Pay across the whole profession
The BLS counted about 91,100 veterinarian jobs in 2025. It projects employment to grow 9 percent from 2025 to 2035, which the agency classes as much faster than average [1]. Its May 2025 median of $130,100 covers the occupation as a whole, across industries that include veterinary services, government and educational services, so it is not an associate benchmark [1].
The BLS also reported May 2025 medians by industry [1]:
| Industry (BLS, May 2025) | Median annual wage |
|---|
| Other personal services | $135,460 |
| Veterinary services | $129,990 |
| Educational services; state, local, and private | $121,890 |
| Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals | $115,210 |
Veterinary services employed 83% of veterinarians and self-employment accounted for 7%, according to the BLS [1].
Starting pay for new graduates
New-graduate figures come from AVMA surveys as reported in short Today's Veterinary Business briefs. Each year's survey covers a different class.
For 2024, the AVMA reported average starting pay of about $130,000 for graduates accepting full-time work, per Today's Veterinary Business. The same brief gave these outcomes for the class [2]:
- 60.4% entered full-time employment.
- 27.9% went into advanced education such as internships or residencies.
- 6.1% had no offers.
For 2023, the AVMA Graduating Senior Survey found that nearly 96% of graduates received job offers, Today's Veterinary Business reported [3]. Mean starting pay by path was:
| Path (2023 graduates) | Share | Mean starting pay |
|---|
| Private practice | 69% | $125,416 |
| Internship | 25% | $53,266 |
| Public practice | About 2% | $87,417 |
Graduates entering companion animal practice averaged $133,000. Graduates entering equine practice averaged $95,000, up from $65,000 in 2021 [3].
The brief said most graduates' packages combined a base salary with a production bonus. It listed these average extras [3]:
- $19,777 in signing bonuses
- $5,688 in moving allowances
- $15,628 in student loan repayments
- $11,464 in housing allowances
For an earlier baseline, the AVMA's 2020 economic report put the average 2019 starting salary at $70,045, up from $65,983 in 2018, according to Today's Veterinary Business. Starting pay was $90,893 in private companion animal exclusive practice, $75,391 in mixed animal practice and $53,804 in equine practice [5]. The report also found that female 2019 graduates earned an average of $2,600 a year less than male classmates [5].
Debt relative to pay
The AVMA put the 2023 debt-to-income ratio at 1.3 to 1, down from 1.44 to 1 in 2022, per Today's Veterinary Business [3]. For 2019 graduates, borrowers owed an average of $183,302, and just over 18% graduated with no student debt [5].
The AVMA's 2026 economic report, as summarized by the same publication, said nearly 40% of graduating veterinarians carry $200,000 or more in debt [4]. The report also said that inflation and rising loan balances have tempered real income gains despite higher starting salaries [4].
Associate salaries in survey research
The cited sources offer one direct look at associate pay beyond the first job. Neill, Hansen and Salois, writing in Frontiers in Veterinary Science in 2022, analyzed data from 5,786 associate veterinarians in private practice drawn from the 2016 to 2020 AVMA Census of Veterinarians [9]. Adjusted to 2020 dollars, the associate salary figures were [9]:
- Median: $88,902
- Mean: $104,869
- 25th percentile: $70,339.50
- 75th percentile: $117,525
These numbers were inputs to a study of the cost of burnout, not a salary survey in their own right. The authors list reliance on survey data for salary and revenue as a limitation, noting "a degree of sampling and measurement error" [9]. Census response rates ranged from 11.8% in 2016 to 22.0% in 2020 [9]. The figures are also several years older than the BLS and 2024 AVMA numbers above, so they are not directly comparable.
Common pay structures
Felsted, founder of PantheraT Veterinary Management Consulting, described the building blocks of doctor pay as base pay or draws, bonuses, and fringe benefits [6]. Citing AAHA data, she reported this split among associates [6]:
- 36% straight salary or hourly, with daily rates counted here
- 43% salary or hourly plus a percentage of production
- 20% production only
Production means the revenue credited to a doctor. Felsted wrote that a rate of 19% to 21% of combined service production and product sales "has made sense historically." She added that the percentage may need to rise given market changes [6].
She also described split-rate models, which vary by hospital [6]:
- Some hospitals pay 10% on preventives and pet food and 0% on boarding and grooming.
- Others pay 23% on services and 5% on everything else credited to the doctor.
Her column's worked example compares a doctor paid a $125,000 salary against $700,000 in personal production. Felsted judged that doctor underpaid unless local production rates fall below 20% [6]. With production of $450,000 instead, she wrote that the same salary might exceed what production warrants. She recommended working on productivity rather than cutting pay [6]. She listed practice decisions that shape a doctor's output, including support staff numbers and skills, delegation, fee levels and marketing [6].
Hauser and Fuhrman described four production-based forms [8]:
- Straight commission with no base.
- A guaranteed base plus commission once a production threshold is reached.
- ProSal, with a guaranteed draw reconciled monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.
- Production pay with negative accrual, in which an associate paid more in draws than earned ends up owing the practice.
How ProSal works
Opperman, president of Veterinary Management Consultation Inc. defined ProSal as a guaranteed base plus payment as a percentage of production. He stressed that it is not base plus production [7]. He wrote that the base should be close to a competitive salary, set from the prior year's or anticipated production, rather than a low floor [7].
In his description, the percentage runs from 18 to 25 percent and is set by the cost of benefits such as health insurance, dues, licenses, CE and retirement plans [7]. A practice can pay 18 percent with several significant benefits or 22 to 23 percent with fewer. In his words, total cost of employment "cannot exceed 25 percent of that doctor's production" [7]. He wrote that at that level, most practices are left with 10 to 15 percent for the owner [7].
The payroll mechanics in his example run as follows [7]:
- The associate is paid 24 times a year, twice monthly. A $75,000 base divided by 24 gives a guaranteed first check of $3,125.
- The second check equals the prior month's production times the percentage, minus the first check. At $30,000 production and 23 percent, the total is $6,900, so the second check is $3,775.
- The second check is not guaranteed and can be zero. If the associate has not received the full base by year end, the practice owes the difference.
Opperman stated that "there is no carry forward" in ProSal as he defines it [7]. Hauser and Fuhrman's description allows reconciliation with or without negative accrual [8]. Practices using the ProSal label may therefore be running different arrangements. Opperman raised the same point when he wrote that many practices are using "a modified ProSal" [7].
Arguments against production-based pay
Hauser, of Peak Veterinary Consulting, and Fuhrman, a CPA and practice partner, made three main arguments against production pay in 2018 [8]:
- It pushes veterinarians toward maximizing each transaction.
- It discourages time off for CE, illness or vacation.
- It shifts business risk onto associates who control neither staffing nor collections.
They also reported behaviors such as doctors steering higher-value appointments to themselves and handling client calls on days off [8].
Their proposed alternative pairs "a living wage" with a bonus tied to hospital revenue growth and individual goals [8]. In their example, an associate can earn a 10 percent bonus, at $2,000 per objective across five objectives. The objectives cover hospital finances, business skills, community work, professional growth and team training [8].
Opperman responded in 2019 that his firm seldom sees overselling under production pay. He also wrote that ignoring production in setting pay "would be financially irresponsible" [7].
The Neill study cited a 2021 AVMA report as finding that burnout is more prevalent among associates in private practice than among practice owners, relief veterinarians and veterinarians in public practice [9]. The study estimated that burnout costs the industry between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in lost revenue, though the authors note "a large amount of uncertainty" [9]. The study did not examine pay structure as a cause.
