Veterinary Technician Salary

This technology finalizes two different programs that include a two-year veterinary program as well as a one for four years.

As claimed by a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this tech aids veterinarians just as the nurses help doctors.

There are also added opportunities for employment in advanced research even though the two kinds of vet tech do a similar work.

General Salary Outlook

The BLS provides data that indicating that the median salary of a vet tech annually was $28,900 in May 2008.

The middle half of the vet techs received an annual salary ranging from $23,580 to $34,960 nationally.

There is the ten percent who earned the lowest making $19,770 and the highest ten percent got at least $41,490.

The 2010 PayScale salary survey of October that was done on a population of 4,291 vets indicated that the median salary for vet techs annually is between $22,821 and $33, 664.

Supplementary Pay

Vet techs can choose to work for overtime and this will increase their profit sharing as well as receiving bonuses and this depends on the employer.

The PayScale survey of October in the year 2010 claimed that the overtime payments ranged from $15.81 to $23.85 in one hour.

Overtime working affects their payment since many clinics give their employees some traditional benefits from work.

Additionally, they also have bonuses that account to almost $101.94 to $500 per year.

You should know that their proceeds from the sharing of profits range from $204.82 to $1,160.

Salary by Employer

There is a different annual salary variance in employer’s types where each of the techs works.

As claimed by the survey of October in 2010 of 3,696 vet techs, local, universities and state government agencies offer the highest salaries.

There are those vets who work in colleges and some in universities receive around $14.32 and $19.03 in an hour.

The state and local agencies of the government give a median rate of $12.03 and 15.54 per hour.

Also, the vet tech working on contracts receive the highest rate per hour which is estimated to be between $15.50 and $23.49 in one hour.

Salary by State

There are differences in salaries among the states across the country.

We’ve compiled a table below to show you averages per state.

Here it is:

Average Annual Salary by State

State	Avg. Annual Salary
Alabama	$34,239
Alaska	$40,958
Arizona	$36,062
Arkansas	$33,825
California	$41,161
Colorado	$36,805
Connecticut	$39,361
Delaware	$38,876
Florida	$35,474
Georgia	$35,844
Hawaii	$37,944
Idaho	$34,530
Illinois	$38,767
Indiana	$35,386
Iowa	$34,974
Kansas	$35,773
Kentucky	$34,319
Louisiana	$36,129
Maine	$36,357
Maryland	$37,413
Massachusetts	$41,398
Michigan	$37,289
Minnesota	$38,759
Mississippi	$32,387
Missouri	$35,773
Montana	$34,854
Nebraska	$34,408
Nevada	$37,849
New Hampshire	$38,432
New Jersey	$41,562
New Mexico	$33,992
New York	$44,036
North Carolina	$35,651
North Dakota	$33,999
Ohio	$36,212
Oklahoma	$34,512
Oregon	$38,039
Pennsylvania	$39,160
Rhode Island	$38,541
South Carolina	$34,350
South Dakota	$31,895
Tennessee	$33,726
Texas	$36,150
Utah	$34,518
Vermont	$35,921
Virginia	$36,485
Washington	$39,937
West Virginia	$32,143
Wisconsin	$36,081
Wyoming	$33,016

Salary by City

The location of the vet tech is also one of the critical things that influence their salaries annually.

The report from the PayScale data indicated that the vet techs located in Seattle, California, Los Angeles and Washington had higher wages per hour when compared to other big cities.

The hourly median wage for vet techs in Seattle ranged between $13.82 and $18.05.

For those who lived in Los Angeles got around $12.09 to $19.86 per hour.

In places like Texas; Oregon, Portland; and Chicago Illinois had similar median wages per hour which ranged from $11.49 and $17.32.

The data also shows that in Austin, Texas there are the lowest wages per hour for vet techs as it ranged from $10.36 to $15.51.

Salary by Experience

In addition to location, the experience is another critical factor in the job.

As indicated by PayScale in the October 2010 survey, we realized that the vet techs who had the least experience in the job received the lowest wages when compared to other experienced professionals.

There are those who have experience of a less than one year had a low salary of $8.80 and $11.94 per hour.

The vet techs with experience of about four to five years will expect to earn about $9.85 to $13.24 in one hour.

The next experience category of five to nine years will have an increased salary of about $11.99 to $15.92.

Finally, the senior techs who have nine years of experience are likely to get a median of starting salary of $13.39 and up to $18.65 in one hour.

Specialty

If one is interested in earning more money as a vet tech, he should consider going for specialty certification.

The certification needs one to complete a formal education program, on-the-job experience, training, and testing.

The training in specialty adds on credibility to the practice of the vet techs hence one can easily be employed.

The specialties required include:

• internal medicine
• emergency
• surgical techniques
• anesthesiology
• internal medicine
• critical care

Salary Information about Vet Technicians and Technologists in 2016

This category of vets received a median salary of $32,490 per year in 2016.

There are those vets on the lower end who received a salary of 25th of $26,870.

This means that the other 75% earned a higher amount than this which was at $38,950.

102,000 people in 2016 got employment in the US as veterinary technicians and technologists.

Education Required by Vet Technologists and Techs

They all have to go for degrees of two or four years in the veterinary technology.

They all share similar responsibilities but the technologists have a four-year degree in the vet technology while the technicians have a two-year associate degree.

They have to pass an exam to be certified, get a license and this depends on the state.

It is important to have a strong background or math and science since the job involves lab tests and drug calculations.

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