (P25), $22.78 (median), $27.72 (P75) and $30.38 (P90), all national.
To check your own band arithmetic, annual figures divide by 2,080 hours — the $47,380 median works out to the same $22.78 an hour.
There is no published figure for a brand-new graduate specifically; the closest federal proxy is the P25, or the P10 for a probationary first year, and it is a floor rather than a target.
Your candidates see the same tables you do.
The industry table is your reality check
The same release breaks the occupation out by industry, and the veterinary-services row (NAICS 541940) is the one you compete in.
Its median is $47,170 — within $210 of the $47,380 all-industry figure — with a P25–P75 band of $38,670–$57,150 and 116,050 workers, 89.9% of the occupation.
Practically, that row tells you two things.
You are benchmarking against your own industry, not employers in unrelated fields — so a vet-services offer at the occupation's national percentiles is a mid-pack offer inside veterinary medicine too.
And the occupation outside veterinary services is small enough that it moves nothing you can hire against.
What the credential adds to the number
The BLS tables count the occupation, not the credential, so survey data is the only source for the credentialed premium.
NAVTA's 2024 Demographic Survey put credentialed technicians at $55,792 on average against $43,833 for non-credentialed staff — an $11,959, roughly 27%, gap.
That's self-reported survey data (n=1,404), not a government series, so treat it as a directional reference for how far apart your credentialed and non-credentialed bands should sit.
The candidate-side read of that gap is in our credentialed vs non-credentialed pay comparison.
A VTS specialty certification is the step above: NAVTA's 2022 survey — still the latest cycle to break pay out by VTS status — found VTS holders averaging $31.80 an hour against $26.80 for credentialed technicians, with only 10% of respondents holding one.
Both premiums only pay off if the scope comes with them; our tech career ladder guide covers how to tie pay rungs to documented scope.
And price deliberately low at your peril.
AAHA's national "Stay, Please" research found 30% of surveyed clinical professionals planned to leave their current job within a year, and at practices with high technician turnover, a lack of fair pay was "a much stronger driver of attrition than any other factor." An offer below your state's median is a recruiting message whether you intend one or not.
What the tables can't price for you
Shift differentials for overnight, weekend and holiday cover are common retention tools, and no federal series measures them — only inconsistent job-posting numbers exist, so survey postings in your own metro rather than copying any percentage.
The same goes for CE and licence-reimbursement budgets and predictable scheduling: real differentiators, but ones you size locally.
One regulatory note belongs in the pricing conversation: a growing set of states require salary ranges in job postings, with thresholds that depend on employer headcount, and there is no federal requirement.
Which states and which employers — see our guide to job-posting title and pay-range rules before you draft the ad.
Ways to structure the pay
Hourly base at your state's percentiles
Best for: every technician hire — the foundation the other structures sit on
Set the base between your state's P25 and median for a new hire, and at or above the median for a credentialed technician with a few years in. Quote it hourly (national hourly median: $22.78) and budget for overtime past 40 hours.
Trade-off: A bare market-rate base makes you identical to every other practice reading the same table — it wins you the shortlist, not the signature.
When to use: always — every structure below is this one plus something on top
FLSA: the white-collar exemption salary threshold is $684/week ($35,568/year — the 2019-set level, in force again after courts vacated the 2024 increase). That sits below typical technician pay, and the duties tests rarely fit these roles, so most practices treat technician positions as hourly and non-exempt — a reasoned default, not a DOL ruling. Confirm classification for your specific roles with employment counsel.
Two bands: credentialed and non-credentialed
Best for: practices that employ assistants and technicians side by side, or hire in states where the credential is legally required for the role
Name both bands in your pay matrix and separate them by roughly the survey gap — NAVTA's 2024 respondents put credentialed pay ≈27% above non-credentialed — then anchor each band to its own OEWS percentiles rather than one blended number.
Trade-off: You pay for the credential even on tasks an assistant could legally perform — if the credentialed hire does uncredentialed work, the premium reads as arbitrary to them and buys you nothing.
When to use: when your posting says "credential required" or "credential preferred" — and if it says preferred, be ready to say what the preference is worth
Experience rungs inside the band
Best for: keeping the two- and three-year technician you already trained
Start near your state's P25, publish the criteria that move someone to median, and reserve P75 for lead responsibilities like training new hires or owning a clinical area. The rung mechanics — scope changes, not title changes — are in our career ladder guide.
Trade-off: Rungs without documented scope changes behind them are job titles, and technicians read the difference immediately — AAHA's retention research puts career development among the top factors that would have changed a leaver's mind.
When to use: when mid-tenure technicians keep leaving for a marginal raise down the street
Premiums on top: differentials and specialty pay
Best for: practices running overnight or weekend cover, or employing (or growing) a VTS specialist
Add flat hourly differentials for overnight, weekend and holiday shifts, sized from postings in your own metro — no federal series measures differentials, so there is no citable percentage to copy. For a VTS holder, size the premium off NAVTA's 2022 data (≈19% over credentialed peers, self-reported) and the specialty caseload they actually carry.
Trade-off: Differentials applied inconsistently breed resentment fast — write down which shifts and which roles get which premium, and apply them evenly.
When to use: when the schedule or the caseload — not just the credential — is what you're paying for
Questions employers ask
Should I anchor an offer on the national median or my state's?
Your state's. The national median is $47,380 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-2056), but published state medians run from $35,530 in Louisiana to $61,270 in Washington, D.C. — roughly 25% below to 29% above the national figure. An offer at the national median is well above market in Oklahoma ($39,100) and well below it in California ($60,630). Anchoring nationally in a low-median state overpays; anchoring nationally in a high-median state loses candidates to the practice that read its own row.
How do I turn the annual figures into an hourly rate?
The release publishes hourly percentiles directly — nationally for SOC 29-2056: $18.71 (P25), $22.78 (median), $27.72 (P75) and $30.38 (P90). To convert an annual figure yourself, divide by 2,080 hours: $47,380 ÷ 2,080 = $22.78. Your state's row in the BLS table includes an hourly median too, so you can price hourly without any conversion.
Do I have to pay a credentialed technician more than an assistant?
No law sets a premium — but the market does. NAVTA's 2024 survey found credentialed technicians averaging $55,792 against $43,833 for non-credentialed staff, a gap of about 27%. And in states where the practice act reserves tasks like intravenous anesthesia induction to credentialed technicians, the credential is what legally unlocks the work you are hiring for. See our credentialed vs non-credentialed pay comparison for the full picture.
What if I can't match my state's median?
Be honest about the gap and compete on what the tables can't price: predictable scheduling, CE and licence reimbursement, staffing that doesn't collapse when someone is out, and a real ladder with scope behind each rung. They matter — but price with open eyes: in AAHA's "Stay, Please" research, fair compensation was the number-one thing that would have changed leavers' minds, and at high-turnover practices a lack of fair pay was "a much stronger driver of attrition than any other factor." Below-median offers can work; unexplained ones rarely do.
More hiring resources
Priced the band? Publish it.
Postings that state a rate get read in this market. Post your veterinary technician opening with the band you just built — or browse what other practices are offering first.