Find a Job You Really Want In
Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do veterinarians get paid where I live?
And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for veterinarians by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.
To better understand how veterinarian salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for veterinarians by state.
Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.
The state with the best salary for veterinarians after this adjustment? That would be Oklahoma. Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for veterinarian salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
How we determined veterinarian pay by state
As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for veterinarians from the 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their “Occupational Employment Statistics”.
To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.
We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $114,870, so our index value would be:
$114,870 * (100 / 135.9) = $84,525
We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for veterinarians.
Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.
Detailed List Of Veterinarian Salaries By State
| Rank | State | Adjusted Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma | $119,091 |
| 2 | Hawaii | $118,284 |
| 3 | Wyoming | $115,664 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | $111,390 |
| 5 | Texas | $110,121 |
| 6 | Virginia | $106,964 |
| 7 | Michigan | $106,651 |
| 8 | North Carolina | $105,985 |
| 9 | New Jersey | $104,290 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | $103,728 |
| 11 | Indiana | $103,664 |
| 12 | Delaware | $101,360 |
| 13 | Idaho | $100,206 |
| 14 | Mississippi | $99,476 |
| 15 | Iowa | $98,923 |
| 16 | New Mexico | $98,601 |
| 17 | Connecticut | $98,379 |
| 18 | Florida | $97,711 |
| 19 | Missouri | $97,621 |
| 20 | Arkansas | $97,278 |
| 21 | Kentucky | $96,044 |
| 22 | Arizona | $94,591 |
| 23 | Georgia | $94,573 |
| 24 | Tennessee | $94,519 |
| 25 | New York | $94,389 |
| 26 | Ohio | $94,339 |
| 27 | Illinois | $94,270 |
| 28 | Utah | $93,989 |
| 29 | Wisconsin | $93,326 |
| 30 | South Carolina | $92,207 |
| 31 | West Virginia | $90,438 |
| 32 | Maryland | $90,143 |
| 33 | Louisiana | $89,462 |
| 34 | Nevada | $89,012 |
| 35 | Washington | $86,986 |
| 36 | Maine | $86,850 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $85,824 |
| 38 | Alabama | $85,526 |
| 39 | South Dakota | $85,159 |
| 40 | California | $84,525 |
| 41 | Nebraska | $84,508 |
| 42 | Massachusetts | $83,988 |
| 43 | Colorado | $83,930 |
| 44 | New Hampshire | $83,324 |
| 45 | Minnesota | $82,331 |
| 46 | Kansas | $80,322 |
| 47 | Vermont | $76,110 |
| 48 | Montana | $72,628 |
| 49 | Alaska | $71,746 |
| 50 | Oregon | $69,238 |
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
