Kennel Attendant Statistics 2026: Job Market, Pay, Demand & Workforce

VeterinaryHires had 323 open kennel attendant listings from 113 employers on October 13, 2026.

80 were first posted in the previous 14 days and 184 in the previous 30 days.

At least 54.8% of kennel attendant listings were part-time on October 13, 2026.

Listings that name no schedule are counted as full-time, so the real part-time share is likely higher.

The benefit kennel attendant listings named most often on October 13, 2026 was a pet care discount, in 70.3% of listings, followed by health insurance (52%).

A listing that does not mention a benefit may still offer it.

To browse the openings themselves, see all kennel attendant listings.

The median annual wage for animal caretakers across all employers was $35,360 in May 2025, and the middle half earned $29,820 to $40,050 (BLS OEWS, SOC 39-2021, May 2025).

Employers hiring kennel attendants on VeterinaryHires advertise a median of $15.00 an hour across 63 employers on October 13, 2026; this is advertised pay, not earnings.

For pay by state, percentile and experience, see the kennel attendant salary guide.

Texas had the most open kennel attendant listings on October 13, 2026, with 39 (12.1% of the national total).

North Carolina followed with 26 (8%).

To browse the openings in one state, start with kennel attendant openings in Texas.

113 employers had open kennel attendant listings on VeterinaryHires on October 13, 2026, and the five largest posted 60.1% of them.

101 employers (89.4%) had exactly one open kennel attendant listing.

The largest single employer, Destination Pet, posted 30% of all kennel attendant listings, so this sample leans toward large multi-location employers.

BLS projects employment of animal caretakers, the federal occupation that includes kennel attendants, to grow 12.1% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35).

Only about 10% of animal caretakers work in professional, scientific and technical services, the sector that includes veterinary clinics; 40% work in other personal services such as boarding and grooming, and 25% are self-employed (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–35 cycle).

Veterinary practices employed 33,720 animal caretakers in May 2025, 7.2% of all jobs in the industry, with a median annual wage of $32,150 inside the industry (BLS OEWS, NAICS 541940).

For how to enter the field, see the kennel attendant career guide.

Listing figures are computed from every active, paid kennel attendant listing on VeterinaryHires at the time shown, and refreshed daily.

Listings on a job board are not a random sample of all kennel attendant jobs, so read them as a picture of current hiring, not of total employment.

Advertised pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posts, or its single figure, and hourly and annual postings are never converted into each other.

The headline is the employer median: each employer’s own median, then the median across employers, so a group posting hundreds of openings counts once.

A pay figure needs at least 30 listings from 10 employers and is withheld when one employer posted more than half of them.

Federal and association figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the American Veterinary Medical Association and are quoted as published, with the year in each sentence.

BLS has no kennel attendant occupation.

Federal figures on this page are for animal caretakers (SOC 39-2021), most of whom work outside veterinary practices, in boarding, grooming, retail and similar settings.