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Veterinary technicians

Official title Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (SOC 29-2056)

Also called Vet tech, Veterinary technologist, LVT, Registered veterinary technician, Licensed veterinary technician

In brief

In May 2025, BLS counted 129,140 US veterinary technicians, with median pay of $47,380 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was 131,320, in May 2024, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 8 from 1963, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for veterinary technicians: Digital radiography + practice management software, 2004 to 2018.

What the sources say

Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 9.4% from 2025 to 2035.

BLS Employment Projections 2025-35

AI exposure studies

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

Last updated .

Cite this page
APA

Future History. (2026, October 11). Veterinary technicians: jobs and pay since 1963 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-2056

Chicago

Future History. "Veterinary technicians: jobs and pay since 1963." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-2056.

BibTeX

@misc{futurehistory_29_2056, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Veterinary technicians: jobs and pay since 1963}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-2056}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }

The access date is today's date on your device.

drag to travel through time
195019752000now
Country
2026
Known then as Veterinary Technician (US Army Veterinary Corps enlisted role only)
Known then as Animal Health Technician / Animal Technician (civilian training programs)
Known then as Animal Health Technician (AVMA official title, renamed to avoid DVM confusion)
Known then as Veterinary Technician / Veterinary Technologist (AVMA readopted title)
Known then as Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (BLS SOC 29-2056)
Known today as Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (BLS SOC 29-2056)
Projected to still be called Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (BLS SOC 29-2056)
Data from the May 2025 survey
US Employment
129K
Est.

Stated in source: BLS OEWS

Official statistic
Report an error
Median Annual Wage
$47,380
Est.

≈ $46,165 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)

Official statistic
Report an error
Beat · 1926

The US Army Veterinary Corps introduces the enlisted "veterinary technician" role to assist commissioned officer veterinarians caring for the horses, mules, and military animals essential to logistics. The 1926 Army Medical Bulletin defines the veterinary technician's responsibility as assisting the veterinary officer with animal nursing, communicable disease control, and routine procedures. This is the first formal use of the title "veterinary technician" in an American context. The role is purely military; civilian veterinary practice runs without trained technicians for another 37 years.

Beat · 1961

The State University of New York at Delhi establishes the first veterinary technology program in the United States, originally called Animal Health Technology. The program was developed in collaboration with the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the UK, the US Army, and Ralston Purina, which had a commercial interest in building the veterinary support workforce. Dr. Walter Collins, later known as the "father of veterinary technology," received federal funding to develop a model curriculum during this decade. The first class graduated in 1963: eight students, the entire civilian trained veterinary technician workforce in the United States.

Beat · 1969

Nebraska becomes the first US state to credential certified animal technicians, creating the first official pathway for legal recognition of the animal health technician credential. In the same year, Michigan State University hosts the first Symposium on Animal Technician Training Programs. The profession has existed for only six years as a formal entity but is already moving toward standardization from two directions simultaneously: state licensing and national academic coordination.

Beat · 1972

The AVMA House of Delegates authorizes a program of accreditation for animal technician training and renames the role "animal health technician," dropping "veterinary technician" to reduce public confusion with licensed DVMs. The Committee on Accreditation of Training for Animal Technicians (CATAT, later renamed CVTEA) is formed. The 1972 vote marks the AVMA's formal acceptance of the technician as a defined member of the veterinary team, not simply a lay assistant. Within a year, Michigan State and Nebraska receive the first AVMA program accreditations.

Beat · 1981

The North American Veterinary Technician Association is established in East Lansing, Michigan (later renamed NAVTA: National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America) after a 2002 rebranding. NAVTA's founding gives the profession its first national organization independent of the AVMA, allowing technicians to advocate on credentialing, scope of practice, and wage issues from their own organizational platform. Five years later, NAVTA hosts the first national examination: the Animal Technician National Exam (ATNE) in Maine in 1986, later renamed the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE).

Beat · 1988

IDEXX Laboratories introduces the VetTest Chemistry Analyzer, the first in-clinic blood chemistry analyzer marketed specifically to veterinary practices. The VetTest places a 12-parameter comprehensive metabolic panel within reach of a general practice veterinary team for the first time. Before VetTest, a blood chemistry required a reference laboratory sample and 24-48 hour turnaround; the VetTest delivers results in 10 minutes from a small whole blood or serum sample. The veterinary technician operating the analyzer becomes the first interface between the diagnostic result and the DVM decision: proper sample handling, QC verification, and flagging of critical values are new technician competencies.

Beat · 1989

The AVMA formally readopts "veterinary technician" as the official title for credentialed individuals, reversing the 1972 decision to use "animal health technician." The decision acknowledges that the title change had failed to reduce confusion and had instead undermined the professional identity of credentialed workers. From 1989 onward, the title converges on "veterinary technician" nationally, though the alphabet soup of state-specific credentials persists: RVT (registered), LVT (licensed), CVT (certified) vary by state. The national credentialing exam (VTNE, formerly ATNE) is already four years old when the title question is finally settled.

Beat · 2010

An AVMA economic study finds that each credentialed veterinary technician employed in a practice correlates with approximately $93,311 in increased gross practice revenue per veterinarian, providing the first major quantified economic argument for practice investment in credentialed staff over uncredentialed assistants. The finding becomes central to NAVTA's ongoing advocacy for wage parity and title protection: credentialed technicians produce measurable economic value that the profession had previously struggled to quantify in business terms.

Beat · 2020

COVID-19 produces two simultaneous shocks to the veterinary technician workforce: a surge in pet adoption ("the Great Pet Adoption" of 2020-2021) driving record appointment volumes at the same time that staffing capacity fell 25% due to pandemic restrictions, COVID illness, and caregiver obligations. The mismatch between surging demand and constrained supply accelerated burnout and attrition dramatically. A PMC study of US veterinary technicians during COVID-19 documents increased stress, extended hours, exposure anxiety, and moral injury from inability to provide adequate care. Utah became the final state to enable credentialed veterinary technician certification in 2020, completing national VTNE-based credentialing availability.

Beat · 2025

NAVTA's 2025 workforce survey finds that burnout is the leading attrition driver among credentialed vet techs, with 68% citing administrative burden and after-hours documentation as a top dissatisfier. AI documentation tools (ScribbleVet, Digitail Tails AI) are the highest-priority wish-list item for improving technician retention. Simultaneously, AVMA publishes a framework for responsible AI in veterinary medicine, defining AI as decision support operated under veterinarian oversight and clarifying that vet techs who operate AI-powered diagnostic equipment do so within their existing scope of practice under DVM supervision.

How to read this number

OEWS is a point-in-time survey snapshot, not a continuous time series; BLS advises against using it for year-over-year trend comparison.

Each dot is a cited figure over time; the dotted line only links them (values between aren't measured). Hollow dots are estimates.

Official statistic: Copied by a script from a statistics agency table or a published study's table, not retyped by hand. BLS figures and the forecast and exposure tables are also re-checked against that table on every data run. Researched context: Researched from the cited source rather than copied from it by a script, so it is not machine-checked yet. Spot a mistake? Each figure has a “Report an error” link.

Cited forecasts · present → 2035

Will AI replace veterinary technicians? What the research says

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.

What published forecasts say
Forecast change in the number of people doing this work, as published by each named source. Bars share one scale on every role, centred on zero and reaching the end at ±30%. Grey marks a small change, 3% or less either way.
BLS Employment Projections 2025-35
→ 2035
+9.4%
BLS National Employment Matrix, 2025-35 cycle, line for SOC 29-2056 (Veterinary technologists and technicians): 131.4 thousand jobs in 2025, projected 143.8 thousand in 2035, a change of +12.3 thousand (+9.4%). Matrix employment counts all jobs in the occupation, including self-employed workers. The average for all occupations in this cycle is +3.5%.
Official statisticReport an error
How exposed is this work to AI (research measures)
Scores as published by each study. Each row says what it measures. These measure what AI could technically do, not forecasts of jobs lost.
Eloundou et al. (2023), "GPTs are GPTs"
2023 study · Share of tasks exposed to LLMs (β, human-rated)
14.8%
of tasks
What this measures

Published occupation-level exposure from the paper's occ_level.csv for O*NET-SOC 29-2056.00 Veterinary Technologists and Technicians. Shown: human-rated β = 0.148, the share of the occupation's tasks an LLM could do in at least half the time at equal quality, counting tasks that need LLM-powered software at half weight (β = E1 + 0.5 × E2). Other published measures for this occupation: human-rated α (LLM alone) 0.066 and γ (all LLM-assisted) 0.23; GPT-4-rated β 0.164. This measures how much of the work an LLM could touch, not how many jobs disappear.

Official statisticReport an error
Today, in this role

What's changing day to day for veterinary technicians

Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.

AI is taking this onManage appointment scheduling, reminder calls, and practice communication workflows, scheduling follow-up appointments, calling clients with lab results or post-operative checks, managing the surgical or dental waitlist, and sending vaccination/wellness reminder communications

Manage appointment scheduling, reminder calls, and practice communication workflows, scheduling follow-up appointments, calling clients with lab results or post-operative checks, managing the surgical or dental waitlist, and sending vaccination/wellness reminder communications; AI scheduling platforms (Vetstoria) are automating online booking, waitlist management, and recall reminders, shifting the tech's role from scheduling operator to exception handler.[7],[5]

Tools picking this up
Where your edge is

Vetstoria and similar AI scheduling platforms (PetDesk, VetBadger) are actively automating the appointment booking, reminder, and online check-in workflows that previously occupied a significant fraction of front-desk vet tech and receptionist time. This is one of the clearest AI-displacement dynamics in veterinary practice: practices report 40-60% of appointments are now booked without staff involvement after AI scheduling implementation. Your adaptation: let the AI handle the scheduling queue and redirect that time toward higher-skill clinical tasks (triage calls that require clinical judgment, treatment rounds, client education) that the AI cannot replicate. In practices where your role includes scheduling, becoming the practice expert on AI scheduling tool configuration and exception-handling protocol positions you as the person who manages the AI rather than the person displaced by it.

AI is taking this onComplete client communication and discharge instruction documentation, preparing written discharge instructions, medication schedules, wound care guidance, and follow-up appointment reminders for clients after procedures or hospitalizations

Complete client communication and discharge instruction documentation, preparing written discharge instructions, medication schedules, wound care guidance, and follow-up appointment reminders for clients after procedures or hospitalizations; increasingly using AI-generated client education summaries (ScribbleVet Care Cards, Digitail client-facing documents) as a starting draft that the tech reviews and personalizes before sending.[8],[3]

Where your edge is

AI client education document generation (ScribbleVet Care Cards, Digitail client-facing summaries) is one of the most genuinely automated tasks in the vet tech scope: the AI drafts species-specific discharge instructions from the SOAP note, and the tech reviews and approves rather than composing from scratch. This is net positive for tech quality-of-life (NAVTA 2025: documentation burden is the leading burnout driver). Your value here is the review and personalization layer: catching AI-generated discharge instructions that contain the wrong drug name or dose for this patient, adding the phone coaching insight ("call us if your dog stops eating within 24 hours — this breed tends to bounce back faster than the instructions suggest"), and building the client relationship quality that generates referrals. Develop strong client communication skills alongside AI tool proficiency so you add the human layer that the AI draft leaves out.

AI is sitting alongside you hereAcquire and upload diagnostic imaging for AI-assisted radiology review, positioning awake or sedated patients for thoracic, abdominal, and musculoskeletal radiographs using technique charts and patient-size adjustments

Acquire and upload diagnostic imaging for AI-assisted radiology review, positioning awake or sedated patients for thoracic, abdominal, and musculoskeletal radiographs using technique charts and patient-size adjustments; operating digital radiography equipment; uploading images to the practice PIMS or directly to SignalPET for AI preliminary pathology flagging; and presenting the AI-generated preliminary findings to the veterinarian before or during the diagnostic consultation.[9],[10]

Tools picking this up
Where your edge is

SignalPET and similar AI radiology tools (Antech AIS RapidRead) have made the vet tech the critical quality gate for veterinary radiology: AI analysis quality is only as good as the image quality, and image quality is determined by the tech's positioning, exposure technique, and patient cooperation management. A poorly positioned, motion-blurred, or overexposed radiograph produces an AI report with lower confidence and more false negatives. Your defensible expertise is mastery of veterinary radiographic positioning across multiple species and body regions: oblique views for specific joint pathology, VD vs. DV thoracic technique choices, the full dental radiograph series that a hasty tech skips. Pursue continuing education in veterinary dental radiography and cross-sectional imaging fundamentals (CT, MRI): the interpretation support tools are AI-powered, but the image acquisition requires a skilled human.

Where veterinary technicians go next

Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.

What each move takes

A direction you could grow

Medical and Health Services Managers

Credentialed vet techs (RVT/LVT/CVT) with several years of clinical experience are natural candidates for veterinary practice manager roles as AI tools reshape practice operations. As AI scribes, diagnostic analyzers, and scheduling platforms become standard clinical infrastructure, practices need managers who have clinical context: someone who understands why the AI-generated SOAP note is wrong, how to configure the Vetscan Imagyst QC protocol, and what the anesthesia monitoring workflow requires from the SmartFlow system. Corporate veterinary groups (Banfield/Mars, VCA, National Veterinary Associates, Thrive) actively recruit credentialed techs into operations, regional coordinator, and practice administrator roles.

What you'd add
  • · Veterinary practice business fundamentals: revenue per case, staff-to-DVM ratios, controlled substance compliance, and inventory management, the economic language of practice ownership and corporate group operations
  • · AI tool evaluation and implementation: assessing PIMS AI module vendor claims against AVMA responsible AI principles; building adoption policies that manage automation bias; training staff on AI diagnostic workflows
  • · Human resources and scheduling management: state labor law for veterinary practice settings, scheduling optimization for multi-DVM practices, credentialed vs. non-credentialed staff supervision rules under varying state practice acts
  • · AAHA accreditation standards: quality improvement framework used by accredited practices as the foundation for medical director and practice manager accountability
  • · Financial literacy for practice management: understanding practice P&L, pharmaceutical margin management, and the economics of specialty vs. general practice, Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA) Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM) credential is the gold standard
What it takesSome new skills to pick up
Tools of the era

How has the work of veterinary technicians changed since 1926?

The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.

  • Manual nursing care + basic surgical instruments (US Army origin era)

    The earliest "veterinary technicians" were Army enlisted specialists trained to assist officers with animal nursing: wound dressing, medication administration, restraint, feeding, and basic contagious disease control for horses and mules. No specialized equipment existed; tools were basic surgical instruments, thermometers, and manual restraint. The civilian profession did not exist yet.

  • Rebreathing anesthesia circuits + manual microscopy + wet chemistry (profession formation era)

    The civilian veterinary technician profession formed around a specific set of clinical tools that required trained hands: rebreathing anesthesia machines (circle systems, semi-closed circuits), manual hemocytometers for cell counting, benchtop refractometers for urine specific gravity, bright-field microscopes for fecal floats and blood smear differentials, and manual wet chemistry reagent kits for basic bloodwork. A credentialed technician was distinguished from a lay assistant precisely by proficiency with these instruments. Radiographic film required dark-room chemical development; a poorly developed thoracic film could not be repeated without more radiation exposure to the patient.

  • IDEXX VetTest in-clinic chemistry analyzer (1988) + SNAP rapid diagnostics

    IDEXX Laboratories introduced the VetTest Chemistry Analyzer in 1988, giving veterinary practices the ability to run comprehensive blood chemistry panels in-house in minutes rather than sending samples to an external reference laboratory and waiting many hours for results. For the veterinary technician, this was a skill-expansion moment: operating and calibrating the benchtop analyzer, interpreting quality control, and understanding when a flagged result was artefact vs. true pathology became core technical competencies. IDEXX followed with SNAP rapid immunoassays in the early 1990s for heartworm, feline leukemia, FIV, and parvovirus, further shifting the in-clinic diagnostic role toward technician-operated instruments. The tech became the primary interface between the analyzer and the DVM.

    Effect on the work

    In-clinic chemistry analyzers reduced reference lab turnaround for most panels, enabling same-day diagnosis and treatment. This increased the clinical throughput per DVM-technician team and contributed to employment growth as practices saw higher visit volumes.

  • Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) credentialing + multi-parameter patient monitoring

    NAVTA's Committee on Veterinary Technician Specialties (CVTS), established in 1994, created the first formal pathway for technicians to achieve advanced specialty credentials beyond the general VTNE. The Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians became the first recognized specialist academy (1996), followed by anesthesia (1998) and dentistry (2000). Simultaneously, multi-parameter patient monitoring units became affordable for general practice, placing SpO2, capnography, NIBP, and ECG monitoring in the hands of the anesthesia-monitoring technician during every surgical procedure. The VTS credential marked the profession's recognition that a credentialed technician could hold specialized clinical expertise comparable to a nursing specialist in human medicine.

  • Digital radiography + practice management software (CR systems entering general practice)

    Computed radiography (CR) systems began entering small animal general practice in the early 2000s after hardware costs fell from levels only reachable by specialty hospitals. Direct radiography (DR) flat-panel systems followed. For the veterinary technician, the shift from film radiography to digital was transformative: dark-room chemical processing was eliminated, images could be reviewed immediately on a monitor, exposure technique could be corrected and the radiograph repeated with minimal additional radiation dose, and digital images could be emailed to consulting radiologists for teleradiology review. Practice management software (VetStar, Avimark, later ezyVet and Shepherd) moved patient records, controlled substance logs, and treatment sheets from paper to digital, restructuring how technicians documented their clinical work.

  • AI diagnostic analyzers + AI ambient scribes + AI scheduling (Zoetis Imagyst, SignalPET, ScribbleVet, Vetstoria)

    The AI era arrived in veterinary medicine through clinical tools operated by technicians: Zoetis Vetscan Imagyst (in-clinic AI cytology, fecal, urinalysis, blood smear classification), SignalPET (AI radiology preliminary reads from tech-acquired images), IDEXX AI-flagged diagnostic results, ScribbleVet (AI ambient scribe for SOAP notes and client discharge instructions), Digitail Tails AI (AI SOAP dictation, AI patient intake), and Vetstoria (AI scheduling and appointment automation). The pattern is consistent across tools: the technician handles the physical interaction (sample collection, patient positioning, image acquisition) while the AI performs the analytical or documentation task that previously required either the technician's time or a specialist laboratory. The net effect is expansion of the tech's diagnostic reach and compression of the administrative fraction of the role, which NAVTA surveys identified as the leading burnout driver.

    Effect on the work

    AI tools are arriving into a labor-scarce market where they augment rather than displace credentialed staff.

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Veterinary Technologists and Technicians employment and pay by year

On record since1926
Latest US employment129,140 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error
Latest US median pay$47,380 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error
Outlook+9.4% by 2035Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35Official statisticReport an error

In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

  • Canada (NOC 32104)

    Employment, 2020
    21,220, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 32104 Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
    Median pay, 2020
    C$42,400, Statistics Canada Census 2021 Official statistic Report an errorStatistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 32104 Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.
View all 29 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
YearUS employmentAnnual pay (median unless marked)SourceReport
19638n/aEst., SUNY Delhi Researched contextReport
19733,500n/aEst., AVMA CVTEA Researched contextReport
199033,000n/aEst., Clinicians Brief Researched contextReport
1991n/a$19,200Est., Veterinary Practice News Researched contextReport
1999n/a$27,070Est., Veterinary Practice News Researched contextReport
200050,370n/aBLS OEWS 2000 Official statisticReport
200353,730$23,340BLS OEWS May 2003 Official statisticReport
200458,570$24,940BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statisticReport
200563,860$25,670BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statisticReport
200669,700$26,780BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statisticReport
200773,240$27,970BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statisticReport
200878,920$28,900BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statisticReport
200979,200$29,280BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statisticReport
201079,870$29,710BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statisticReport
201178,800$30,140BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statisticReport
201283,350$30,290BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statisticReport
201387,870$30,500BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statisticReport
201493,300$31,070BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statisticReport
201595,790$31,800BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statisticReport
201699,390$32,490BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statisticReport
2017103,430$33,400BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statisticReport
2018106,680$34,420BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statisticReport
2019110,650$35,320BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statisticReport
2020109,490$36,260BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statisticReport
2021118,670$36,850BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statisticReport
2022118,750$38,240BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statisticReport
2023122,000$43,740BLS OEWS May 2023 (employment) Official statisticBLS OEWS May 2023 (pay) Official statisticReport
2024131,320$45,980BLS OEWS May 2024 (employment) Official statisticBLS OEWS 2024 (pay) Official statisticReport
2025129,140$47,380BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statisticReport
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