Starting Salaries and Debts for 2009 New Veterinary Graduates
Posted on August 31, 2010
In the spring of 2009, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) conducted a web based survey that was sent to all graduating veterinary students at the 28 veterinary colleges in the United States[1]. There were 2,385 responders, which made up 95.7% of all U.S. graduating veterinarians.
By the time the survey was sent out in the spring, 79.5% of graduates had at least one offer for employment or continuation of advanced studies (internship, MPVM, PhD, MS, etc). Thirty-eight percent of responders stated that they intended on pursuing board certification in an AVMA recognized specialty.
Of those who provided salary information, 51.3% indicated they would be paid based purely on a salary without production bonus, 44.0% would receive a salary and a production bonus, 0.8% would be paid based only on production, and 3.9% were unsure. The mean starting salaries of all different groups (private practice, advanced study, corporate practice) combined increased by an average of 0.7% to $48,684 in 2009 from $48,328 in 2008. Salaries for graduates excluding those pursuing advanced studies increased by 5.2% to $64,826 in 2009 from $61,633 in 2008. Among the various types of private practices, equine practices offered a starting salary of $37,854 in 2009, a 9.1% decrease from 2008 whereas food animal exclusive practices had a 15.8% increase in average salary to $72,318 in 2009. Starting salary information for companion animal and mixed practices was not included in the study’s report.
In addition to an overall increase in salaries, there was also an increase in educational debt in 2009. At the time of the survey, 88.6% of responders indicated they had debt from their education. Average debt increased by 8.5% to $129,976 in 2009 from $119,803 in 2008.
[1] Employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness of year-2009 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges.
AVMA Communications Division, Shepherd AJ.
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2009 Sep 1;235(5):523-6.
