CCollegeMatcher

Veterinarians

US occupation · SOC 29-1131

Job titles people report: 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), Veterinary Medicine Doctor (DVM), Veterinary Surgeon (Vet Surgeon), Veterinary Surgical Specialist (Vet Surgical Specialist), Zoo Veterinarian (Zoo Vet)

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$130,100
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$101,460 – $166,120
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
83,900
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+9.4%
Growing at twice the all-jobs rate or more (7%+)
Openings a year (projected)
3,100
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Doctoral or professional degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. Includes veterinarians who conduct research and development, inspect livestock, or care for pets and companion animals.

Main tasks

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

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Doctoral or professional degree
O*NET Job Zone 5
Extensive preparation
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 34 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Agriculture

  • Veterinary Medicine
  • Veterinary Sciences/Veterinary Clinical Sciences, General
  • Comparative and Laboratory Animal Medicine
  • Large Animal/Food Animal and Equine Surgery and Medicine
  • Small/Companion Animal Surgery and Medicine
  • Veterinary Anatomy
  • Veterinary Infectious Diseases
  • Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology
5 more programmes
  • Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology
  • Veterinary Physiology
  • Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health
  • Veterinary Toxicology and Pharmacology
  • Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Agriculture at the Major step.

Where many students take agriculture

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Health Professions Residency/Fellowship Programs

  • Veterinary Anesthesiology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Dentistry Residency Program
  • Veterinary Dermatology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Medicine Residency Program
  • Veterinary Internal Medicine Residency Program
  • Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program
  • Veterinary Microbiology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Nutrition Residency Program
13 more programmes
  • Veterinary Ophthalmology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Pathology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Practice Residency Program
  • Veterinary Preventive Medicine Residency Program
  • Veterinary Radiology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Surgery Residency Program
  • Theriogenology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Toxicology Residency Program
  • Zoological Medicine Residency Program
  • Poultry Veterinarian Residency Program
  • Veterinary Behaviorist Residency Program
  • Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology Residency Program
  • Veterinary Residency/Fellowship Program, Other

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk