Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code RIC

Veterinarians

Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. Includes veterinarians who conduct research and development, inspect livestock, or care for pets and companion animals.

Also called: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Emergency Veterinarian (Emergency Vet), Small Animal Veterinarian (Small Animal Vet), Veterinary Medicine Doctor (DVM), Companion Animal Practitioner, Large Animal Veterinarian (Large Animal Vet), Mixed Animal Veterinarian (Mixed Animal Vet), Veterinary Surgeon (Vet Surgeon).

O*NET 29-1131.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $130,100; Middle half earn $101,460 to $166,120. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Doctoral Degree; 79% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +10% · Much faster than average; 86,400 jobs in 2024, projected 94,700. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Veterinarians".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
Inoculate animals against various diseases, such as rabies or distemper.
Examine animals to detect and determine the nature of diseases or injuries.
Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis.
Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.
Educate the public about diseases that can be spread from animals to humans.
Counsel clients about the deaths of their pets or about euthanasia decisions for their pets.
Specialize in a particular type of treatment, such as dentistry, pathology, nutrition, surgery, microbiology, or internal medicine.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.1 / 5
Active Listening4.1 / 5
Active Learning4.0 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Science3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

Biology4.7 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry4.7 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.5 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Mathematics3.7 / 5
Education and Training3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic83
Investigative83
Artistic0
Social41
Enterprising12
Conventional41

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

animal chiropractor · DE Tierchiropraktiker/Tierchiropraktikerin · FR chiropracteur animalier
animal osteopath · DE Tierosteopath/Tierosteopathin · FR osthéopathe animalier/osthéopathe animalière
animal physiotherapist · DE Tierphysiotherapeut/Tierphysiotherapeutin · FR physiothérapeute animalier/physiothérapeute animalière
animal therapist · DE Tiertherapeut/Tiertherapeutin · FR thérapeute animalier/thérapeute animalière
animal hydrotherapist · DE Tierhydrotherapeut/Tierhydrotherapeutin · FR hydrothérapiste animalier/hydrothérapiste animalière
animal massage therapist · DE Tiermassagetherapeut/Tiermassagetherapeutin · FR massothérapeute animalier/massothérapeute animalière

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Veterinarians (2240)34,600 employed
Veterinary nurses (3240)26,600 employed
Health associate professionals n.e.c. (3219)36,300 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “獣医師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥389,200; Middle half earn ¥306,400 to ¥551,700 a month.
Workers in the category: 4,500; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.07. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-1131).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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