Vet Tech Salaries?

[biogirl215]

Just curious... What do those of you who are vet techs/assistants make in your location? Are you benefited (vacation, 401k, health insurance)?

Thanks.

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[athenaparthenos]

Right now I make $9.54/hr, which, after our minimum wage increase in Oregon, is like 1.50 above minimum wage. I started out at $9 with no vet experience but plenty of animal experience. I'm an assistant, not a tech. I work part-time so I don't have any benefits (that I know of, lol).

 

[david594]

$9 an hour coming in with just the 150 or so hours experience I got volunteering there. I work as an assistant/tech in that I do a lot of everything. I am only part time, so no real benefits. Offered a pre-tax health insurance option. I do get 1 or 2 sick days a year and paid holidays when they fall on my scheduled days.

This is at a small clinic though, 4 docs, <20 people in total. Full timers I know get better health insurance options and paid based on experience and certification.

 

[Pandacinny]

I currently make $12.00/hour. I am a licensed technician and I have been working at the same place for two years. I do get some benefits and vacation. I'm in Maryland, though, where the cost of living can be fairly high.

 

[TCVM808]

I am part-time OTJ trained and make $10/hour after nearly 3 years at my current clinic. No benefits. I also live in an area with a very high cost of living (higher than those who have posted so far). I think the other OTJ trained techs working full-time make around $11-13/hour. I'm not sure what the licensed techs are paid.

 

[pupsforseeing]

I am an OTJ trained tech and make $12/hour. I am only seasonal because I go to school out of state (just work when I'm home on breaks), but work full-time when I am home. I live in southern CA so the cost of living is high. I started at $9/hour at my first tech job when I was 15, then got a $2 raise about a year in. I started my current job at $11.50 and then got a $.50 raise after passing a test after about 2 months.

 

[168135]

The techs at the clinic that I volunteered at make $13 an hour... one of the doctors told that they are paid that amount so that they will stay at the clinic. Vet techs make anywhere from minimum wage and up. Minimum wage here is $7.60 I do believe. One tech went off to study to be a nurse because it pays more, and I knew another one who was debating whether to go into nursing. I started out wanting to be a tech, but I don't think I could live happily on that pay, so thats when I started looking into being a vet, and I liked what I saw.

 

[DaNNo]

I'm an assistant and have been working at the same clinic in PA for the past 5 years. I started with no veterinary experience and began at $7.50/hour. I am now making $12/hour. I'm only part time during the school year (about 10 hours/week), so I don't have any benefits or anything.

 

[pressmom]

At my first job with no experience, I made $8/hr. At my second job with 2 years experience, I made $10/hr. I had applied for a job that I would make $12/hr at, but I was leaving for vet school too soon and didn't get it. (They wanted to go with someone with longer-term potential.) Both jobs were part-time, so I had no benefits. At the first clinic, it was larger, and full time people got holiday pay, paid vacations, health insurance, and a 401k. At the second job, it was pretty much all part-time people, as it was a small clinic.

 

[LVT2DVM]

LVT, 14 yrs exp, the highest wage I ever made was $20.00 / hour plus 10,000 per year management stipend but I got sick of doing management BS, so I left that. Depends on the area you work but most techs coming out of school get offered $12 per hour and it goes up from there. If you work specialty or emergency you get more. Educators get the most.

Benefits are facility specific, I live in a state that doesnt guarentee vacations, time off, or even holiday pay so all that is negotiated.

Most LVTS (if there smart( get at least 2 weeks paid vacation, 5-10 sick days, Paid Holidays (for which the practice is closed) CE stipend ($500-1000 per year), health insurance (50-100% paid), disability insurance, license renewal paid, professional assoc dues paid, pet care discount. (I may have forgotten something but those are the biggies)

Some offices are so desperate for LVTS, they are offering a signing bonus or offer to pay for 50% of education if your not licensed yet.

Somewhere, AVMA or NAVTA has this information is posted, but I found it be extremely below average for the area I work in. Its created by an annual poll they mail out. Maybe no one here voted.

 

[bovine]

Here in Kentucky where I have been doing my undergrad we get paid lots less than most places. I am an OTJ trained tech and make $7.50 and hour with no benefits. We don't have any LVT's because they just don't pay enough in this area, most LVT's from this area go to Lexington to work. Our head Tech/office manager has about 17 years experience and is making about $14 an hour with few benefits.

I realize the cost of living here is lower than many places but it is still higher than where I am from in Ohio.

I guess the moral of what I am saying is I would recommend to anyone that wants to be a vet tech to research the salaries in the area you would like to work, sometimes becoming a LVT is not feasible.

Just my 2 cents FWIW

 

[lailanni]

(keep in mind WA has the highest min wage in the US, at $8.07)

Starting as an assistant here is around $8 to $9. Our clinic does do health insurance for any full time worker after the first 90 days. It's not fancy pants insurance, but it's better than nothing.

Techs around here make around $12 - 14 starting, and the more experienced techs make can make up to $20+ .... I've even seen $24/hr, but I think that was quite rare and had some management duties as well.

We do have sick days and paid vacation... not a whole lot of paid vacation though. But usually everyone ends up having like a week or so off. You can also take unpaid vacation if someone is willing to cover for you. Which is one reason why they like me so much: I cover for everyone : )

Techs do a draw for holidays, so they might get stuck doing treatments on Christmas or the like, but it's done at the beginning of the year so you can plan ahead.

Women do get a month of maternity leave, but it is unpaid. Typically, they're gone for more than a month but there's still a place waiting for them when they get back.

--In sum, it's near impossible to live on your own here as an assistant, you'll make ends meet as a tech, and assuming you don't have loans that will kill you, you'll do just fine as a doc.

 

[adOggy07]

I'm starting as a tech in a specialty referral hospital and am going to be paid $14/hr. I have about a years worth of experience as of today. At my last hospital (in Pomona) I was getting $9.30... it depends on your location... I have a friend of mine working as a RVT at $28/hr in Irvine (Orange County area in Southern California).... I feel that the Orange County area generally pays its techs a lot more than other counties in California...

 

[VeganSoprano]

I'm an OTJ emergency/ICU tech in the Washington, DC area and make $14.10/hr. I'm in the home stretch to complete my skill sign-offs that will let me earn a raise to about $17/hr. Cost of living is very high here - my tiny studio apartment costs me $865/month in rent.

Benefits are good where I work - good health and dental insurance for about $150/month, 3 weeks of annual leave per year that begins accruing after 6 months, excellent discount on vet care for personal pets, up to $1500 every other year toward CE for non-credentialed techs and every year for credentialed techs, holiday pay, hospital provided uniforms, credit union membership, subsidized gym membership, and other stuff I'm forgetting right now. I really have it pretty good where I am.

Before I went there, I was an OTJ tech at a small day practice (1 full time and 3 part time DVMs, fewer than 10 support staff) where I earned $11/hr plus HMO health benefits for $150/month, 1 week of paid leave a year, a $50 uniform allowance at the beginning of employment, holiday pay, and a discount on vet care for personal pets. This was not my first vet job - I came in with emergency, ward, general practice, and spay/neuter clinic experience.

Pay and benefits vary widely even in the same geographic area. The good thing is that once you have some skills under your belt you have some leverage to gain better pay and benefits for yourself.

 

[biogirl215]

Thanks for all the replies.

Do you think one could actual make a living (career) out of the field? (Not asking for myself.)

 

[rexosaurus]

Thanks for all the replies.

Do you think one could actual make a living (career) out of the field? (Not asking for myself.)

I use to work with a very nice lady that made a career out of it, in the small animal practice field. She left it to do human respiratory therapy, which is more lucrative, and requires more of her brain (in her own words!) Now I work with people who have made careers out of it as well, but I am in research. We have LVTs that deal with lots of different things, as well as those that are strictly respiratory therapists for our surgeries. Our company gives full benefits, 3 wks paid vacation, a week sick pay, 401K, stock options, all that stuff. We are also a huge company. So it depends on where you go, and what you do. I am not an LVT, I am a research technician, and I started at $13. (Our mininum wage is somewhere around $5.15)

 

[lailanni]

Thanks for all the replies.

Do you think one could actual make a living (career) out of the field? (Not asking for myself.)

I'm sure you could make a living as a tech. Not as an assistant though - they're usually just barely above minimum wage - at least where I'm at. Most of the assistants here live with family, SOs, or roomies to cut on costs. You're not going to be putting a downpayment on a house anytime soon as an assistant. Techs seem to do well enough -- but then again most techs I've worked with have SOs, so they have a combined income. Really it depends on how much rent eats away from your paycheck.

 

[soxbox]

when i first started with zero experience in MA, it was around $8/hr (that was 6 years ago)... i quickly moved up to $12 within 6months... but had no benefits besides reduced/free pet care... then I began working at a large vet teaching hospital and started there at $13.50 plus 3 weeks vacation, 13 sick days, 2 personal days, 403b plan, paid scrubs, around 13 holidays, tuition reimbursement, good health bennies, and a 40% discount on pet care... it was great And then I became certified and got a $1/hr raise... and yearly raises were roughly 3.5-4%... it was a pretty sweet set-up... and I learned so much when I was there... had to be at least 30 board certified vets... not to mention all the interns and residents... and most of the techs there were amazing in their skill level!

If I worked any shifts in ICU/ER there was a shift differential of 15%...

I then moved onto doing research there and got about a $3/hr raise... then I left and moved to a private biopharm company as a lab animal tech and was making around $21/hr (though I did get my AALAS LAT certification as well and had my Masters, which helped to convince them I needed more money!!)

So it seems like it definitely matters where you are and how much experience you have... I think if you find the right place you can live pretty happily with the $$ you make as a tech (though I ALWAYS had a second job and ALWAYS volunteered for any overtime that was offered!!!) Oh, one more thought... I had already racked up a lot of student debt... but had I attended a vet tech program instead of undergrad and grad school at a small, private New England engineering school, it would have not set me back nearly as much financially

 

[SillyFilly]

I worked for an equine private practice vet and made $100/day, no benefits. Some days this worked out to $5/hr, sometimes $10/hr. I took taxes out myself.

This is why I am applying at NCSU vet school's LAH... I support myself and I am not doing a great job!

 

[sbpettech]

I'm in southern california and experienced techs make anywhere from 15-23/hr. We hire RVT's at 24. It is also a emergency and referral hosp in a high cost of living area. Doesn't really make that big of a dent in the monthly bills.