Vermont·Healthcare Support Occupations·SOC 31-9096

Best Veterinary Assistant programs in Vermont, 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.

1 schools in Vermont run programs that feed this job, graduating 10 people a year. The job pays a median of $37,290 in Vermont across about 370 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAnimal CaregiverAnimal Care ProviderCertified Veterinary AssistantVeterinarian Assistant (Vet Assistant)Avian KeeperAnimal CaretakerVeterinary AttendantAnimal Care Specialist
Graduates / yr
10
in Vermont
Median pay · Vermont
$37,290
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
370
people employed
Schools
1
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
47%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Vermont that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Vermont that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Vermont (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 Vermont page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 01.8301In Vermont
10
100.0%
1$33,581$14,171

Top 1 schools in Vermont

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 1 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Vermont State University
Randolph, VT Public · 1 feeder programs
10Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant$36,39547%82%

All 1 schools in Vermont

Every school in Vermont 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.

All schools in Vermont that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Vermont State UniversityRandolphPublic101

What veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers earn in Vermont

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Vermont
$37,290
Mean annual
$37,630
Jobs in state
370
What the range looks like
10th pct$30,690Median$37,29090th pct$45,880
Versus the national median
-2.3%

U.S. median $38,150. Vermont pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.51×

Concentrated here: Vermont employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Vermont

Burlington-South Burlington, VT
$36,670median
150 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+8.7%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
22,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
10,300
117,800 → 128,100
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus short-term on-the-job training

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

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoringReading ComprehensionSpeaking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Vermont

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 Vermont.

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 10 degrees in Vermont 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 10 people a year in Vermont.

How much do veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers earn in Vermont?+

The median is $37,290 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.3% below 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 Vermont?+

1 institutions in Vermont 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.

Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in other statesCaliforniaTexasArizonaFloridaColoradoNew YorkPennsylvaniaVirginia

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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