Eight years of school to treat animals who cannot tell you what hurts. Loved by everyone, and heavy on debt.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $130,100 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $73,920 at the lower end to about $215,700 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
7 to 9 years after high school, on the usual route.
$133,000 to $210,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a license or registration before you can work.
Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$130,100
Bottom tenth
$73,920
Top tenth
$215,700
The national median is $130,100 a year. The bottom tenth earn $73,920 or less and the top tenth $215,700 or more (2025 federal wage survey). The survey title is Veterinarians, which is exactly this job.
$73,920 to $101,460
What the bottom tenth to bottom quarter of veterinarians earn, 2025
Some job offers for new associate veterinarians include a signing bonus or help with student loans. Ask.
$163,920 a year
The median in California, the highest of any state
Maryland is close behind at $163,170 and Washington state at $160,510. The lowest is South Dakota, at $88,650. State medians from the 2025 federal wage survey, which counts employees, not practice owners.
Roughly, all in
$133,000 to $210,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the cheapest honest route: two years at a community college then two at an in state public university for the bachelor's degree, four years at your own state's veterinary school at roughly $25,000 a year, and the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination plus state license fees of several hundred dollars. The high end is four full years of in state university followed by in state veterinary school at $40,000 a year. Out of state veterinary school runs $55,000 to $75,000 a year and can push the total past $340,000, which is where the worst debt comes from. Against a six figure but not enormous salary, that debt is the hardest part of this career.
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every year, and apply to your own state's veterinary school first. Graduating owing more than $150,000 is common and that debt, against a six figure but not enormous salary, is the hardest part of this career.
Signing bonuses and loan help
Offered by many employers, so ask about both.
Federal loan repayment for food animal work
A federal program repays part of your loans if you practice in an area short of livestock veterinarians.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Applies if you work for a university, a government agency or a nonprofit shelter.
Care for your own animals at no cost
A small thing that every veterinarian mentions.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Eight years, and getting into veterinary school is harder than most people expect.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry, physics and math. Start getting hours around animals now: a clinic, a farm, a shelter, a stable.
Bachelor's degree
4 years, sometimes 3
Any major, but you must finish the required science courses. Keep a high GPA and build hundreds of hours of animal and veterinary experience, which is what admissions committees actually count.
Apply through the shared service
Senior year
Most schools take applications through VMCAS (Veterinary Medical College Application Service), run by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.
Veterinary school
4 years
Four years for a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree: science and anatomy first, then clinical rotations through surgery, medicine, farm animals and emergency.
Licensing
Final year
Pass the NAVLE (North American Veterinary Licensing Examination), then apply to the veterinary board in the state where you want to work.
Biology and chemistry
Required for every pre-veterinary program.
Physics
Part of the required science sequence at most veterinary schools.
Agriculture or animal science
If your school offers it. Large animal experience is scarce and valued.
English
You treat the animal but you have to persuade the owner, often about money.
Every licensing jurisdiction in the United States requires the NAVLE (North American Veterinary Licensing Examination). It is a long multiple-choice exam, run by the International Council for Veterinary Assessment in three testing windows a year. Passing it is not the end: you then apply to a state veterinary board, and most states add their own jurisprudence exam on state law. Moving states later usually means another application, not another NAVLE.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Internship then residency
One year, then three, to become board certified in surgery, internal medicine, oncology or emergency care.
Equine practice
Horses. Long drives, early starts, and a client base that pays for performance animals.
Food animal and dairy
Herd health for cattle and swine. Short of veterinarians, with federal loan repayment attached.
Public health and regulatory work
Government veterinarians inspect food, track disease outbreaks and work on animals crossing borders.
Hundreds of hours with animals
Veterinary schools weigh this as heavily as grades. Start in high school.
Large animal experience
Rarer among applicants than small animal hours, so it stands out.
Spanish
Useful in mixed practice and in much of the livestock industry.
A thick skin about money
Telling an owner what treatment costs, and hearing the answer, is the hardest daily task in this job.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Surgery in the morning: spays, neuters, dental work, a mass removal. Appointments all afternoon, fifteen minutes each, vaccines and itchy skin and limping dogs and a cat that has stopped eating. Phone calls about results. Two difficult conversations about cost. Often one euthanasia, with a family in the room. Then charts until an hour after the clinic closes.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The same examination is required for a license in every licensing jurisdiction in the United States and Canada. The 2026 to 2027 windows are October to November 2026, March 2027 and July to August 2027.
About 91,100 people work as veterinarians (2025). The federal projection has the job growing 7% or more to 2035, with about 3,100 openings a year.
When O*NET (Occupational Information Network) surveyed veterinarians, 79% said a new hire needs a doctoral degree and 12% training beyond it, such as an internship or residency.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Animal health first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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