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Facts & Figures
Employment, starting salaries, and
educational indebtedness of year-2000
graduates of US veterinary medical colleges
' Mean number of employment offers received by each year-2000 graduate was 2.9.
' Mean starting salary for 2000 graduates entering private practice was $41,800, an increase of $3,267 over that
received by 1999 graduates.
' Mean total debt for 2000 graduates was $63,046, a $43 decrease from that of 1999 graduates.
I
n cooperation with the 27 US colleges of veterinary
medicine, the AVMA conducted an annual survey of
veterinary medical graduates in spring 2000 to obtain
data on veterinary medical graduates’ employment
choices, salaries, and educational indebtedness. Of
2,243 fourth-year veterinary medical students enrolled
in 2000, 1,619 (72.2%) responded to the survey.
Employment and Income
At the time of the survey, 90.5% of respondents
indicated that they had received an offer for employment or advanced study. Of those graduates who had
received offers, 30.6% had received 1 offer, 24.3% had
received 2 offers, 17.9% had received 3 offers, and
27.2% had received 4 or more offers. Among all
respondents to this question, 1,282 (80.5%) reported
that they had accepted a position.
Of the 1,284 respondents who had accepted posi-
tions, 1,276 indicated the type of position that they
had accepted: 945 (74.1%) entered private practice,
287 (22.5%) entered advanced study programs, and 44
(3.4%) entered public or corporate employment. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents expected to be
employed full time (≥ 30 h/wk, ≥ 48 wk/y). Eight
(0.6%) respondents indicated that they would be selfemployed.
The area chosen by most graduates was private
practice; among all graduates who indicated the type of
practice they chose, 44.6% entered small animal exclusive practice, 10.7% entered small animal predominant
practice, 10.2% entered mixed animal practice, 3.8%
entered large animal predominant practice, 2.6%
entered equine practice, and 2.2% entered large animal
exclusive practice.
Mean starting salary reported by 918 graduates
who entered private practice was $41,800 (Table 1), a
Table 1—Mean starting salaries of year-2000 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges, by type of
employment
No. respondents
accepting
positions (%)
Mean
starting
salary ($)
No. reporting
starting
salary
Mean
additional
compensation ($)
No. reporting
additional
compensation
Private practice
Large animal exclusive
Large animal predominant
Mixed animal
Small animal exclusive
Small animal predominant
Equine
28 (2.2)
49 (3.8)
130 (10.2)
569 (44.6)
136 (10.7)
33 (2.6)
41,629
41,439
40,358
42,640
42,918
28,526
28
49
124
555
131
31
5,565
8,609
5,276
5,968
5,322
6,375
13
22
71
251
64
12
Total, private practice
945 (74.1)
41,800
918
5,892
433
8 (0.6)
19 (1.5)
2 (0.2)
2 (0.2)
5 (0.4)
2 (0.2)
6 (0.5)
27,333
50,444
IR
IR
67,200
IR
33,400
6
16
2
2
5
2
5
IR
IR
IR
IR
IR
IR
IR
2
4
0
0
3
0
2
11
Employment type
Public and corporate
University
Uniformed services
State/local government
Federal government
Industry/commercial
Not-for-profit
Other
Total, public and corporate
Advanced study
Total
44 (3.4)
45,687
38
8,773
287 (22.5)
21,610
257
4,522
61
1,276 (100.0)
37,699*
NA
NA
1,219
IR Insufficient number of responses. NA Not applicable.
*Mean value for all respondents.
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Figure 1—Relative frequency distribution of annual starting
salaries of year-2000 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges who entered private practice.
$3,267 (8.5%) increase from 1999.1 Almost half
(47.2%) of these graduates reported that they expected additional cash compensation of $5,892 in 2000, a
$215 (3.8%) increase above expected additional compensation of $5,677 reported by 1999 graduates. The
most notable changes in mean salaries for private
practice veterinarians included a 10.2% salary increase
in large animal predominant practice, from $37,596 in
1999 to $41,439 in 2000, and a 9.3% salary increase in
small animal predominant practice, from $39,251 in
1999 to $42,918 in 2000. In other areas of private
practice, changes in mean starting salaries included a
$3,122 (7.9%) salary increase in small animal exclusive practice, a $2,698 (7.2%) salary increase in mixed
animal practice, a $862 (2.1%) salary increase in large
animal exclusive practice, and a $211 (0.7%) salary
decrease in equine practice. Of graduates who worked
full time in private clinical practice, 56.6% expected to
earn $39,000 to $46,999 in their first year of employment (Fig 1); approximately 50% of graduates who
entered small animal exclusive and small animal predominant practice expected to earn ≥ $43,000/y
(Table 2).
The proportion of graduates who accepted positions in advanced study programs increased from
Figure 2—Mean educational debt of 1998, 1999, and 2000 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges.
21.5% in 1999 to 22.5% in 2000. Mean stipend was
$21,610, an increase of $1,648 from the preceding
year. Additional compensation of $4,522 was expected
by 61 graduates who entered advanced study, whereas
1999 graduates received $5,520.
Forty-four respondents accepted employment in
public or corporate practices. Mean starting salary for
graduates employed in this sector was $45,687 (Table
1), representing an increase of $3,929 (9.4%) from the
$41,758 mean starting salary reported by 1999 graduates. Eleven of the graduates who entered public or
corporate practice expected additional compensation
of $8,773, an increase of $1,473 from the additional
compensation reported by 1999 graduates. Within the
public and corporate sector, 19 responding graduates
entered military service, with a mean starting salary of
$50,444.
Table 2—Distribution of starting salaries of 2000 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges, by type
of employment
Salary range ($)
LAE
(28)
LAP
(49)
MIX
(124)
SAE
(555)
SAP
(131)
EQU
(31)
UNI
(6)
FED
(2)
SLG
(2)
IND
(5)
USV
(16)
NFP
(2)
OTH
(5)
AST
(257)
23,000
23,000 to 26,999
27,000 to 30,999
31,000 to 34,999
35,000 to 38,999
39,000 to 42,999
43,000 to 46,999
47,000 to 50,999
51,000 to 54,999
55,000 to 58,999
59,000
3.6
3.6
0.0
0.0
25.0
32.1
17.9
7.1
0.0
7.1
3.6
0.0
6.1
0.0
4.1
16.3
28.6
26.5
16.3
0.0
2.0
0.0
0.8
0.8
1.6
6.5
24.2
41.9
13.7
8.9
0.0
0.8
0.8
2.9
1.3
1.4
1.6
9.9
32.4
27.4
15.0
4.0
2.9
1.3
0.8
0.8
1.5
1.5
15.3
30.5
26.7
16.0
1.5
2.3
3.1
32.3
19.4
6.5
9.7
19.4
3.2
6.5
3.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
66.7
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
20.0
80.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
6.3
25.0
37.5
18.8
0.0
12.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
20.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
73.5
16.3
5.8
1.2
2.0
0.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
For each type of employment, values indicate percentage of respondents. Numbers in parentheses indicate No. of respondents.
LAE Large animal exclusive. LAP Large animal predominant. MIX Mixed animal. SAE Small animal exclusive. SAP
Small animal predominant. EQU Equine. UNI College or university. FED Federal government. SLG State/local government. IND Industry. USV Uniformed services. NFP Not-for-profit. OTH Other public/corporate. AST Advanced
study.
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Table 3—Total educational debt of 2000 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges*
Debt load ($)
Percentage of
respondents
Cumulative
percentage
100,000
90,000–99,999
80,000–89,999
70,000–79,999
60,000–69,999
50,000–59,999
40,000–49,999
30,000–39,999
20,000–29,999
10,000–19,999
10,000
No debt
8.4
5.3
12.2
10.6
13.8
9.2
10.7
7.6
4.4
3.0
1.4
13.4
8.4
13.7
25.9
36.5
50.3
59.5
70.2
77.8
82.2
85.2
86.6
100.0
*Total No. of respondents 1,603.
Cumulative percentage represents the percentage of total respondents who
had debt the specific range's lower limit, eg, 70.2% of respondents reported
debt $40,000.
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Vet Med Today: Facts and Figures
Educational Debt
Graduates were asked to indicate their total educational debt at time of graduation. Of 1,603 respondents,
1,388 (86.6%) indicated some educational debt. Mean
educational debt for these graduates was $63,046, a
decrease of 0.1% from 1999 and a 5.1% increase from
1998 (Fig 2). Analysis of the relative frequency distribution for indebtedness revealed that 85.2% of graduates
had an educational debt of ≥ $10,000 (Table 3).
Reference
1. Wise JK, Adams CL. Employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness of 1999 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1999;215:1783–1784.
From the AVMA Division of Membership and Field Services—Statistical Research Group; J. Karl Wise, PhD, Director. Statistical analyses and programming assistance provided by James W. Lloyd, DVM,
PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
JAVMA, Vol 218, No. 5, March 1, 2001