How much do Veterinary Techs make?

Question

I would like to become a vet technician. I love animals and would like to work with them. Is anyone on here a vet tech and have an estimate of how much I would be making? Is it a rewarding career? What are all your duties? Thanks!

Answer 1

It really depends on where you live and what kind of medicine you practice. I live in texas and work at an emergency clinic so i make more then other vet techs at day clinics however i use to work at a day clinic so i do know their pay. You can also work at a specialist facility and they tend to make the most. And if you become registered by taking to years of college you can make even more. So lets talk numbers. At the day clinic the most any tech made there was $12/hr and that was the head tech, i made $10/hr which seemed the norm for that clinic and a lot of the clinics around the area if you have experience but they might start out at about $8/hr. Now at the emergency clinic i make $15/hr which is a little higher then some techs there but b/c of my experince they gave more/hr. They usually start out at $10/hr. But some of the head techs get $20/hr or close to it however they have usually been there for a while (6yrs or so). Now the specialist techs start out at $12/hr but some get $22/hr but they have a lot of experience and work a lot, very stressful. I love doing what i do but realize you'll never make a lot of money doing it. You'll learn a great deal from surgery to meds, diagnostics, just everything in the medical field. But it is very rewarding and i love going to work. And since i get to work at the emergency clinic i work night so during the day i get to trade the stock market, so i get to do the two things i love.  

Answer 2

It depends on the kind of place you work, what part of the country you live in, and if you go through the process of becoming a registered veterinary technician.  Registered vet techs in my part of the country (CA) make $35-$40,000 a year in a busy small animal hospital.  Unregistered techs are limited by law on what they can do and don't make anywhere near as much. An salaries are higher here than other parts of the US (but so is the cost of living).