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Role hub · Veterinarians

Veterinarian: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of veterinarians earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$130,100
Hourly
$62.55
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Veterinarians diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. The median pay is $130,100 a year ($62.55 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a doctoral degree (79% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$130,100
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
83,900
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Doctoral Degree
79% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Veterinarians

SalaryVeterinarian salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeVeterinarian how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeVeterinarian resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsVeterinarian interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changeVeterinarian career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What veterinarians do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
  2. Inoculate animals against various diseases, such as rabies or distemper.
  3. Examine animals to detect and determine the nature of diseases or injuries.
  4. Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis.
  5. Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.
  6. Educate the public about diseases that can be spread from animals to humans.
  7. Counsel clients about the deaths of their pets or about euthanasia decisions for their pets.
  8. Advise animal owners regarding sanitary measures, feeding, general care, medical conditions, or treatment options.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreActive ListeningcoreActive LearningcoreComplex Problem SolvingJudgment and Decision MakingSpeakingScienceCritical ThinkingWriting

Knowledge areas: Biology, Medicine and Dentistry, Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Mathematics, Education and Training.

Tools and technology

Software veterinarians use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • American Data Systems PAWS Veterinary Practice ManagementMedical software
  • Complete ClinicMedical software
  • Eklin Information Systems VIAMedical software
  • Henry Schein ImproMedMedical software
  • IDEXX Laboratories IDEXX CornerstoneMedical software
  • ImproMed InfinityMedical software
  • InformaVet ALIS-VETMedical software
  • IntraVetMedical software
  • Mobile Data Software VetInfoMedical software
  • Sneakers Software DVMax PracticeMedical software
  • VetportMedical software
  • Adobe AcrobatDocument management softwareHot technology

Also called: Companion Animal Practitioner, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Emergency Veterinarian (Emergency Vet), Large Animal Veterinarian (Large Animal Vet), Mixed Animal Veterinarian (Mixed Animal Vet), Small Animal Veterinarian (Small Animal Vet).

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).