In cooperation with the 30 US schools and colleges of veterinary medicine, the AVMA conducted its annual survey of fourth-year veterinary medical students. Because 2018 was the first year that 2 new veterinary medical colleges (Midwestern University and Lincoln Memorial University) released graduating classes into the profession, interpretations of changes in salary or debt in 2018, compared with the previous year, should be made with care. Surveys were sent to 3,142 veterinary medical students expected to graduate in spring 2018, and responses were received from 2,774 (88.3%; Appendix). Surveys were distributed approximately 4 weeks prior to graduation for each school or college, and the survey instrument remained active until graduation. Data on veterinary students' employment choices, expected salaries, and estimated educational indebtedness were collected from survey respondents. All 30 schools and colleges participated in the web-based survey. In the results reported here, base sizes varied because some respondents did not answer all questions.
Employment of New Graduates
At the time of the survey, 2,733 of 2,774 (98.5%) respondents indicated they were actively seeking employment or advanced education in veterinary medicine. The remaining 41 (1.5%) respondents indicated that they were not actively seeking such positions. Among the 2,733 respondents seeking veterinary positions, 2,587 (94.7%) received ≥ 1 offer. Of the 2,580 that specified the number of offers received, 1,073 (41.6%) had 1 offer, 594 (23.0%) had 2 offers, 453 (17.6%) had 3 offers, and 460 (17.8%) had ≥ 4 offers. The overall mean number of offers reported by those who received offers was 2.4 (median, 2); among those seeking advanced education and full-time positions, the mean number of offers was 1.7 and 2.7, respectively.
At the time of the survey, 2,396 of 2,587 (92.6%) respondents who received employment or advanced education offers had accepted an offer (Table 1). Among those who had accepted offers, 1,581 (66.0%) accepted full-time positions (n = 1,512 in private practice and 69 in public or corporate practice), and 815 (34.0%) accepted advanced education offers. Of respondents who accepted employment in private practice, 1,133 (74.9%), 238 (15.7%), 99 (6.5%), and 42 (2.8%) had chosen companion animal, mixed animal, food animal, and equine practice positions, respectively. Among respondents who accepted positions in public or corporate practice, the largest proportion (26/69 [37.7%]) accepted positions in the uniformed services (Commissioned Corps). Of respondents who accepted offers in advanced education programs, 774 of 815 (95.0%) were entering internships or residencies; the largest proportion of those remaining (17/31 [54.8%], excluding 10 who indicated program types not listed in the survey) planned to pursue a PhD degree.
Mean full-time starting salaries of year-2018 graduates* of US veterinary medical schools and colleges by type of employment.
| Employment type | No. (%) accepting positions | Mean ± SD starting salary | No. reporting starting salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private practice | |||
| Food animal exclusive | 41 (1.7) | 82,702 ± 13,830 | 41 |
| Food animal predominant | 58 (2.4) | 74,016 ± 1 1,098 | 58 |
| Mixed animal | 238 (9.9) | 73,048 ± 13,024 | 236 |
| Companion animal exclusive | 920 (38.4) | 86,982 ± 15,331 | 916 |
| Companion animal predominant | 213 (8.9) | 84,830 ± 18,957 | 209 |
| Equine | 42 (1.8) | 51,893 ± 21,850 | 42 |
| All private practice | 1,512 (63.1) | 82,897 ± 17,273 | 1,502 |
| Public and corporate practice | |||
| Federal government | |||
| Civil service | 16 (0.7) | 70,439 ± 10,864 | 16 |
| Uniformed services | 26 (1.1) | 64,705 ± 12,443 | 26 |
| State or local government | 3 (0.1) | 89,340 ± 16,020 | 3 |
| College or university | 5 (0.2) | 50,868 ± 48,261 | 4 |
| Industry-commercial | 5 (0.2) | 114,400 ± 28,580 | 5 |
| Not-for-profit | 8 (0.3) | 69,813 ± 15,950 | 8 |
| Other | 6 (0.3) | 81,260 ± 27,109 | 5 |
| All public and corporate practice | 69 (2.9) | 71,736 ± 22,928 | 67 |
| Advanced education programs | |||
| Master's degree† | 14 (0.6) | 58,333 ± 25,103 | 9 |
| PhD | 17 (0.7) | 28,559 ± 38,917 | 17 |
| Internship | 714 (29.8) | 32,794 ± 22,358 | 712 |
| Residency | 60 (2.5) | 41,620 ± 8,768 | 60 |
| Other | 10 (0.4) | 45,348 ± 7,238 | 10 |
| All advanced education | 815 (34.0) | 33,879 ± 8,820 | 808 |
| Totals‡ | |||
| All employment types except advanced education programs | 1,581 (66.0) | 82,425 | 1,569 |
| All employment types | 2,396 (100) | 65,896 | 2,377 |
Surveys were sent to 3,142 veterinary medical students expected to graduate in spring 2018, and responses were received from 2,774. In total, 2,396 had accepted positions at the time of the survey; salary information was provided by 2,377 of those who had accepted full-time employment or advanced education offers.
Master's degree included: Master of Public Health (n = 6), Master of Science (6), Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (I), and Master of Business Administration (I).
Totals represent the overall values for each column.
Nearly all respondents who had accepted full-time employment or advanced education offers reported the total hours they expected to work per week (2,395/2,396 [99.96%]); 118 (4.9%) expected to work < 40 h/wk, 1,421 (59.3%) expected to work 40 to 50 h/wk, and 856 (35.7%) expected to work > 50 h/wk (mean amount of time expected to work, 52 h/wk). Those who accepted full-time employment offers expected to work fewer hours (mean, 46 h/wk) than those who accepted advanced education offers (mean, 65 h/wk). The amount of time that those who accepted positions in private and public or corporate practice expected to work was similar (mean, 46 and 47 h/wk, respectively).
Advanced Education
Among the 815 respondents who had accepted advanced education offers, 714 (87.6%) accepted an internship, 60 (7.4%) accepted a residency, and 41 (5.0%) accepted positions in other types of advanced education programs (master's, PhD, or other). Of the 709 respondents who indicated the type of internship chosen, 329 (46.4%) accepted a position in a private referral practice, 188 (26.5%) accepted an academic position, 117 (16.5%) accepted a private practice position, 52 (7.3%) accepted a position in a corporate-owned practice, and 23 (3.2%) accepted a position with a not-for-profit organization. Most internships that were chosen had a companion animal focus (530/709 [74.8%]), followed by equine (146 [20.6%]), food animal (15 [2.1%]), exotic or zoological animal (10 [1.4%]), mixed animal (6 [0.8%]), and other specialties (2 [0.3%]).
Respondents who opted to pursue internships were asked their primary reason for undertaking an internship. Of the 707 who responded, 363 (51.3%) indicated that they planned to apply for a residency, 174 (24.6%) indicated that they wanted to practice better-quality veterinary medicine, 84 (11.9%) believed that their desired position would require an internship, 73 (10.3%) believed that they needed more training before entering veterinary practice, and 2 (0.3%) indicated that they were not able to obtain another position in veterinary medicine. Eleven (1.6%) respondents chose internships for reasons other than the choices listed in the survey.
Specialty Board Certification
Approximately a third of all respondents (888/2,774 [32.0%]) indicated they were planning to pursue certification in an AVMA-recognized specialty at the time of the survey or in the future. Of 887 respondents who answered the question regarding which specialty they would seek (with multiple responses permitted), the most frequently selected options were internal medicine (ie, cardiology, neurology, or oncology; 213 [24%] respondents), surgery (151 [17.0%]), zoological medicine (92 [10.4%]), emergency and critical care (89 [10.0%]), and veterinary practitioner (83 [9.4%]). The least frequently selected response options were microbiology (12 [1.4%]), nutrition (9 [1.0%]), animal welfare (provisionally recognized specialty; 9 [1.0%]), toxicology (5 [0.6%]), and clinical pharmacology (4 [0.5%]).
Base Starting Salary
To provide the most accurate annual salary information for the 2018 graduating class, survey questions allowed respondents to indicate various means by which they expected to be compensated for work (ie, base salary only, base salary with a production bonus, and production-based salary only). Of the 2,395 respondents who had accepted full-time or advanced education positions and indicated the type of compensation they would receive, 1,472 (61.5%) indicated they would receive a guaranteed salary (or stipend) with no option for a production bonus, 857 (35.8%) indicated they would receive a base salary (or stipend) with a production bonus, 20 (0.8%) indicated that they would receive a salary fully based on production, and 46 (1.9%) were uncertain. Most (2,377/2,395 [99.2%]) of these respondents identified the type of full-time or advanced education position they had accepted.
To provide a more accurate measure of changes in compensation levels, an index that held variables (eg, geographic location and type of position) constant if they explained a significant (P < 0.05; multiple linear regression) amount of the variation in salary was used to calculate the weighted mean salary. For example, because of the cost of living, veterinarians in urban areas are typically paid higher salaries than those of veterinarians in rural areas. An increase in the number of veterinarians who accept jobs in rural areas may depress the overall mean starting salary of veterinarians, even if salaries have increased in both rural and urban areas. By use of this index, we estimated the weighted mean salary of graduates who accepted full-time positions in 2018 was $81,571 (unweighted mean salary, $82,425), which represented a 7.1% increase from the 2017 weighted mean ($76,1301). The unweighted mean salary (stipend) for respondents who accepted advanced education offers in 2018 was $33,879, which represented a 4.2% increase from the 2017 unweighted mean ($32,5171); there was no significant (P > 0.05) difference in salary between genders among students who accepted advanced education offers.
The frequency distribution of the salary levels among respondents who accepted full-time positions was bimodal; slightly less than 11% of respondents anticipated earning an salary ≥ $100,000, and slightly less than 12% of respondents anticipated an salary between $30,000 and $34,999 (Figure 1). These 2 peaks mainly represented the modes of salaries reported by respondents who accepted full-time positions and those who accepted advanced education positions (including internships and residencies), respectively.
Relative frequency distribution of starting salaries of year-2018 graduates of US veterinary medical schools or colleges who accepted full-time positions in private, public, or corporate practice or in a continuing education program. Salary information was provided by nearly all (2,395/2,396) respondents who accepted full-time positions.
Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 254, 9; 10.2460/javma.254.9.1061
Of the 41 respondents who accepted full-time positions in food animal–exclusive practices, 26 (63.4%) were offered a starting salary ≥ $80,000, whereas 14 (34.1%) were offered a starting salary between $60,000 and $79,999 (Table 2). This variation in salary may largely have been attributable to salary disparities between geographic regions with different costs of living (eg, New York vs Oklahoma). Most (676/916 [73.8%]) individuals who accepted positions in companion animal–exclusive practices were offered starting salaries ≥ $80,000; 17 (1.9%) accepted offers < $50,000. Of 42 respondents who accepted positions in equine practice, 25 (59.5%) were offered starting salaries between $30,000 and $69,999.
Distribution of full-time starting salaries of year-2018 graduates* of US veterinary medical schools and colleges by type of employment.
| Salary range ($) | FAE (n = 41) | FAP (n = 58) | MIX (n = 236) | CAP (n = 209) | CAE (n = 916) | EQU (n = 42) | PUB† (n = 67) | AEP‡ (n = 808) | Overall (n = 2,377) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 29,999 | — | — | — | — | 0.4 | 16.7 | 4.5 | 32.7 | 11.8 |
| 30,000–39,999 | — | — | — | — | 0.7 | 19.0 | — | 39.6 | 14.1 |
| 40,000–49,999 | — | — | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 7.1 | 9.0 | 24.6 | 9.3 |
| 50,000–59,999 | — | — | 7.2 | — | 0.8 | 19.0 | 10.4 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| 60,000–69,999 | — | 27.6 | 26.3 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 14.3 | 19.4 | 1.0 | 6.4 |
| 70,000–79,999 | 29.3 | 43.1 | 36.9 | 28.2 | 19.8 | 11.9 | 26.9 | 0.5 | 16.4 |
| 80,000–89,999 | 36.6 | 17.2 | 16.1 | 31.6 | 28.1 | — | 13.4 | — | 16.7 |
| 90,000–99,999 | 12.2 | — | 6.4 | 16.7 | 24.8 | — | 7.5 | — | 12.2 |
| ≥ 100,000 | 14.6 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 15.3 | 20.9 | — | 9.0 | — | 10.6 |
For each type of employment, values indicate percentage of respondents that reported salary in a given range.
Includes respondents who accepted a full-time position in federal, state, or local government; a college or university; industry or commercial organization; a not-for-profit organization; or other employment not listed separately.
Includes respondents who accepted advanced education offers in a residency, internship, master's, PhD, or other educational program not listed separately.
— = No observations in this category, or the base size is too small to report a value. AEP = Advanced education program. CAE = Companion animal exclusive. CAP = Companion animal predominant. EQU = Equine. FAE = Food animal exclusive. FAP = Food animal predominant. MIX = Mixed animal. PUB = Public and corporate practice.
See Table 1 for remainder of key.
Among 714 respondents who accepted internships, 712 reported salary information; most (458 [64.3%]) were offered between $30,000 and $59,999, and 249 (34.9%) were offered < $30,000. Of the 60 who accepted residencies, 55 (91.7%) were offered salaries between $30,000 and $59,999.
Benefits and Additional Compensation
Respondents who had accepted full-time employment offers were asked whether they would receive benefits as part of their employment compensation. Of the 1,581 respondents who had accepted full-time employment, 1,563 (98.9%) provided information on the benefits they would receive. The types of benefits reported were as follows: paid vacation leave (1,408 [90.1%]), continuing education expenses (1,403 [89.8%]), license fees (1,276 [81.6%]), medical or hospitalization plan (1,203 [77.0%]), association dues (1,157 [74.0%]), liability insurance (1,135 [72.6%]), and discounted pet care (1,130 [72.3%]). Other reported types of benefits included continuing education leave (1,128 [72.2%]), paid sick leave (1,012 [64.7%]), tax-deferred retirement plan (834 [53.4%]), employer contribution or matching to a tax-deferred retirement plan (769 [49.2%]), paid legal holidays (732 [46.8%]), and a dental plan (724 [46.3%]). Fewer respondents reported receiving disability insurance (596 [38.1%]), life insurance (450 [28.8%]), personal use of a vehicle (234 [15.0%]), and an informal profit-sharing plan (not tax-deferred; 48 [3.1%]).
Among 1,512 respondents who accepted positions in private practice, 811 (53.6%) anticipated that they would receive ≥ 1 of the following types of additional compensation during the first year of employment: signing bonus (374 [24.7%]), moving allowance (330 [21.8%]), and compensation for handling cases on an emergency basis (83 [5.5%]; Table 3). Among 68 respondents who accepted positions in public or corporate practice, 51 (75.0%) anticipated that they would receive ≥ 1 type of additional compensation during the first year of employment, such as a signing bonus (6 [8.8%]) or moving allowance (20 [29.4%]).
Additional compensation anticipated during the first year of employment for full-time positions of year-2018 graduates* of US veterinary medical schools and colleges by employment type.
| Type of additional compensation | Employment type | No. of respondents | Compensation ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signing bonus | Private practice | 374 | 8,378 ± 7,876 |
| Public or corporate practice | 6 | 9,167 ± 2,041 | |
| Advanced education | 9 | 3,256 ± 6,336 | |
| Moving allowance | Private practice | 330 | 3,031 ± 2,589 |
| Public or corporate practice | 20 | 4,721 ± 2,999 | |
| Advanced education | 19 | 1,126 ± 750 | |
| Emergency case compensation | Private practice | 83 | 5,069 ± 3,595 |
| Public or corporate practice | 1 | — | |
| Advanced education | 23 | 4,259 ± 1,953 |
For each type of compensation, values indicate mean ± SD. Values were based on information from 996 respondents who indicated they would receive ≥ 1 type of additional compensation to supplement their salary; not all respondents provided values for this compensation.
— = Base size too small to report a value.
See Table 1 for remainder of key.
Educational Debt
Respondents were asked to indicate how much educational debt they had upon entry to veterinary school and their total anticipated educational debt at the time of graduation; 2,758 of 2,774 (99.4%) survey respondents provided this information. The amount of debt accumulated during veterinary school was determined by subtracting the entering debt amount from the anticipated debt at graduation; the frequency distribution was summarized (Table 4). Among 2,758 respondents who provided information regarding educational debt, 1,495 (54.2%) reported accumulating debt ≥ $150,000 during veterinary school. The mean educational debt accumulated during veterinary school for all respondents (n = 2,758) was $152,358 (median, $159,000). Excluding respondents whose reported debt was $0 (n = 478), the mean educational debt accumulated during veterinary school for year-2018 graduates was $183,014, compared with $166,714 for year-2017 graduates.1
Distribution of educational debt accumulated during veterinary school for year-2018 graduates* of US veterinary medical schools and colleges.
| Educational debt | Percentage of respondents | Cumulative percentage |
|---|---|---|
| None | 17.3 | 17.3 |
| 1–9,999 | 0.8 | 18.1 |
| 10,000–19,999 | 0.5 | 18.6 |
| 20,000–29,999 | 1.0 | 19.6 |
| 30,000–39,999 | 0.9 | 20.6 |
| 40,000–49,999 | 1.6 | 22.1 |
| 50,000–59,999 | 1.3 | 23.4 |
| 60,000–69,999 | 1.2 | 24.6 |
| 70,000–79,999 | 1.5 | 26.1 |
| 80,000–89,999 | 2.2 | 28.2 |
| 90,000–99,999 | 2.2 | 30.4 |
| 100,000–109,999 | 3.0 | 33.4 |
| 110,000–119,999 | 2.3 | 35.7 |
| 120,000–129,999 | 3.0 | 38.7 |
| 130,000–139,999 | 3.2 | 41.9 |
| 140,000–149,999 | 3.9 | 45.8 |
| 150,000–159,999 | 4.4 | 50.2 |
| 160,000–169,999 | 4.9 | 55.1 |
| 170,000–179,999 | 4.9 | 60.0 |
| 180,000–189,999 | 4.6 | 64.6 |
| 190,000–199,000 | 3.3 | 67.9 |
| 200,000–209,999 | 4.3 | 72.2 |
| 210,000–219,999 | 2.4 | 74.6 |
| 220,000–229,999 | 1.9 | 76.5 |
| 230,000–239,999 | 2.7 | 79.2 |
| 240,000–249,999 | 2.1 | 81.3 |
| ≥ 250,000 | 18.7 | 100.0 |
Values were based on information from respondents who answered questions about debt (2,758/2,774). Cumulative percentage represents the percentage of respondents who had debt less than or equal to the specific range's upper limit (eg, 30.4% of respondents reported debt ≤ $99,999).
The frequency distributions of educational debt accumulated during veterinary school for students who graduated each year from 2016 to 2018 were compared (Figure 2). The percentage of respondents who reported educational debt ≥ $250,000 increased from approximately 13% in 20171 to nearly 19% in 2018. This increase was attributable in part to the addition of 2 new veterinary medical colleges; the mean educational debt reported by respondents from those first graduating classes (class of 2018) was higher than the mean educational debt reported by respondents from most of the other 28 veterinary schools. The percentage of respondents who reported no educational debt was 14.2% in 2016,1 compared with 17.2% and 17.3% in 20171 and 2018, respectively.
Relative frequency distribution of educational debt accumulated during veterinary school for year-2016 (n = 2,600; blue bars),1 year-2017 (2,613; orange bars),1 and year-2018 (2,758; gray bars) graduates of US veterinary medical schools and colleges.
Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 254, 9; 10.2460/javma.254.9.1061
References
1. 2018 AVMA & AAVMC report on the market for veterinary education. Schaumburg, Ill: AVMA, 2018.
Appendix 1
Response rates for fourth-year students at the 30 schools and colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States who participated in a 2018 survey of employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness.
| Veterinary school or college | Response rate of graduating class (%) |
|---|---|
| Auburn University | 100 |
| Colorado State University | 75 |
| Cornell University | 100 |
| Cummings SVM at Tufts University | 78 |
| Iowa State University | 71 |
| Kansas State University | 68 |
| Lincoln Memorial University | 92 |
| Louisiana State University | 100 |
| Michigan State University | 75 |
| Midwestern University | 86 |
| Mississippi State University | 100 |
| North Carolina State University | 100 |
| The Ohio State University | 84 |
| Oklahoma State University | 100 |
| Oregon State University | 86 |
| Purdue University | 100 |
| Texas A&M University | 90 |
| Tuskegee University | 100 |
| University of California-Davis | 100 |
| University of Florida | 91 |
| University of Georgia | 100 |
| University of Illinois | 88 |
| University of Minnesota | 85 |
| University of Missouri | 98 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 89 |
| University of Tennessee | 100 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | 92 |
| Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine | 100 |
| Washington State University | 56 |
| Western University of Health Sciences | 77 |
| Overall response rate | 88 |
SVM = School of Veterinary Medicine.
