Best Veterinary Assistant programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Feed, water, and examine pets and other nonfarm animals for signs of illness, disease, or injury in laboratories and animal hospitals and clinics.
32 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,640 people a year. The job pays a median of $46,260 in California across about 16,080 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 01.8301In California → | 1,640 | 100.0% | 32 | $33,581 | $14,171 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 13 of the 32 schools in this state.
All 32 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platt College - Los Angeles | Alhambra | Private for-profit | 250 | 1 |
| Pima Medical Institute - Chula Vista | Chula Vista | Private for-profit | 157 | 1 |
| Pima Medical Institute - San Marcos | San Marcos | Private for-profit | 142 | 1 |
| High Desert Medical College | Lancaster | Private for-profit | 117 | 1 |
| San Joaquin Valley College - Fresno | Fresno | Private for-profit | 97 | 1 |
| Modesto Junior College | Modesto | Public | 88 | 1 |
| San Joaquin Valley College - Bakersfield | Bakersfield | Private for-profit | 57 | 1 |
| Central Coast College | Salinas | Private for-profit | 54 | 1 |
| San Joaquin Valley College - Ontario | Ontario | Private for-profit | 54 | 1 |
| Carrington College - Pleasant Hill Campus | Pleasant Hill | Private for-profit | 49 | 1 |
| Carrington College - Stockton | Stockton | Private for-profit | 42 | 1 |
| Carrington College - San Jose | San Jose | Private for-profit | 36 | 1 |
| Platt College - Anaheim | Anaheim | Private for-profit | 36 | 1 |
| Platt College - Ontario | Ontario | Private for-profit | 34 | 1 |
| Platt College - Riverside | Riverside | Private for-profit | 34 | 1 |
What veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $38,150. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers page.
How to become a Veterinary Assistant
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.8301Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant
- 01.8399Veterinary/Animal Health Technologies/Technicians, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Veterinary Assistant?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant, which awarded 1,640 degrees in California in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Veterinary Assistant?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Veterinary/Animal Health Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 1,640 people a year in California.
How much do veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers earn in California?+
The median is $46,260 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 21.3% above the U.S. median of $38,150. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers growing?+
BLS projects a +8.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 22,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
32 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Animal Caregiver, Animal Care Provider, Certified Veterinary Assistant, Veterinarian Assistant (Vet Assistant) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-9096.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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