Veterinarian in 1791: London opens a veterinary college

It varies by country and career stage. The median pay for a US veterinarian was $125,510 a year in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ranging from around $70,000 for the newest graduates to over $212,000 for the most experienced. Board-certified specialists in fields like surgery or ophthalmology can earn considerably more; pay elsewhere in the world is typically lower in dollar terms.

Is vet school harder to get into than medical school? By acceptance rate, often yes. Many veterinary programmes admit under 10–15% of applicants, a tighter ratio than most human medical schools face, partly because far fewer veterinary schools exist worldwide relative to demand. Applicants typically also need several hundred hours of hands-on animal experience before applying, a requirement medical schools don't impose the same way.

Why do veterinarians have such a high suicide rate? US federal researchers found male veterinarians are about twice, and female veterinarians roughly 3.5 times, more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Contributing factors include long hours, student-debt strain, the emotional toll of performing euthanasia, and easy access to the drugs used to carry it out. The 2014 suicide of veterinary behaviorist Sophia Yin helped launch the profession's now-active mental-health movement.