Salary by State/Industry Info

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Maddsmoltz

Maddsmoltz

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Thanks! That is a really interesting link!

($96,000 mean and $86,000 median for PA.)
 
heh vets in NY do better than i thought. Some incentive to stay local in the future i guess 😛 Not that I'm surprised with the extreme cost of vet care and all. And of everything else.
 
Hmm, these numbers are pretty different than ones I saw in the JAVMA awhile back. Wonder why the difference is. Now where did I put that article...
 
aspiringDVM said:
Hmm, these numbers are pretty different than ones I saw in the JAVMA awhile back. Wonder why the difference is. Now where did I put that article...
Click to expand...

maybe all the vets are cheating on their taxes? 😉
 
I've always wondered about this:

We always hear statistics of the low (average) veterinary salaries across the nation. Yet, the vets I know seem to be doing very well.

I know that the huge increase in women in veterinary medicine is a relatively new phenomenon (at least at our current level), but could they (women) be the reason for the low average salary we see on many statistic reports.

Many women choose to take off (sometimes considerable time) if they choose to raise a family, and many end up working part time. Considering the small pool (practicing veterinarians) could those variables be the reason we see reports of average salaries ~60K range?

Or are these (men included) non (and part time) practicing vets taken out of the statistics pool before calculating? I know it varies by report, but wondering if it could be a general cause.
 
I don't have concrete answers, but...

Yet, the vets I know seem to be doing very well.
Click to expand...

I've noticed that, overall, the practice owners I know seem to be doing very well. Also, the vets I know that are older have had adequate time to pay off their loans. Also something to consider is that the $$ for tuition has drastically increased relative to potential salary over the last few years.

I know that the huge increase in women in veterinary medicine is a relatively new phenomenon (at least at our current level), but could they (women) be the reason for the low average salary we see on many statistic reports.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm sure there a multitude of reasons for this. But, 20-30 years ago men made up the majority of the applicants and veterinary medicine was not the most lucrative medical field to go into then either. So, I don't know! 😕
 
Average salaries should cover everyone in the field, right? There are specialists and practice owners out there making decent money, sure. There are also some people (I'm thinking specifically of some shelter vets) who don't make very much because they just aren't in a lucrative part of the field. I think the issue with comparing statistics to the vets you know is that you may be in a part of the country or working in a part of the field where vets do make good money. That small slice just doesn't cover everything, though. For example, if I based my opinions on vet salaries only on the lab animal vets I know, I'd have a pretty skewed perception.

Also, remember that the mean can be heavily affected by people who make a whole lot or people who're making barely anything. I think looking at the median income tells you a little more about the actual income, but it's still best to compare by specific area since salary can vary so much.
 
Pandacinny said:
Average salaries should cover everyone in the field, right? There are specialists and practice owners out there making decent money, sure. There are also some people (I'm thinking specifically of some shelter vets) who don't make very much because they just aren't in a lucrative part of the field. I think the issue with comparing statistics to the vets you know is that you may be in a part of the country or working in a part of the field where vets do make good money. That small slice just doesn't cover everything, though. For example, if I based my opinions on vet salaries only on the lab animal vets I know, I'd have a pretty skewed perception.
Click to expand...

Just found it interesting what you said about shelter vets. Where I live they make pretty good money because they are really in demand. Of course not what a specialist would make, but about on par with a regular vet working for private practice.
 
It really depends on the shelter. Remember that there are many kinds of shelters - big and small, state funded or funded by private donations, and etc. All of them will have different abilities to pay a vet. Some may be able to pay a vet to work for them full-time, while other orgs will only be able to afford part timers or volunteers.

Most of the vets working in shelters where I live don't do it full time. Either it's not well paying enough for them or they just aren't interested in devoting their entire career to shelter work. The ones I know who do it full-time make less than private practice vets, in many cases, though that also really depends since every private practice is different, too. One vet in particular I'm thinking of has been doing shelter work for the last 15+ years in multiple states. She's not really in the poor house, but would never call the shelter work lucrative, either.
 
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