Many exciting opportunities exist in veterinary medicine. Veterinarians can work in small, large, or mixed-animal general primary care practice or a specialty field such as: anesthesiology, dentistry, cardiology, food animal production medicine, internal medicine, surgery, or wildlife medicine. Other career opportunities include working in biomedical research, veterinary medical education, diagnostic laboratories, regulatory medicine, public health, industry, or biosecurity.
U S EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS THROUGH 2026 1
Employment of veterinarians is projected to grow 19 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the national average for all occupations. Candidates can expect very strong competition for available veterinarian positions.
MEDIAN ANNUAL SALARY (2019)
$93,8301 The starting salary a new D.V.M. graduate earns is dependent on the area of veterinary medicine he/she enters.2
(1) Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Veterinarians,
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinarians.htm (visited August 2019).
(2) For more information, see Occupational Employment Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wages. Bureau of Labor Statistics.